Believing just eighty per cent in the soul, as I suspect quite a few people do these days, can be an awkward place to be......

 

Extract From James Head’s Book – Life Choices: Important Tips From Socrates, Plato and Aristotle    https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540552624 

  Chapter 5 - Plato’s Phaedo

...... Remember, we are not meant to study Plato as if he is the font of all truth and knowledge, since in Plato’s philosophy our human soul is meant to be that font; assuming of course that we have one in the first place and that we occasionally listen to our souls if we do. His books should not be read like a religious dogma. Plato was just a philosophy teacher and writer (albeit an enormously respected one), and like any other philosophy teacher or spiritual guide, he can only point people towards the truth. The student must then put one foot in front of the other and walk at his or her own pace towards the truth.

Plato writes to stimulate our investigation and exploration of the truth, and many of the questions he raises and asks us to consider for ourselves are important signs for us to follow; especially if we want to ‘prove’ the existence of the soul to our own satisfaction at least – or alternatively perhaps disprove it. Believing just eighty per cent in the soul, as I suspect quite a few people do these days, can be an awkward place to be. Generally speaking, ‘life’ is much easier and straightforward if you believe (or disbelieve) one hundred per cent.  (Even at the end of The Phaedo, one of Socrates’ closest friends Simmias, says he is still not certain about the existence of the soul.)

It is interesting to note that the word ‘theory’ literally means ‘to contemplate’ in Greek, and Socrates and Plato only want us all to come to our own theories and opinions on these matters, hopefully with well thought out reasons to back them up. Very usefully, in my opinion, Socrates and Plato offer us a structured approach towards such contemplation and investigation which all too often is a rather vague or confusing undertaking. When investigating anything (even the existence of the soul), having a structured approach helps us to arrive at our own opinions on many important spiritual and practical matters.

Be careful as you take those first philosophical steps through the pages of The Phaedo, since Plato combines accepted factual information, well known Greek myths, lesser known allegories, and some divine riddles of his own making within his text. He does this to stimulate our minds, promote our understanding of reality, and allow us to create our own unique paths towards the truth, and perhaps also to the mystical visions he describes. Plato is opening some windows for us to look through to see new things, or perhaps just to see some familiar things again but from a different perspective.

Let me now set the scene of The Phaedo a little more for people either new to this book or indeed to Socratic philosophy generally. Socrates aged 70 has been found guilty by the law courts of ancient Athens of impiety and corrupting the youth of the city, and has been sentenced to death. It is 400 years BCE……..

Where Does Evil Come From - Is Proclus Right ? - Or Darth Vader ?

 

From:  Life Choices - Important tips from Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

By James Head (New Edition – June 2020 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540552624 )

From Essay 2 - The Nuts and Bolts of Plato

…….. My final point in this section on metaphysics is that Plato believes that the universe and everything in it has been created or has flowed out of the one source of everything, which is beyond all description, and which he calls ‘the One’ and/or ‘the Good’. This of course is an interesting idea for a man like Plato who was born and brought up as a polytheist to believe in the Olympic religion with many Gods. One thing I also find particularly interesting here (and a little irritating if I am honest) is that although he says that the One is beyond all description (in an almost scientific way) he then describes the One as the Good, which kind of adds a religious kind of dimension or overtone to it all. Plato also says that everything that flows out of the One is also good and perfect, but the further away things get from the One (the source of all things) the less perfect they become.

If everything that flows out of the One is good and perfect, then why is there evil and suffering in the world you may ask? Socrates advises us in many of his conversations with people, that it is wise before you start to discuss something, that you define exactly what you mean by the term being discussed - i.e. evil in this case. Is it a divine and malignant force operating in the universe (as suggested in the Star Wars movies or some major organised religions today) that affects us all if we are not very careful; or is it simply when human beings make badly judged, selfish, or irrational actions?

 For example, when a lioness jumps on an antelope and savagely kills it to feed her cubs, we usually do not regard that as evil at all; we just think of this as part of ‘nature’. However, when a man kills his neighbour for no apparent reason, of course we are shocked and consider it in some way an evil thing to do, since we consider the human being to be a civilised creature, capable of rational choices, and therefore having the facility to choose to act wisely and decently towards other people. So in a Platonic world view, evil (which is mainly what we tend to call certain ways of behaving) is really a lack of good intent or action, or the lack of control over one’s desires, or in the case of a madman – the lack of a correctly functioning rational mind.

Similarly, and more simply perhaps, if an earthquake kills 200 people, again we do not regard it as evil – just an act of nature; whereas the religious fanatic that blows up a passenger plane with 200 people on board we ‘regard’ as evil; since he lacks moderation in his religious beliefs and actions. Note that moderation (or temperance) is the visible expression of ‘The Good’, and as far as we human beings are concerned, largely concerned with the Life Choices we make.

I think as philosophers we need to consider whether good and evil really are external forces acting in the world around us (or even throughout the universe), or are they simply just human qualities; since we all seem to have the possibility of good and evil choices and actions within us. Hopefully, we choose ‘good’ (or at least ‘relatively good’) actions over evil ones. However, sometimes the situation gets a little blurred since if you killed 10 enemy soldiers in a war you might well receive a medal from your government for doing so. On the other hand, were you to kill the same 10 soldiers after the war had ended as they enjoyed a drink and discussed old stories of the war, you would no doubt be arrested and put on trial for murder.

