Plato’s The Forms vs. the Cosmos
from
Timaeus
The world of Forms
1.
The world of being;
everything in this world “always
is,” “has no becoming,” and “does
not change”.
2.
It is apprehended by the
understanding (intuition,
conscience, spiritual
understanding), not by the senses.
The physical world is the Cosmos
(the earth, the planets, the sun,
the moon, the universe, the physical
realm.
1.
The world of becoming;
everything in this world “comes to
be and passes away, but never really
is”
2.
It is grasped by opinion
and sense-perception.
3.
The cosmos itself came
into being, created using as its
model the world of Forms.
The cosmos cannot be eternal, as a
Form is, since it comes into being.
But it is as much like a Form, as
close to being eternal, as it can
be, although never quite good
enough, leading to
insatisfaction and suffering
ultimately.
The material world needs to be
respected as an image of the Divine
realm but not clinged to because it
is not eternal. To kill an animal in
the material world is as though
killing an animal in the Forms realm
since it's soul is animated by God
in the Forms Spirit Realm.
The Demiurge (Creator)
Demiurge means
“craftsman.” The creator of Plato’s
physical world is not a divine
intelligence or a personal ruler,
but rather a manual laborer.
(According to the Apocryphon of
John, demiurge or the creator of the
physical world is Saklas,
Yaltaboath, the ruler of the
material universe, born in ignorance
from Sophia without the approval
of God.
Saklas has the body of a serpent and
the head of a lion. This would not
make him a manual laborer of God but
rather an impostor thinking that he
alone is God, with no knowledge of
God the Virgin Spirit, the True
Origen of the Real, the Forms, the
Spirit World, but not the material,
non-eternal created world.
The material world was never
approved by God. God gave his Spirit
to enliven material humans because
Saklas was unable to enliven them
only giving them material bodies and
God thus tricked Saklas into blowing
his spirit into the human so it
would eventually be redeemed to the
Eternal Forms realm.
Thus God sent his Son Christ to
teach the humans caught in
Yaltabaoth’s material web to be
reborn as True Form Humans, the
original image that Yaltaboath
copied.
John (Baptist, Apostle Beloved)
received Christ’s message and was
reborn in Spirit as the Ideal Form
of Human, by purifying his physical
body and mind with living, spirit
activated water found in fruits and
vegetables which are from the tree
of the knowledge (gnosis) of good
and evil and not the tree of life
(biological earth bound life).
There is the creation story of John
and the creation story of Moses. The
creation story of Moses says that
God created the heavens and the
earth and it was good. John says
that Yaltaboath or Yahweh created
the material heavens and the earth
and it was not good or not approved
by God.
Moses says that God blew His spirit
into the earthy clay man in order to
make it live, John says that
Yaltaboath blew his Spirit into the
man to animate him because the
Angels of the True God told him to.
John relating what Christ the Son of
God tells him, says that Yaltaboath
created man from the form he saw
reflected on the water. This was the
reflection of the True Form hu-Man
that God emanated spiritually.
John's story of creation reveals
that the forbidden fruit from the
tree of the knowledge (Gnosis) of
good and evil (apples and all juicy
fruit) was only forbidden by
Yaltaboath to prevent Adam and Eve
from realizing their True Nature as
God Emanated Humans and not clay
formed, material copies.
The tree of life is really the tree
of biological, earth bound life and
would include tree nuts, seeds,
avocados etc. all of which produce
an excess of reproductive substances
in the
body thus perpetuating giving birth
and its fruit death and thereby
rebirth and the continual rounds of
flesh bound lives in the material
false copied world created by
Yaltaboath in ignorance.
Christ says in the Apocryphon of
John that Moses was wrong about his
story of Noah's Ark and about Sofia
moving back and forth (in repentance
for creating Yaltaboath) and thus
Christ is saying Moses was in error.
Moses gave orders to
kill every man,
woman and child in
the land that he
conquered and became
angry when his
soldiers spared
lives
Num
31:1-18.
Thus Moses was
following the will
of Yaldaboath and
Ya-weh, (Yahweh or
Yahova was the offspring of
Yaldaboath and Eve along with Elohim
also known as Cain and Abel. Cain
was the cat/lion faced evil one and
the good one Abel was bear/dog faced.
So Yaldaboath was not directly
Yahweh but rather his father and
therefore Yaldaboath worked through
his son Yahweh.) Yaldaboath was born in
ignorance, and has
no mercy. How could
Moses order the
killing of every
man, woman and child
if it goes against
the ten commandments
which says thou
shalt not kill?
Irenaeus was against the Gnostics
and prevented the Apocryphon of John
from being accepted as canon or
authorized scripture. Genesis
written by Moses became the accepted
story of creation and not the true
story as related by Christ to John.
The gospel of John was allowed and
the Apocalypse but not the
Apocryphon which really clarifies
creation as the act of Yaltaboath.
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Plato says in Timaeus:
[the Demiurge] began to think of
making a moving image of eternity:
at the same time as he brought order
to the universe, he would make an
eternal image, moving according to
number, of eternity remaining in
unity. This, of course, is what we
call “time.”
(the demiurge Yaltaboath in
ignorance tried to copy the eternal
timeless realm by making an image of
it bound to time and space or a
moving image of eternity, but it
i.e. the material world was born in
ignorance and will pass away not
being eternal.
The Buddha says that our essence is
not anything that is born and passes
away, and therefore to desire and
thus cling or be attached to
anything that is coming into
material existence and passing away
is ignorance. This body, these
thoughts, these emotions, this
thought of being a separate soul or
skin encapsulated ego instead of an
Emanation of the Self-Godhead as a
Human Being or God-Mind in the Realm
of the Forms are all coming and
going).
