The Philosopher.
Philosophy.
Philosophy is
something intermediate between Theology and Science. Like theology it consists
of speculations on matters as to which definate knowledge has, so far been unascertainable;
but like Science, it appeals to human reason rather than to authority, whether
that of tradition or that of revelation.
·
All definate knowledge belongs to Science.
·
All dogma as to what surpasses definate
knowledge belongs to Theology.
But between Theology
and Science there is a no man’s land exposed to attack from both sides; this no
man’s land is Philosophy.
Bertrand Russell.
Uncertainty, in the
presence of vivid hopes and fears, is painful, but must be endured if we wish
to live without the support of comforting fairy tales. It is not good either to
forget the questions that philosophy asks, or to persuade ourselves that we
have found indubitable answers to them.
To teach how to live
without uncertainty, and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps
the chief thing that philosophy in our age, can still do for those who study
it.
Almost all the
questions of most interest to speculative minds are such as science cannot
answer, and the confident answers of Theologians no longer seem so convincing
as they did in former centuries. Questions such as…
· Is the world divided into mind and matter?
· If so, what is mind and what is matter?
· Or is it possessed of independent powers?
· Has the universe any unity or purpose? Is it evolving
towards some goal?
· Are there really laws of nature?
· Do we believe in laws of nature because of our inate
love of order?
· Or is he what he appears to hamlet? Is he perhaps both at once?
· Is there a way of living that is noble, and another that is
base?
· Or are all ways of living
merely futile?
· If there is a way of living that is noble in what does it
consist?
· Must the good be eternal in order to deserve to be valued?
· Or is it worth seeking even if the universe is inexorably moving
towards death?
· Is there such a thing as wisdom, or is what seems such, merely
the ultimate refinement of folly?
To
such questions no answer can be found in the laboratory.
Theologies have
professed to give answers all to definate; but their definateness causes modern
minds to view them with suspicion.
THE STUDYING OF THESE
QUESTIONS, IF NOT THE ANSWERING OF THEM IS THE BUSINESS OF PHILOSOPHY.
To understand an age
or a nation, we must understand it’s philosophy, and to understand it’s philosophy,
we must ourselves be to some degree, philosophers. There is here a reciprocal
causation;
The
circumstances of men’s lives,
Do
much to determine their philosophy.
But
conversely, their philosophy does much,
To
determine their circumstances.
Bertrand Russell.
Plato
If a man is to be a
good statesman, he must know the good: This he can only do by a combination of
intellectual and moral discipline. If those who have not gone through this
discipline are allowed a share in the government, they will inevitably corrupt
it. (Does this ring any bells today)?
1. Is there such a
thing as wisdom?
Happy is
the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds
are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold.
She is
more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare
with her.
Length
of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honour.
Her ways
are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
She is a
tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.
(Proverbs 3: 13-18). KJV
2. Granted that there
is such a thing, can any constitution be devised that will give it political
power?
Plato would have said
that it consists in knowledge of the good, (Where would you find that
knowledge?) and would have supplemented this definition with the Socratic
doctrine ‘that no man sins wittingly, from which it follows that whoever
knows what is good does what is right.’
The problem of finding
a collection of `wise’ men and leading the Government is thus an insoluble one.
That is the ultimate reason for democracy.
Into that from which
things take their rise, they pass away once more as is ordained: For they make
reparation and satisfaction to one another for their injustice according to the
appointed time. The difference between an ‘Ideal’ and an ordinary object of
desire is that the former is impersonal: It is something having, (at least
ostensibly) no special reference to the ego to the man who feels the
desire, and therefore capable, theoretically, of being desired by everybody.
Thus we might define
an ‘Ideal’ as something desired.
Until Philosophers are
kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of
Philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner
natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand
aside, cities will never have rest from these evils – no, nor the human race,
as I believe - and then only will this our state have a possibility of life and
behold the light of day.
A Philosopher is a
lover of wisdom; (Proverbs 3:13-18) but this is
not the same thing as a lover of knowledge.