Somehow, I want to believe in evil as an external force (you can blame the movie Star Wars and Darth Vader for that), but at times I am really not convinced whether evil is an external force or not. Sometimes I cannot help but wonder if the whole idea of ‘evil’ is a man-made concept rather than any external force operating in the universe; which we need to do our utmost to avoid. As far as our practical lives are concerned (in our human bodies at least), good and evil may be simply be about the choices we make as individuals and communities; and the choices and decisions our leaders and organisations of influence (e.g. the banks, the media, the Justice Department, and other powerful bodies) make on our behalf. Nevertheless, most organised religions with influence in our modern world today promote the idea of evil as being some kind of divine power, and give various explanations of how it came into being in the first place (fallen angles etc), and how it operates - and who it operates on and through. What do you think? (My concern is that evil is usually thought of as being abstract and ‘out there’ somewhere – when in fact it is all around us, and manifests itself in very ordinary things like: people selling us stuff we do not need and getting people into debt, a culture of fear and insecurity, a reduction in quality leisure time, wars we do not really need, good people turning a blind eye to what they know is very wrong, and  the corruption and dumbing down of young minds. I refer to these things as ‘the circles of evil’.

We all need to try and make sense of the universe, our place within it, and why things happen the way they do all around us. Therefore, if someone prefers to think of ‘evil’ as an external force (as indeed it may well be although I have expressed some personal doubts above on this), and this helps them to deal with and understand things better, and make better life choices as a result, then I see no harm per se in that.

According to the latter Neo Platonist Proclus in his essay ‘On the Subsistence of Evil’ (Proclus’ Theology of Plato - Book I Chapter XVII), once the unfolding of the One or the Good gets as far as producing a temporal universe full of time-bound lives (like ours), then it will be necessary that temporal things come to an end. This, according to Proclus (and remember there is controversy about some of the Neo Platonist explanations of Plato’s texts) explains why our physical bodies eventually fail. It is in order to make room for further bodies to take their place; and this is not evil in itself. However, if a perpetual thing such as a human soul (in Plato's view at least) identifies itself with a temporal physical body; then the process of decay and death ‘appears’ like an evil to that individual. However, perhaps this is a mistake of perspective, since no harm can really come to a soul from the demise of the physical body. Indeed, the only real harm that can come to us (that is, our souls if we have one) is through our own acts of injustice which is a ‘disease of the soul’. Proclus calls the first kind of evil ‘natural’ and not really evil at all, and the second kind unnatural, since in his view it can only be the result of a creature with free will acting ignorantly or irrationally.......

 

Footnote:

If you find this subject interesting check out my earlier post (23rd June 2018 - see archive) on this subject that includes some additional points for consideration. 

I particular I mention:

          ‘Additionally, if good and evil are in some way linked (as are pain and pleasure as previously discussed above regarding the removal of Socrates chains) it would suggest that all of us have the potential for evil thoughts and deeds unless we are careful with our thoughts and actions - and have control and discipline over our desires, tempers, and other emotions. We might do well therefore, to consider ways that encourage us and help us to keep our emotions under control; and how to avoid things that slowly lead us towards bad and evil acts. For example, the police officer who accepts a small bribe this month from a drug dealer for a small favour- is likely to find him or herself is at risk a month or 2 later of being forced to take another bribe for a much more serious favour. The person who makes small false declarations with their company expenses this month, is more likely in a month or 2 to make bigger force declarations - and risk losing their good name, job and most importantly for philosophers – VIRTUE.

       In my view, we have to be real careful about things that tempt us towards small acts of badness or corruption, since these small steps lead us down the start of a path that may be difficult to stop once we had started.

       As in Plato’s Phaedrus - the charioteer must try to use the horse which is good and noble, rather than that which is ugly, selfish, brutish, and bad in every other way.’

An Underlying Problem to Finding our Own Unique Path ……. as Individuals and as a Society.

What Is The Purpose of Life?  Does It Matter Anyway.....?

A regular question to the attendees of my philosophy talks in Athens is ‘what is the purpose of life’. It’s not that I particularly like asking this question, it’s just that the underlying ideas behind it seem to crop up quite regularly when discussing various topics within Greek philosophy.

Quite often people seem to assume that I’m asking about ‘divine purposes’ or any reason or purpose that a God (should one exist) decide to create the universe and everything in it. Well the audience naturally tend to fall into two camps here depending on their own spiritual position.

The more religious among us start to try and come up with an answer for a universal ‘purpose of life’. Then, oddly in some ways, the people who do not believe in any kind of God or divine hand in the universe answer the question negatively, saying there is no purpose to life whatsoever. Of course, it’s quite difficult answering some of these deep questions off-the-cuff at a talk, so I cannot be completely sure that these people really think there is no purpose at all to life if there is no God.

As I quickly remind to the non-religious people - whether we are religious / spiritual and not - at some level we all still need to have ‘some’ purpose in life as we get out of bed in the morning and go about our daily routines. I disagree that no God necessarily means no purpose whatsoever.

……. and then we start to get to the nub of the question; or rather my intended question. For example, if someone asked me whether the pen I am writing with is a good pen or not, I can say yes or no, only because I know what a pen is - and what it is for. The same is true of say a glass to drink water from. Does it achieve its known purpose well or not….  However, if I asked someone whether they were a good person or not, if they do not know what a person actually is – and what our purpose is – then it is pretty difficult to say yes or no with any certainty; and everybody’s opinion about themselves and the way they live would be as good as anyone else’s. There would no recognizable truth to anyone’s answer. (Be careful of one of the traps with this. I asked a young gentleman ‘what’ he was and he replied that he was an engineer – and a good one too. Of course, this would not necessarily make him a good person…… it’s not quite the same thing.)

So when we start to talk about and consider finding the right path, and being ‘good’ people who use our time wisely (or at least fairly wisely), things start to get a little complicated. It is easy enough to know whether we are simply ‘busy’ people – but again, that is not the same thing at all. Afterall, some of the worse tyrants in history were fairly busy people…...

If we do not have ‘some’ idea of what our purpose is as individuals - surely it gets difficult to say with any certainty what the best or better path for us to follow actually is, and indeed, what sorts of things we should be doing and not doing so often along that path, and how we use our time.

