How to!

[Guest guest]

Namaste Brothers and Sisters,

 

I recently was in a bit of bother, on a different

list,now defunct because of an overeaction to Sai Baba

saying He had nothing to do with the internet. I was

asking for instances of Greek Philosophers showing

'how to', Liberation. My point is that the later

teachings that caught on from the Greeks were really

all about the mind. This emphasis sent Western

attempts at civilisation on to an eventual

materialistic path. ?There was much talk about mystery

schools, orphism, Apollonius, Pythagoras etc but not

much evidence.

 

In Vedanta there are scientific steps we can take, to

work towards Realisation. Japa, meditation, Who am I?,

So-Hum etc. Admittedly there are many schools of

thought in the East. Everything from worshipping to

non-duaism. However they are all steps on an eventual

path. Sanathana Dharma,perenniel wisdom, in theory and

practice.

 

I would be interested if anyone has a quote from Greek

or Western Philos, showing 'how to'.

 

Love Tony.

 

=====

http://members.xoom.com/aoclery/ (glossary incl?)

 

Keep on truckin-Chant the Gayatri! Breathe So----Ham!

 

"God is formless. In order to merge in the formless God,

you have to give up identification with the body."

"There is only one 'Soul' and 'That' is God." Sai Baba.

[Guest guest]

At 12:35 PM 11/10/99 -0800, Tony O'Clery wrote:

 

>I would be interested if anyone has a quote from Greek

>or Western Philos, showing 'how to'.

 

 

I'm just pondering now, no references yet, but there's a place in Symposium

where Plato describes how Love blossoms, generalizes and spreads out to all

things once it is better understood. I'd have to re-read it to see what

kind of endpoint he points to. In mystical Christianity there are the Dark

Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross, and the Cloud of

Unknowing. They are used by people as manuals of

transcendence. Bernadette Roberts writes a lot about non-duality using St.

John of the Cross as a map.

 

Then there are the medieval alchemists, Rosicrucians and hermeticists who

have very elaborate paths, rites of initiation, graded levels, etc. Many

of these schools either still exist or have been discovered and

re-vitalized over the last 100 years. It is less clear that the endpoint

they point to in this life is non-dual realization, because they often

involve cosmic evolution, but all the ones I've looked into do advocate

transcendence of some sort and freedom from suffering.

 

Regards,

 

--Greg

[Guest guest]

> At 12:35 PM 11/10/99 -0800, Tony O'Clery wrote:

>

> > I would be interested if anyone has a quote from Greek

> > or Western Philos, showing 'how to'.

>

 

Plotinus;

 

Intellect can veil itself from the world and concentrate its gaze

within, and though it sees nothing, it will behold a light - not an

external light in some perceived object, but a solitary light, pure and

self-contained, suddenly revealed within itself. . . We must not enquire

whence it comes, for there is no "whence". . . He does not come as one

expected, and his coming knows no arrival; he is beheld not as one who

enters but who is eternally present. [5.7-8.]

 

Our thought cannot grasp the One as long as any other image remains

active in the soul . . To this end, you must set free your soul from all

outward things and turn wholly within yourself, with no more leaning to

what lies outside, and lay your mind bare of ideal forms, as before of

the objects of sense, and forget even yourself, and so come within sight

of that One. [6.9.7]

 

with love, andrew

[Guest guest]

>

> > At 12:35 PM 11/10/99 -0800, Tony O'Clery wrote:

> >

> > > I would be interested if anyone has a quote from Greek

> > > or Western Philos, showing 'how to'.

> >

 

More Plotinus:

 

A bolder course would be to abandon the duality of seer and seen, and

count both as one. In that vision the seer does not see or distinguish,

or even imagine, two; he is changed, no longer himself nor owning

himself there, but belongs to God, one with him, centre joined with

centre. [6.9.10]

 

If he remembers who he became when he merged with the One, he will bear

its image in himself. He was himself one, with no diversity in himself

or his outward relations; for no movement was in him, no passion, no

desire for another, once the ascent was accomplished. Nor indeed was

there any reason or thought, nor, if we dare say it, any trace of

himself. [6.9.11.]