The Philosopher is the
man who loves the ‘ Vision of Truth’,
But what is this
vision?
Wheras the phiosopher
loves beauty in itself. The man who knows absolute beauty is wide-awake.
But those who see the
absolute and eternal, and immutable, (not subject or
susceptible to change or variation in form or quality or nature; "all species
were immutable, created by God")
may be said to know and not to have opinion only.
1.
What is philosophy?
2.
How can a young man or woman of suitable
temprement be so educated as to become a philosopher?
Death says Socrates
is the separation of soul and body:
·
Reality and appearance.
·
Ideas and sensible objects.
·
Reason and sense perception.
·
Soul and body.
These pairs are
connected: The first in each pair is
superior to the second, both in reality and in goodness. The distinction beween
mind and matter, which has become commonplace in philosophy and science,
and popular thought has a religous origin, and began as the distinction of soul
and body.
In so far as the
division of mind can be accepted, the worst pleasures, as well as the best, are
mental. Liberation from the body contributes to greatness, but just as much to
greatness in sin as to greatness in virtue.
True existence, if
revealed to the soul at all, is revealed in thought, not in sense. The true
philospher ignores sight and hearing. “Thought is best,” Socrates says,
“when the mind is gathered into itself, and is not troubled by sounds or
sights.” At last he describes the fate of souls after death:
·
The good go to heaven. (The
‘elect’)
·
The bad go to hell. (Unbelievers
into the ‘lake of fire’)
·
The intermediate to purrgatory.
(No such thing as purgatory, intermediate will stand before God at the ‘Great
White Throne Judgement’).
There are four kinds
of causes, which were called respectively;
·
Material.
·
Formal.
·
Efficient.
·
Final.
Let us take a man who
is making a statue.
The material cause
of the statue is marble.
The formal
cause is the essence (Idea) of the statue to be produced.
The efficient cause
is the contact of the chisel with the marble.
The final cause
is the end the sculptor has in view.
In modern terminology,
the word ‘cause’ would be confined to the efficient cause. The unmoved mover
may be regarded as a final cause: It supplies a purpose for change, which is
essentially an evolution towards a likeness with God.
God exists eternally,
as pure thought. Happiness, complete self-fulfillment, without any unrealised
purpose. All living things are in a greater, or lesser degree aware of God,
thus God is the final cause of all activity.
Only God consists of
form without matter, and the world is progressively more like God. This process
cannot be completed because matter cannot be wholly eliminated. (Until Our
Lord Jesus Christ’s Advent).
How do I totally eliminate matter?
The soul is the final
cause; God’s static perfection moves the world only through love that finate
beings feel for him. The soul is what moves the body and percieves sensible objects:
it is characterised by self-nutrition, sensation, feeling, and motivity. But
the mind has the higher function of thinking, which has no relation to the body
or to the sense. Hence the mind can be immortal though the rest of the soul
cannot.
But we must not follow
those who advise us, being men, to think of human things, and being mortal, of
mortal things. But must,
so far as we can make
ourselves immortal, and strain every nerve to live in accordance with the best
thing in us: (Holy Spirit).
For even it be small
in bulk much more does it in power and worth surpass everything.
Intellectual virtues
result from teaching moral virtues from habit. It is the business of the
parents to make the children good by forming good habits. We become just by performing just acts, and
similarly as regards other virtues. By being compelled to aquire good habits,
we shall in time, come to find pleasure in performing good actions.
Granted that the good
at which right action should aim is the good of the whole community, or,
ultimately of the whole human race.
Is this social good a
sum of goods enjoyed by individuals, or is it something belonging essentially
to the whole, not to the parts?
Good men have pleasure
unless they are unfortunate, and God always enjoys a single and simple
pleasure. Justice as Equallity’ when two men’s interest clash, the right course
is that which produces the greatest total of happiness, regardless of which of
the two enjoys it, or how it is shared among them.
The
mind is it’s own place,
And
in itself can make a heaven of hell, or a hell of heaven.