Perhaps this is one of the underlying problems with society as a whole in the 21^st century as traditional religious explanations of the world have tended to crumble to the forces of the media, consumerism and scientific dogmatism.

Whether we are religious or not - without some idea of what the main purpose of a human being is and what it is for - surely it will be difficult to say with any certainty at all whether our goals and objectives (indeed purposes) are good and wise ones, or foolish.

 

[Comments welcome below]

https://www.oraclesfromdelphi.org/

Plotinus’ Treatise on the Beautiful (Ennead I, vi )

‘Try to raise the divine in yourself to the divine in all…..’

This blog on Plotinus is based on the online ‘meet up’ talk I gave in June 2020. It will appeal to anyone wanting to dig a bit deeper into Plato’s theory of forms – and his World of Perfect Ideas or Forms. In particular we will be looking at the Perfect Idea of Form of Beauty, which while including beautiful looks – also includes beautiful views, beautiful personalities, beautiful composition, and indeed ‘Beauty’ in the widest sense of the word.

It may sound as if this blog post is only about abstract and vague intellectual ideas (‘The Beautiful’ in this case……); and while it is about this in part - it is also going deeper - perhaps much deeper - into how Plato thought that we could live more  ‘ethically’ or ‘correctly and better’ - and indeed more ‘beautifully’ ourselves in the real world. In order to do this Plato believes that we need first to have some understanding of what the Idea of Beauty and the Beautiful really is in essence…..

Keep in mind also, that while we are largely discussing how we could live better ‘personally’, Plato and Plotinus’s views also apply to us as groups and communities of people (e.g. cities and countries); and about how our leaders make decisions on our behalf.

It is a fundamental principle of Platonic ethics and living 'the good life' that you have to try and improve yourself; and then after that try to improve the things and people around you in a practical way. ‘Real Greek philosophy’ is to a greater extent a ‘practical’ subject and only in part an intellectual pursuit, and often only then as a preliminary activity to action. If this is the case, then we need to look deeper at the link between the theoretical metaphysics of Plato– and his practical ethics of how to live our lives in the best possible way.

Remember metaphysics’ is simply the big stuff that is hard to prove – or disprove - with our usual science. Metaphysics is literally ‘above’ our known scientific principles.  Plato believed that there was another world all around us that we cannot usually see with our eyes, but it is actually there; and that in some ways this is the real world - in the sense of it being more important than the world of the senses that we see all around us and that we interact with using our human bodily senses.

The other ‘invisible’ world, to put it simply, we can only interact with and ‘see’ by using our mind and intellects - and in this world Ideas can actually exist on their own without any material examples of them. To ‘see’ in this this other world we are advised to close our eyes – and use our intellect to see and appreciate things. For example, we are all sitting on chairs which were ideas before they became material chairs, and perhaps you will be drinking a wine or a beer (or maybe two) later tonight which were also ideas before they came into being. While we can all appreciate these ‘visual’ and ‘ordinary’ material examples of ideas becoming “things and stuff” this is only half the story. Plato believed in a separate world of 'Perfect Ideas', which he calls ‘The Forms’ (hence Plato’s Theory of the Forms) where the basic or first idea (let’s call it a template idea) for everything exists in a perfect way

Now although chairs etc are very useful things, and easy visual examples to discuss, this Theory of the Forms also applies to other less visible or tangible concepts such as justice, courage, moderation and importantly for tonight’s talk ‘Beauty’ in this other unseen world, and here in our world, the sensible world of the bodily senses, we only see or witness ‘particular’ examples of these things.

I am not saying I agree or disagree – I am just giving a little background on deeper Platonic thought and his metaphysics. Now it is thought that Plato changed his views on this as he went through life - so it’s not a dogma he is suggesting - but something we should consider and contemplate as we try to get a fix on how the reality we live in really is - and decide how we are going to live our lives in the best possible way within that reality.

Plato also suggests that the universe and everything in it has been created or has flowed out of the one source or fountain of everything, which is beyond all description, and which he calls ‘the One’ and/or ‘the Good’. (A kind of divine fountain or source of everything…..)

According to the writings of Plato “the One” and the Good and very closely aligned – and almost different aspects of the same thing. Therefore, if we could get closer to and understand better ‘the Good’, then we would get closer to ‘The One” – the divine source.  Remember these things are ‘invisible’ Ideas – only knowable with our intellects – and not our usual senses – such as sight or sound.

In Platonic thinking the ‘contemplation and investigation’ of what the truly good and beautiful way to live is (and what the correct specific action to take in a given situation in the real world is) - is a pre requisite and first step in us choosing to live that way. Simply put, if we always act quickly and impulsively, we might do the right thing; but usually it’s better to consider what the right thing to do is before we take any action….both as individuals or leaders of a city or group.

In other words, we are looking at the idea of ‘Beauty’ in its essence (or Platonic form) - tonight to see if Plotinus suggests how we should live our life. We could of course have decided to look at other important Ideas such as Goodness, Courage and Fortitude, Moderation, Wisdom, Justice.

Socrates clearly believes in the actual existence of these perfect Ideas or Forms – and the Idea of Perfect beauty in the ‘Platonic’ sense of the word. He says that (Plato-Phaedo-100d/e):

‘….. nothing makes a thing beautiful but the presence and participation of Beauty in whatever way or manner obtained; for as to the manner I am uncertain, but I stoutly contend that by Beauty all beautiful things become beautiful. This appears to me to be the safest answer which I can give, either to myself or to another, and to this I cling, in the persuasion that this principle will never be overthrown, and that to myself or to anyone who asks the question, I may safely reply, that by Beauty beautiful things become beautiful’.

He then applies this notion to other eternal Ideas such as Greatness. According to Socrates nothing becomes great without participating in the idea of Greatness. He also says that there is no way anything comes into existence except by participation with its own proper essence or Form.

He also says that something cannot partake of two opposite perfect Ideas at the same time – for example hot and cold. A bowel of soup cannot be hot and cold at the same time – it can only move from one state of being to the other in stages….. It is a gradual process……

Let me just add a quick storey here that I call ‘The Piano Player’ which kind of fits in here – about moving from one state of being to another. Imagine a friend introduces me to someone who is an experienced concert pianist who sometimes offers instruction to other pianists. Imagine also that I have been planning to learn the piano at some point in my life, and although I have never bought a piano played one I did buy a book ‘piano for dummies’ last week albeit I haven’t read it yet. If I then say to this concert pianist that I would be grateful if he could give me a lesson it makes me seem ridiculous to people; since this pianist has so many insights to offer experienced pianists that are trying to improve.

….. And in general, learning or understanding better anything - gets better or more productive the more you know about something in the first place. A good guitarist could really learn something from Eric Clapton; a good artist could similarly learn from Leonardo da Vinci. A good sculptor from Michelangelo. The person who hasn’t made any effort at the guitar, painting or sculpture wouldn’t learn as much and might not even understand some of the things the expert is explaining. This principle applies even more for someone wanting to follow the philosophical path -or simply to try and live a little bit better. A bad selfish and greedy man does not go to bed one evening and wake up as a good man in the morning…. It also follows that the better and more ‘beautiful’ a person you are - the closer and easier it will be to understand the perfect ideas of The One, The Good and The Beautiful…..  You simply cannot recognise and know something – if you have no idea about that thing….. For example again, only a dedicated and trained mathematician can appreciate fully some high powered mathematical concepts ….

There is another problem – even for dedicated and experienced philosophers trying to following the right path. Contemplating the Good and The One is very difficult for everyone– and much harder than contemplating some of the other template Ideas or Forms….. 

Plato suggests that The Beautiful is the visible expression of the Good……..   and we can more easily see and understand examples of beautiful things around us (beautiful people – on the inside and out – beautiful sunsets and views ….. beautiful actions and behaviours - and we can listen to beautiful music etc……. So “if” we can get to understand a little better what the Beautiful actually is…… it helps us to understand what The Good is – and this in turn helps to give us some idea of what ‘The One’ is…..  since they are closely related….. Plato suggests that understanding ‘the Beautiful’ could be a stepping stone towards understanding the good. This blog is only trying to present an ‘overview’ of these things…..

This idea of steadily moving and working towards where you want to be with something being important in many fields of endeavour…… (like the piano player I just mentioned) .. includes if you are trying to be a good or ‘beautiful’ person - (again in its broadest sense) person. In Platonic thinking - the better and more beautiful a person you are - the easier it will be to understand and better the perfect ideas of The Beautiful, The Good, and who knows…. even The One

[Side Note:  someone trying to pick a beautiful diamond out of the bag of fake diamonds will find it very hard to do if he or she does not really know what a real diamond looks like. Choosing the real diamond will be guesswork at best; and might at worse be related to our physical senses and desires. E.g. someone might simply choose the biggest and shiniest looking diamond in the bag.]

So let’s discuss now what Plotinus has to say about this other worldly idea of ‘The Beautiful and the Good’ to see if it can help us get our own fix on these things – or at least help guide us with our own contemplation or search for the Beautiful… and the Good ….. and I suppose if we are very fortunate The One or the divine source of everything….

Short Biography of Plotinus

Plotinus was born in 204/205 C.E. apx in Egypt, the exact location of which is unknown. In his mid-twenties we do know he gravitated to Alexandria, where he attended the lectures of various philosophers, not finding satisfaction with any until he discovered the teacher Ammonius Saccas. He remained with Ammonius until 242 (ie about 20 years), at which time he joined up with the Emperor Gordian on an expedition to Persia, for the purpose, it seems, of engaging the famed philosophers of that country in the pursuit of wisdom. The expedition never met its destination, for Gordian was assassinated on the way in Mesopotamia, and Plotinus returned to Rome to set up his own philosophy school. (He was about 40 at this time) He taught philosophy in Rome for twenty years before the arrival of a special student to his school called Porphyry, who was destined to become his most famous pupil, as well as his biographer and the editor of his various writings…..

It was at this time, encouraged by Porphyry, that Plotinus (in his 60’s) began to collect his lecture notes / treatise and essays into any systematic form, and to compose new ones. His writings on various subjects are collectively known as The Enneads – and we are going to look at one of them this evening. (Although Plotinus regarded Plato as the ultimate authority on all things philosophical, he was known to have disagreed with him on occasions. After all – he was a great thinker and philosopher in his own right……   eg  Ennead IV.8.1 )

Plotinus is regarded by many as the father of the Neo Platonists and Neoplatonic movement -  since he was a great admirer of Plato, and refers to him along with many other philosophers in his writings; and indeed makes engaging references to Plato’s writings – using similar symbols and metaphors…...

Without going too far into this for this blog – suffice to say we should be cautious of thinking that all the Neo Platonists were the same and had similar views. This just isn’t the case since they covered a period of some 350 years – from say the founding of Plotinus’ school in Rome to the closing of all the philosophy schools in Athens around 520 CE. For example, some 200 years after Plotinus there was a another group of philosophers in Athens who are also regarded as Neo Platonists by many as they offer many commentaries and explanations of Plato. However, in my view, some of these ‘latter’ Neo Platonists of Athens (rather than the earlier Neo Platonists like Plotinus and Porphyry of the 3^rd century CE based in Rome) seem to be given much more dogmatically and prescriptively than those of the original philosophers Socrates and Plato who they claim to be explaining. It is an interesting subject for another talk maybe - but for the moment just be cautious of thinking that all the Neoplatonists were the same and shared the same ideas and views.