Marcus Aurelius
There is
no fear that we may incur the anger of GOD, or that we may suffer in hell
after death. Though subject to the powers of nature, which can be studied
scientifically ‘we yet have free will’ and are the masters of our fate within
limits. We cannot escape death, but death righly understood, is no evil.
(top)
Marcus Aurelius.
Thou
art a little soul bearing about a corpse. Zeus could not
make the body free but he gave us a portion of his divinity.
God is the father of
men, and we are all brothers. We should not say, ‘I am an Athenian’, or ‘I am a
Roman’, but I am a citizen of the universe! If you were a kinsman of Caesar,
you would feel safe; how much more should you feel safe being a kinsman of God?
We shall see that no real evil can befall us.
It is a soul I want,
let one of you show me the soul of a man who wishes to be one with God, and to
blame God or man no longer. To fail in nothing, to feel no misfortune, to be
free from anger, envy, and jealousy – one who desires to change his manhood for
Godhead, and who in this poor body of his has his purpose set upon communion
with God, show him to me. Nay you cannot.
Everyman is an actor in
a play, in which God has assigned the parts; it is our duty to perform our part
worthily, whatever it may be. Since it is possible that thou mayst depart from
life this very moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly. When Marcus
Aurelius took to philosophy he did not waste time on history, sylligogism, or
astronomy.
It is peculiar to man,
to love even those who do wrong, and this happens if when they do wrong through
ignorance, and unintentionally, and that soon both of you die, and above all
the wrongdoer has done thee no harm, for he has not made thy ruling faculy
worse than it was before.
Love mankind. Follow God.
Nous is a
philosophical term for mind or intellect. Outside of a philosophical context,
it is used, in English, to denote "common sense," with a different
pronunciation.
To
our high-wrought fantasy present,
That
undisturbed song of pure concent;
Aye
sung before the sapphire coloured throne,
To
Him that sits thereon:
Whereas happiness, if
attainable at all, must be sought by reflection upon things that are remote
from the impressions of sense,
Nous is the image of
the one. Because the one, in its self quest HAS VISION, this seeing is nous.
Nous may be considered as the light by which one sees itself. It is possible
for us to know the Divine Mind, which we forget through self-will.
To know the divine
mind, we must study our own soul when it is most Godlike:
We must put aside the
body, and the part of the soul that moulded the body, and ‘sense with desires,
and impulses, and every such futility.’ What is then left is an image of Divine
Intellect.
Those Divinely possess
and inspired have at least the knowledge that they hold some greater thing
within them, though they cannot tell what it is; from the movements that stir
them, and the utterances that come from them. They percieve the power, not
themselves, moves them: In the same way. It must be, we stand towards the
Supreme when we hold nous pure.
We know the Divine
Mind within, that which gives being and all else of that order: But we know
too, that other, know that it is none of these, But a nobler principle than
anything we know as being: Fuller and greater; above reason, mind, and feeling;
conferring these powers, not to be confounded with them.
Thus when we are
‘Divinely Possessed’ and inspired, we see not only Nous, but also the One. When
we are thus in contact with the Divine, we cannot reason or express the vision
in words: This comes later. At the moment of touch there is no power whatever
to make any affirmation; there is no leisure reasoning upon the vision is for
afterwards.
We may know we have
suddenly had the vision when the soul has taken light. This light is from the
Supreme, and is the Supreme. We may believe in the presence when, like that God
on the call of a certain man, He comes bringing light:
The light is the proof
of the Advent. Thus, the soul unlit is without that vision, lit, it possesses
what it sought, and this is the true end set before the soul. To take that
light, to see the Supreme by the Supreme, and not by the light of any other
principle- to see the Supreme which is also the means to the vision: For that
which illumines the soul is that which it is to see just as it is by the sun’s
own light that we see the sun.
Poem
of Lucretius.
Each
man flies from his own self; yet from that self in fact he has no power to escape:
He
clings to it in his own despite, and loathes it too, because, though he is sick
he
percieves not the cause of his disease.
Which
if he could but comprehend aright, each would put all things else aside and
first
Study
to learn the nature of the world,
Since
‘tis our state during eternal time, not for one hour merely, that is in doubt,
That
state wherein mortals will have to pass.