A final biographical point on Plotinus is that we should not make the mistake of regarding Plotinus as nothing more than a commentator on Plato, albeit a brilliant, entertaining and very understandable one. He was an original and profound thinker in his own right who wrote his own philosophical ideas as well. It is true that he borrowed and re-worked many things that he found useful from earlier thinkers such as Plato, and even from his opponents, in order to construct his essays and treatises. This great thinker and writer Plotinus died in solitude at Campania Italy in 270 C.E.

Let us now look at one of Plotinus’ pieces or Enneads that is Ennead I, part vi   which is sometimes known as his Treatise on The Beautiful. The piece itself is only 10 to 12 pages long - but it is a bit long for a blog post discussion. I have therefore chosen 3 extracts to give you a good flavour of what’s going on. (Refer to a previous post on this blog on 15th May 2020 for the "Text Extracts". Alternatively, the full piece to read if you wish is available at:  

http://jameslongerstuff.blogspot.com/2020/04/plotinus-on-beauty-ennead-i-vi-trans.html)

(Extract A) Plotinus tries to describe Beauty and define it

Notice:

-         We are talking about Beauty in its very widest sense…

-         The connection and similarities between the ‘idea’ of Beauty in the divine world, and this other visible world of the senses. (This crops up with The Cave and The Phaedrus. In the Phaedrus the lover sees a beautiful face in this world - but is reminded of the divine Beauty he once saw when his soul - not attached to his earthly body - followed a God to the outer heavens. You will see that Plotinus in his various writings often includes and refers very directly to some Platonic passages, themes and myths.

(Extract B) – The Importance of Virtue and Living Correctly

Notice:

-         Beautiful ways of life….

-          Being in control of ‘lusts’. (… Although Plato never suggests that being in love with someone - of physical intimacy is a bad thing at the appropriate time. This is different to someone who is a slave to their desires whether that be drink, sex, money or whatever. None of these things are necessarily bad providing we are in control and act appropriately with some moderation – according to Plato at least.

-           

(Extract C – Parts 1 and 2) Acting and living ‘beautifully’ (i.e How to Make Ourselves More Beautiful a both from a theoretical and practical point of view……) Pt 1 = ‘Theoretically’ and Pt 2 = ‘Practically’

Notice:

-         To actually “see” the perfect Beauty is the challenge

-         How to find it or see it. (We must shut our eyes to see…)

-         Not visible to the profane – (ties in with my piano player storey and being able to see the true diamond in the bag.) We will not see the Beautiful if we do not have ‘some idea’ what it is we are looking for…..

-         Finding our way

-         Looking after and finishing our own personal ‘statues’

-         Plotinus suggests that our goal should not simply be to live like a good person - but to live perfectly and beautifully like a God?

Some closing remarks if I may…..

So that’s a flavour of what Plotinus writes about Beauty. He tries to define what beauty actually is (which is a good place to start any philosophical discussion or contemplation) - and comes to a working definition at least that will do for his own purposes…… He then talks about the process of improving ourselves by living in virtue and living ‘correctly’ however we define this – again for our own purposes.   This is just the path or part of the process in achieving or seeing real Beauty in ourselves which is necessary if we are to be able to recognise divine Beauty at all. If you remember, I talked about only good piano players being able to learn from a great piano player – and not the beginners. There is a need for time and effort from us in the early stages.

Then later on in Plotinus’ essay he talks about us actually seeing ‘the Good and the Beautiful’ (there are echoes of Plato’s Phaedrus here which talks about the ascent of the soul represented by a chariot with 2 horses; and of Plat’s myth of the Cave);  and us not just ‘aspiring’ to be that way (like a God) but to actually live in a godlike way ourselves. Platonic philosophy is not just about reading books, discussing and observing – its about actually LIVING that way……. 

However, if we want to live in a good and beautiful way – FIRST we have to explore what these ideas actually mean in their purest sense – and then only secondly focus our attentions on trying to achieve them…… since ‘trying’ is an important part of Plato’s ethical living.

Plotinus uses the attractive and very understandable metaphor of a sculptor trying to make his statue as good as he possibly can by making small improvements here and there towards the end…… And he suggests that we should look at ourselves in the same way as we go through life - and make small improvements regularly to ourselves where we can….

In many of the talks I have given previously I have tried to strip away the extra details of Platonic philosophy so the we can grasp the essential ideas underneath. (A bit like unwrapping a Christmas present that has been over wrapped with too much string, tape and layers of paper…..) 

However, tonight we have gone the other way – and looked a bit deeper into the details of why Plato’s essential Ideas or Theory of Forms (and his metaphysics) are important to consider and understand a little…… as it helps us get a grasp at a true  understanding of the things around us…. or that we could have around us….. In part, it offers us another layer of reasoning and motivation to live in a certain way….. when on the face of it, carrying on as we are in some matters is more appealing to our down to earth senses and primal desires……

I hope you have enjoyed this small taste of Plotinus - and begin to see the importance of Plato’s Forms - and this world of ideas a little clearer…… We don’t have to agree with everything Plato, Socrates – or Plotinus says - but they can give us important signposts to follow as we make our own search for the Beautiful, the Good, and then who knows - even the One or the Divine itself… […. Since these things remember, according to Plato, are all closely related….]

I leave you with the final words of Plotinus who on his deathbed said to his friends and students gathered there:

‘Try to raise the divine in yourself to the divine in all…..’

Text for Talk - 'Know Yourself' - Gnothi Sayton

Text for talk 'Know Yourself'

 ‘Know Yourself’

'Extracts' from Plato’s First Alcibiades

(Translated by Benjamin Jowett 1817 – 1893)

(From Apx 129a) [Context – Socrates has been talking about the shoes on our feet and rings on our finger not being the actual person ‘themselves’…]

SOCRATES: Then in taking care of what belongs to you, you do not take care of yourself?

ALCIBIADES: Certainly not.

SOCRATES: For the art which takes care of our belongings appears not to be the same as that which takes care of ourselves?

ALCIBIADES: Clearly not.

SOCRATES: And now let me ask you what is the art with which we take care of ourselves?

ALCIBIADES: I cannot say.

SOCRATES: At any rate, thus much has been admitted, that the art is not one which makes 

any of our possessions, but which makes ourselves better?

ALCIBIADES: True.

SOCRATES: But should we ever have known what art makes a shoe better, if we did not know a shoe?

ALCIBIADES: Impossible.

SOCRATES: Nor should we know what art makes a ring better, if we did not know a ring?

ALCIBIADES: That is true.

SOCRATES: And can we ever know what art makes a man better, if we do not know what we are ourselves?

ALCIBIADES: Impossible.

SOCRATES: And is self-knowledge such an easy thing, and was he to be lightly esteemed who inscribed the text on the temple at Delphi? Or is self-knowledge a difficult thing, which few are able to attain?

ALCIBIADES: At times I fancy, Socrates, that anybody can know himself; at other times the task appears to be very difficult.

SOCRATES: But whether easy or difficult, Alcibiades, still there is no other way; knowing what we are, we shall know how to take care of ourselves, and if we are ignorant we shall not know.

ALCIBIADES: That is true.

SOCRATES: Well, then, let us see in what way the self-existent can be discovered by us; that will give us a chance of discovering our own existence, which otherwise we can never know.

ALCIBIADES: You say truly.

SOCRATES: Come, now, I beseech you, tell me with whom you are conversing?—with whom but with me?

ALCIBIADES: Yes.

SOCRATES: As I am, with you?

ALCIBIADES: Yes.

SOCRATES: That is to say, I, Socrates, am talking?

ALCIBIADES: Yes.

SOCRATES: And Alcibiades is my hearer?

ALCIBIADES: Yes. 

SOCRATES: And I in talking use words?

ALCIBIADES: Certainly.

SOCRATES: And talking and using words have, I suppose, the same meaning?

ALCIBIADES: To be sure.

SOCRATES: And the user is not the same as the thing which he uses?

ALCIBIADES: What do you mean?

SOCRATES: I will explain; the shoemaker, for example, uses a square tool, and a circular tool, and other tools for cutting?

ALCIBIADES: Yes.

SOCRATES: But the tool is not the same as the cutter and user of the tool?

ALCIBIADES: Of course not.

SOCRATES: And in the same way the instrument of the harper is to be distinguished from 

the harper himself?

ALCIBIADES: It is.

SOCRATES: Now the question which I asked was whether you conceive the user to be always different from that which he uses?

ALCIBIADES: I do.

SOCRATES: Then what shall we say of the shoemaker? Does he cut with his tools only or with his hands?

ALCIBIADES: With his hands as well.

SOCRATES: He uses his hands too?

[From apx First Alcibiades-129 c ]

SOCRATES [Talking about the shoemaker…]:  And does he use his eyes in cutting leather?

ALCIBIADES: He does.

SOCRATES: And we admit that the user is not the same with the things which he uses?

ALCIBIADES: Yes.

SOCRATES: Then the shoemaker and the harper are to be distinguished from the hands and feet which they use?

ALCIBIADES: Clearly.

SOCRATES: And does not a man use the whole body?

ALCIBIADES: Certainly.

SOCRATES: And that which uses is different from that which is used?

ALCIBIADES: True.

SOCRATES: Then a man is not the same as his own body?

ALCIBIADES: That is the inference.

SOCRATES: What is he, then?

ALCIBIADES: I cannot say. I do not know.

---------

SOCRATES: Nay, you can say that he is the user of the body.

ALCIBIADES: Yes.

SOCRATES: And the user of the body is the soul?   [….. or simply X Factor / psyche ]

ALCIBIADES: Yes, the soul.

SOCRATES: And the soul rules?

ALCIBIADES: Yes.

SOCRATES: Let me make an assertion which will, I think, be universally admitted.

ALCIBIADES: What is it?

SOCRATES: That man is one of three things.

ALCIBIADES: What are they?

SOCRATES: Soul, body, or both together forming a whole.

ALCIBIADES: Certainly.

SOCRATES: But did we not say that the actual ruling principle of the body is man?

ALCIBIADES: Yes, we did.

SOCRATES: And does the body rule over itself?

ALCIBIADES: Certainly not.

SOCRATES: It is subject, as we were saying?

ALCIBIADES: Yes.

SOCRATES: Then that is not the principle which we are seeking?

ALCIBIADES: It would seem not.

SOCRATES: But may we say that the union of the two rules over the body, and 

consequently that this is man?

ALCIBIADES: Very likely.

SOCRATES: The most unlikely of all things; for if one of the members is subject, the two united cannot possibly rule.

(end of extract)

Text Extracts - for Meetup Group Members on Plotinus and Beauty (Ennead 1,vi)

PLOTINUS – ON BEAUTY – Ennead I, vi

(Trans. A H Armstrong)

‘Extracts’ only for Online Meetup Talk - Monday 15th June 2020 - 8.00 pm Greek Time) 

(The full 7 page piece can be found at:

https://jameslongerstuff.blogspot.com/2020/04/plotinus-on-beauty-ennead-i-vi-trans.html  )

Extract A – Trying to Define ‘Beauty’ In Its Broadest and Metaphysical Sense

Ch 1

Beauty is mostly in sight, but it is to be found too in things we hear, in combinations of words and also in music, and in all music [not only in songs]; for tunes and rhythms are certainly beautiful: and for those who are advancing upwards from sense perception ways of life and actions and characters and intellectual activities are beautiful, and there is the beauty of virtue. If there is any beauty prior to these, this discussion will reveal it.