The
whole time that awaits them after death.
Pythagoras.
We are strangers in
this world, and the body is the tomb of the soul, and yet we must not seek to
escape by self murder; for we are the chattles of God who is our herdsman, and
without his command we have no right to make our escape.
In this life there are
three kinds of men, just as there are three sorts of people who come to the
Olympic games. The lowest class is made up of those who come to buy and sell,
the next above them are those that come to compete. Best of all however, are
those who come to simply look on the greatest purification of all, is,
therefore, Disinterested Science, and it is the man who devotes himself to
that, the true philosopher, who has most effectually released himself from the
wheel of birth.
It appears to be
possible to discover things about the actual world by first noticing what is
self-evident and then using deduction. The whole conception of an eternal
world, revealed to the intellect but not to the senses, is derived from him,
Christians would not have thought of Christ as the word, but for him.
Theologians would not have sought logical proofs of God and immortality.
He, O’men, is the
wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom, in truth is worth nothing.
People do not like to confess that their pretence of knowledge has been
detected.
God
orders me to fulfill the philosopher’s mission of searching into myself and
other men, and it would be as shameful to desert his post now as in time of
battle. The easiest and noblest way is not to be disabling others, but to be
improving yourself. He thinks the search for knowledge of the utmost
importance. He maintains no man sins wittingly and therefore only knowledge is
needed to make all men virtuous.
Goodness and reality
being timeless, the best state will be the one, which most nearly copies the
heavenly model. By having a minimum of change and a maximum of state
perfection, and its rulers should be those who best understand the eternal
good.
See ‘The Stars Also’ on the Home page.
In the first mention of the heavenly bodies, the purpose
of the Creator is clearly stated. Genesis 1:14-19 reveals the fact that they
were created, not only “to divide the day from the night, and to give light
upon the earth”; but, they were set “for signs, and for seasons, and for days
and years”. These names and the twelve “signs” go back to the foundation of the
world. (Flesh age). Jewish tradition preserved by Josephus assures us that this
Bible astronomy was invented by Adam, (Father) Seth, (Son) and Enoch (Grandson)
the “Sphinx” was invented as a memorial. It had the head of a woman and the
body and tail of a lion, to tell us this book, written in the Heavens, began
with the sign “Virgo” (Virgin), and will end with the sign “Leo” (Lion). The
word“Sphinx” is from the Greek Sphingo, to join; because it binds together the
two ends of this circle of the heavens
Laws of Nature.
The only
warrant for laws of nature that are
truly "out there" and not just "in our heads" is belief in
a personal, rational, consistent, freely-acting, transcendent, powerful God as
described in the Bible. We can defend this on two grounds. One, because the
laws of nature are contingent--they could be other than what they are. Gravity
could decline as the cube of the distance, or by any other rational number. For
life to be possible, the laws had to be selected with precision out of an
infinite range of possibilities and coordinated with each other.1
Second, our own
rationality presupposes a rational source. Why would particles become
scientists? Why would matter seek understanding? The human propensity to find
laws of nature bespeaks a Lawgiver who created that propensity in us.
The Divine
Lawgiver, therefore, is not a metaphor, nor a placeholder for ignorance; He is
a logical necessity for science. The Lawgiver described in Scripture has the
explanatory resources to resolve the conundrums of philosophy and bring sense
to the discussion. "Fear God, and keep his commandments" (Ecclesiastes 12:13)--it's
not just a good idea; it's the law
Do we believe in laws
of nature because of our inate love of order?
There is a great deal
of confusion, misguided articles, ideas, and theories about the question of
‘The laws of nature’ but not one points to the true reason. It is said that
there is no such thing as the Creator, and that everything on earth just
happened to happen. Unfortunately it is the view of the lost for whatever
reasons to ignore the truth of the Creator, which indeed answers all the
questions we could possibly want the answers to. People will deny the existence
of God but not even study the Bible for themselves, they will accept third
party theories, but not agree on certain points, or even be gullible enough to
swallow the dogma of their peers regardless of what standing he or she holds.