Very well then, what is it which makes us imagine that bodies are beautiful and attracts our hearing to sounds because of their beauty? And how are all the things which depend on soul beautiful? Are they all made beautiful by one and the same beauty or is there one beautifulness in bodies and a different one in other things? And what are they, or what is it? Some things, bodies for instance, are not beautiful from the nature of the objects themselves, but by participation, others are beauties themselves, like the nature of virtue. The same bodies appear sometimes beautiful, sometimes not beautiful, so that their being bodies is one thing, their being beautiful another. What is this principle, then, which is present in bodies? We ought to consider this first. What is it that attracts the gaze of those who look at something, and turns and draws them to it and makes them enjoy the sight? If we find this perhaps we can use it as a stepping-stone and get a sight of the rest.

Nearly everyone says that it is good proportion of the parts to each other and to the whole, with the addition of good colour, which produces visible beauty, and that with the objects of sight and generally with everything else, being beautiful is being well-proportioned and measured. On this theory nothing single and simple but only a composite thing will have any beauty. It will be the whole which is beautiful, and the parts will not have the property of beauty by themselves, but will contribute to the beauty of the whole. But if the whole is beautiful the parts must be beautiful too; a beautiful whole can certainly not be composed of ugly parts; all the parts must have beauty. For these people, too, beautiful colours, and the light of the sun as well, since they are simple and do not derive their beautifulness from good proportion, will be excluded from beauty. And how do they think gold manages to be beautiful? And what makes lightning in the night and stars beautiful to see? And in sounds in the same way the simple will be banished, though often in a composition which is beautiful as a whole each separate sound is beautiful.

Ch 2………

And when, though the same good proportion is there all the time, the same face sometimes appears beautiful and sometimes does not, surely we must say that being beautiful is something else over and above good proportion, and good proportion is beautiful because of something else? But if when these people pass on to ways of life and beautiful expressions of thought they allege good proportion as the cause of beauty in these too, what can be meant by good proportion in beautiful ways of life or laws or studies or branches of knowledge? How can speculations be well-proportioned in relation to each other? If it is because they agree, there can be concord and agreement between bad ideas. The statement that "righteousness is a fine sort of silliness" agrees with and is in tune with the saying that "morality is stupidity"; the two fit perfectly. Again, every sort of virtue is a beauty of the soul, a truer beauty than those mentioned before; but how is virtue well proportioned? Not like magnitudes or a number. We grant that the soul has several parts, but what is the formula for the composition or mixture in the soul of parts or speculations ? And what [on this theory], will the beauty of the intellect alone by itself be ?

So let us go back to the beginning and state what the primary beauty in bodies really is. It is something which we become aware of even at the first glance; the soul speaks of it as if it understood it, recognises and welcomes it and as it were adapts itself to it. But when it encounters the ugly it shrinks back and rejects it and turns away from it and is out of tune and alienated from it. Our explanation of this is that the soul, since it is by nature what it is and is related to the higher kind of reality in the realm of being, when it sees something akin to it or a trace of its kindred reality, is delighted and thrilled and returns to itself and remembers itself and its own possessions.

What likeness, then, is there between beautiful things here and There? If there is a likeness, let us agree that they are alike. But how are both the things in that world and the things in this beautiful? We maintain that the things in this world are beautiful by participating in form; for every shapeless thing which is naturally capable of receiving shape and form is ugly and outside the divine formative power as long as it has no share in formative power and form. This is absolute ugliness. But a thing is also ugly when it is not completely dominated by shape and formative power, since its matter has not submitted to be completely shaped according to the form.

Ch 3

The form, then, approaches and composes that which is to come into being from many parts into a single ordered whole; it brings it into a completed unity and makes it one by agreement of its parts; for since it is one itself, that which is shaped by it must also be one as far as a thing can be which is composed of many parts. So beauty rests upon the material thing when it has been brought into unity, and gives itself to parts and wholes alike. When it comes upon something that is one and composed of like parts it gives the same gift to the whole; as sometimes art gives beauty to a whole house with its parts, and sometimes a nature gives beauty to a single stone. So then the beautiful body comes into being by sharing in a formative power which comes from the divine forms………..

Extract B – The Importance of Virtue and Living Correctly

Ch 4

…………………….  Then we must ask the lovers of that which is outside sense "What do you feel about beautiful ways of life, as we call them, and beautiful habits and well-ordered characters and in general about virtuous activities and dispositions and the beauty of Souls? What do you feel when you see your own inward beauty? How are you stirred to wild exultation, and long to be with yourselves, gathering your selves together away from your bodies?" For this is what true lovers feel. But what is it which makes them feel like this? Not shape or colour or any size, but soul, without colour itself and possessing a moral order without colour and possessing all the other light of the virtues; you feel like this when you see, in yourself or in someone else, greatness of soul, a righteous life, a pure morality, courage with its noble look,' and dignity and modesty advancing in a fearless, calm and unperturbed disposition, and the godlike light of intellect shining upon all this. We love and delight in these qualities, but why do we call them beautiful? They exist and appear to us and lie who sees them cannot possibly say anything else except that they are what really exists. What does "really exists" mean? That they exist as beauties. But the argument still requires us to explain why real beings make the soul lovable. What is this kind of glorifying light on all the virtues? Would you like to take the opposites, the uglinesses in soul, and contrast them with the beauties? Perhaps a consideration of what ugliness is and why it appears so will help us to find what we are looking for.

Ch 5

Suppose, then, an ugly soul, dissolute and unjust, full of all lusts, and all disturbance, sunk in fears by its cowardice and jealousies by its pettiness, thinking mean and mortal thoughts as far as it thinks at all, altogether distorted, loving impure pleasures, living a life which consists of bodily sensations and finding delight in its ugliness. Shall we not say that its ugliness came to it as a "beauty" brought in from outside, injuring it and making it impure and "mixed with a great deal of evil," with its life and perceptions no longer pure, but by the admixture of evil living a dim life and diluted with a great deal of death, no longer seeing what a soul ought to see, no longer left in peace in itself because it keeps on being dragged out, and down, and to the dark? Impure, I think, and dragged in every direction towards the objects of sense, with a great deal of bodily stuff mixed into it, consorting much with matter and receiving a form other than its own it has changed by a mixture which makes it worse; just as if anyone gets into mud or filth he does not show any more the beauty which he had: what is seen is what he wiped off on himself from the mud and filth; his ugliness has come from an addition of alien matter, and his business, if he is to be beautiful again, is to wash and clean himself and so be again what he was before. So we shall be right in saying that the soul becomes ugly by mixture and dilution and inclination towards the body and matter.

This is the soul's ugliness, not being pure and unmixed, like gold, but full of earthiness; if anyone takes the earthy stuff away the gold is left, and is beautiful, when it is singled out from other things and is alone by itself. In the same way the soul too, when it is separated from the lusts which it has through the body with which it consorted too much, and freed from its other affections, purged of what it gets from being embodied, when it abides alone has put away all the ugliness which came from the other nature….

Extract C – How to Make Ourselves More Beautiful

(Extract C part 1 - ‘theoretically’)

Ch 7

So we must ascend again to the good, which every soul desires. Any-one who has seen it knows what I mean when I say that it is beautiful. It is desired as good, and the desire for it is directed to good, and the attainment of it is for those who go up to the higher world and are converted and strip off what we put on in our descent; (just as for those who go up to the celebrations of sacred rites there are purifications, and strippings off of the clothes they wore before, and going up naked) until, passing in the ascent all that is alien to the God, one sees with one's self alone That alone, simple, single and pure,' from which all depends and to which all look and are and live and think : for it is cause of life and mind and being. If anyone sees it, what passion will he feel, what longing in his desire to be united with it, what a shock of delight!

The man who has not seen it may desire it as good, but he who has seen it glories in its beauty and is full of wonder and delight, enduring a shock which causes no hurt, loving with true passion and piercing longing; he laughs at all other loves and despises what he thought beautiful before; it is like the experience of those who have met appearances of gods or spirits and do not any more appreciate as they did the beauty of other bodies. "What then are we to think, if anyone contemplates the absolute beauty which exists pure by itself, uncontaminated by flesh or body, not in earth or heaven, that it may keep its purity?" All these other things are external additions and mixtures and not primary, but derived from it……………….

(Extract C part 2 - ‘practically’)

Ch 8

….. But how shall we find the way? What method can we devise? How can one see the "inconceivable beauty " which stays within in the holy sanctuary and does not come out where the profane may see it? Let him who can, follow and come within, and leave outside the sight of his eyes and not turn back to the bodily splendours which he saw before. When he sees the beauty in bodies he must not run after them; we must know that they are images, traces, shadows, and hurry away to that which they image. For if a man runs to the image and wants to seize it as if it was the reality (like a beautiful reflection playing on the water, which some story somewhere, I think, said riddlingly a man wanted to catch and sank down into the stream and disappeared) then this man who clings to beautiful bodies and will not let them go, will, like the man in the story, but in soul, not in body, sink down into the dark depths where intellect has no delight, and stay blind in Hades, consorting with shadows there and here.

This would be truer advice "Let us fly to our dear country." What then is our way of escape, and how are we to find it? We shall put out to sea, as Odysseus did, from the witch Circe or Calypso as the poet says, I think with a hidden meaning, and was not content to stay though he had delights of the eyes and lived among much beauty of sense.' Our country from which we came is there, our Father is there. How shall we travel to it, where is our way of escape? We cannot get there on foot; for our feet only carry us everywhere in this world, from one country to another. You must not get ready a carriage, either, or a boat. Let all these things go, and do not look. Shut your eyes, and change to and wake another way of seeing, which everyone has but few use.

And what does this inner sight see? When it is just awakened it is not at all able to look at the brilliance before it. So that the soul must be trained, first of all to look at beautiful ways of life : then at beautiful works, not those which the arts produce, but the works of men who have a name for goodness : then look at the souls of the people who produce the beautiful works. How then can you see the sort of beauty a good soul has?

Ch 9

Go back into yourself and look; and if you do not yet see yourself beautiful, then, just as someone making a statue which has to be beautiful cuts away here and polishes there and makes one part smooth and clears another till he has given his statue a beautiful face, so you too must cut away excess and straighten the crooked and clear the dark and make it bright, and never stop "working on your statue" till the divine glory of virtue shines out on you, till you see " self-mastery enthroned upon its holy seat." If you have become this, and see it, and are at home with yourself in purity, with nothing hindering you from becoming in this way one, with no inward mixture of anything else, but wholly yourself, nothing but true light, not measured by dimensions, or bounded by shape into littleness, or expanded to size by unboundedness, but everywhere unmeasured, because greater than all measure and superior to all quantity; when you see that you have become this, then you have become sight; you can trust yourself then; you have already ascended and need no one to show you; concentrate your gaze and see. This alone is the eye that sees the great beauty.

But if anyone comes to the sight bleary eyed with wickedness, and unpurified, or weak and by his cowardice unable to look at what is very bright, he sees nothing, even if someone shows him what is there and possible to see. For one must come to the sight with a seeing power made akin and like to what is seen. No eye ever saw the sun without becoming sun-like,' nor can a soul see beauty without becoming beautiful. You must become first all godlike and all beautiful if you intend to see God and beauty.

First the soul will come in its ascent to intellect and there will know the Forms, all beautiful, and will affirm that these, the Ideas, are beauty; for all things are beautiful by these, by the products and essence of intellect. That which is beyond this we call the nature of the Good, which holds beauty as a screen before it. So in a loose and general way of speaking the Good is the primary beauty; but if one distinguishes the intelligibles [from the Good] one will say that the place of the Forms is the intelligible beauty, but the Good is That which is beyond, the "spring and origin" of beauty; or one will place the Good and the primal beauty on the same level: in any case, however, beauty is in the intelligible world.