People believe in
nature because they can see it all around them, but find it very difficult to
believe in something they cannot see and will run with the majority, the; ‘I
will believe it when I see it’ crowd. The rebellious side of people must also
be taken into account, for if one was to believe in God, and God’s word, then
disbelief would disappear. Conversely, one would have to clean up one’s morals,
and way of acting. These rebellious souls are the intermediates that will one
day have to make a decision when they stand in judgement, but until then
nothing will change their point of view.
Read Gen 1 : 26 – 2 : 9
Or is he what he appears to hamlet?
Is he perhaps both at
once?
Hamlet
The text comes from the First Folio. In the Second
Quarto
|
“ |
I will tell you why; so shall my
anticipation |
” |
Poem
of Lucretius.
Each
man flies from his own self; yet from that self in fact he has no power to
escape:
He
clings to it in his own despite, and loathes it too, because, though he is sick
he
percieves not the cause of his disease.
Which
if he could but comprehend aright, each would put all things else aside and
first
Study
to learn the nature of the world,
Since
‘tis our state during eternal time, not for one hour merely, that is in doubt,
That
state wherein mortals will have to pass.
The
whole time that awaits them after death.
Is
there a way of living that is noble, and another that is base?
·
Living by God’s Ten
Commandments
·
Not living by God’s Ten
Commandments
Or
are all ways of living merely futile?
·
Other than living by God’s Ten
Commandments? Yes.
· If
there is a way of living that is noble, in what does it consist?
·
In God’s Word.
· By
accepting our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Kings 2:3,
And keep the charge of the LORD thy
God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His
judgements, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that
thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest
thyself.
Amen.
I write this book, both for humanity’s sake, and for Piety towards God.
For there can be no Religion more true or just, than to know the things that are,
And to acknowledge thanks for all things, to him that made them,
Which thing I shall not cease continually to so do.
What then should a man do, O Father, to lead his life well, seeing there is nothing here, in this world true?
But to be Pious and Religious, for he that does so is the best and highest Philosopher;
And without Philosophy, it is impossible ever to attain to the height and exactness of Piety or Religion.
But he that shall learn and study the things that are, and how they are ordered and governed,
And by whom, and for what cause, or to what end, will acknowledge thanks to the Workman as to a good Father,
Who is an excellent Nurse, and a faithful Steward, and he that gives thanks shall be Pious or Religious,
And he that is religious shall know both where the truth is, and what it is, and learning that,
He will be yet more Religious.
For NEVER, shall, or can that soul which while it is in the body lighten and lift up itself to know and comprehend
That which is Good and True, slide back to the contrary; for it is infinitely enamoured thereof,
And forgets all Evils, and when it has learned and known it’s Father and Progenitor it can no more depart from that Good.
And once learned and fully understood let this be the end of Religion and Piety;
Because once you have arrived, you shall both live well, and die blessedly,
While your soul is not ignorant as to whether it must return and fly back again.
For this only, is the way to the Truth,
Which our Progenitors travelled in, and by which, making their journey,
They at length attained to the Good.
It is a Venerable, and highly regarded, but plain way,
But hard and difficult, for the Soul to go whilst it is in the body.
For first it must war against itself, and after much Strife and Dissention, it must be overcome by one part;
For the Contention is of one against two,( Sense and Physical Body)
Whilst it flies away, and they strive to hold, and detain it.
But the Victory of both is not like; for the one hastens to that, which is Good,
But the other is a neighbour to the things that are Evil; and that, which are Good desires to be set free;
But the things that are Evil, love Bondage and Slavery.
And if the two parts be overcome, they become quiet, and are content to accept of it as their Ruler;
But if the two overcome the one, it is by them led, and carried to be punished
This then is the Guide to the way that leads there, for you first must forsake the Body before your end,
And win the Victory in this Contention and Strifeful life,
And when you have overcome, Return. (To God.)
“For the time will come when
men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their
itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and
turn aside to myths.” - 2 Timothy 4:3-4