So, we have both the Buddha the
Light of Asia and Christ the Light
of the world saying that this
material world is not the eternal
Kingdom of God. The Vedas of India
also say this material world is Maya
or illusion.
In the parable of a cave (note
that both Christ and Plato use
parables to educate) Plato likens
people untutored in the Theory of
Forms to prisoners chained in a
cave.
All they can see is the wall of the
cave. Behind them burns a fire.
Between the fire and the prisoners
there is a puppet stage.
The puppeteers behind the prisoners
hold up puppets that cast shadows on
the wall of the cave.
The prisoners are unable to see the
puppets, the real forms, that pass
behind them.
What the prisoners see and hear are
shadows and echoes cast by the real
forms that they do not see.
All material objects like human
bodies, dogs, trees, butterflys etc.
are not the real forms but rather
projected shadows.
We see with our physical senses a
beautiful woman, that is to say with
our limited, non-form, shadow senses
we observe a shadow of the form of a
real woman.
We don't really see because we are
using the shadow of sight not
spiritual sight to see shadows of
the true ideal forms of everything.
Thus the whole material world is a
motion picture fiction, an illusion
created in ignorance by Saklas the
demiurge.
Just like in a really great movie we
forget sometimes that it's not real,
and we lose ourselves in it,
likewise we lose our True Selves in
the material, social fabric of life
on earth and become earth bound.
Our shadow soul given to us by
Yaltaboath (Saklas) is the shadow of
our true Spiritual Soul or Human
Self given to us by God the Father
of All.
And we all were given this Spiritual
Soul Human Self, because Saklas
could not animate the physical man
image he made after he saw the true
human form reflected on the water.
Only when God's Spirit was blown
into it from Saklas' mouth did the
man come alive.
And Man became greater than Saklas,
more intelligent because Saklas was
the form of ignorance a serpent lion
whereas Man was the image of the
perfect God formed Human.
So when the Gnostics are criticized
for seeing this material world as
not good or not of God and a prison,
they are not
alone in history because the light
of Asia the Buddha, the Hindus, the
Christ and Plato, perhaps the
greatest of the Greek philosophers
are in complete agreement.
The Buddha talked about the "turning
about of consciousness" or turning
around in the cave to see the forms
and not the shadows of material
sense perception of physical objects
projected on the wall.
Plato
was perhaps the greatest of all
Greek philosophers.
He
gave us
the cluster of ideas that Diotima
conveys to Socrates at Plato's
Symposium
(a Symposium is usually a Greek
feast with wine and entertainment,
but at this symposium all were sober
and there was no entertainment).
The theory of Diotima consists of
the following parts:
1. Diotima defines Love (Eros)
as the desire to possess the good
(or true beauty) forever.
2. This desire is not only the
openly sexual kind (what is usually
called "love"), but also the
businessman's and worker's desire of
riches, the artist's desire of
beautiful works, or the
philosopher's love of wisdom.
3. All lovers desire to create,
either children, or more
intellectual things such as art
works and political systems. By
being creative lovers achieve some
sort of immortality.
4. The beauty and offspring of the
mind are more honorable than those
of the body or having children and
also material wealth, objects of
art, buildings and gardens.
The most admirable lovers are those
who move from the love of the
physical and individual to the love
of the intellect/virtue/character
and general.
This is the true meaning of Platonic
love. It is aphysical love and
pro-virtue/character/intellect
(brightness, light) love.
If a relationship was based on these
then it could include physical love
as a secondary consumation but not
for the purpose of procreation
ideally rather for co-recreation,
the healing power of sexual energy
based on true Platonic love.
Plato is considered by many to be
the most important philosopher who
ever lived. He is known as the
father of idealism in philosophy.
His ideas were elitist, with the
philosopher king the ideal ruler.
He saw tripartite structures in
the world around him reflecting
the tripartite trinity of God
the Father, the Mother and Son.
His social structure theory had
a governing class (politicians,
academics, doctors, lawyers,
business leaders), warriors
(military, police), and workers
(employees, management).
He thought the human soul
contained reason (intellect,
logic), spirit (virtue, ethics,
morals), and appetite (for food,
sex, wealth in moderation). This
is similar to holistic health's
Mind, Body, Spirit where mind is
reason, intellect, logic, body
is appetite, desire, need and
spirit is virtue, goodness,
rightness, justice, love.
Plato founded an institution of
learning known as the Academy,
from which we get the word
academic.
The Academy included a grove of
trees, gardens, a gymnasium and
many shrines including one
dedicated to Athena herself, the
goddess of the city.
Plato created his own cult
association, setting aside a
portion of the Academy for his
purposes and dedicating his cult
to the Muses.
Soon this 'school' became rather
well-known on account of its
common meals and sympotic
lifestyle, modified, of course,
to suit a new agenda.
Indeed, Plato's Academy was
famed for its moderate eating
and talk as well as all the
appropriate sacrifices and
religious observances.
Overshadowing all of that was,
of course, its philosophical
activity.
Plato was originally named
Aristocles, but one of his
teachers gave him the familiar
name, either because of the
breadth of his shoulders or his
speech.
Plato was related to Solon and
could trace his ancestry to the
last legendary king of Athens,
Codrus. Buddha was the son of a
king and John was the son of a
high priest.
Plato was a student and follower
of Socrates until 399, when the
condemned Socrates died after
drinking the prescribed cup of
hemlock.
It is through Plato that we are
familiar with Socrates'
philosophy because he wrote
dialogues in which his teacher
took part, usually asking
leading questions, the Socratic
method. Plato's Apology
is his version of the trial and
the Phaedo, the death of
Socrates.
When Plato died, in 347 B.C.
leadership of the Academy passed
not to Aristotle who had been a
student and then teacher there
for 20 years, and who expected
to follow, but to Plato's nephew
Speusippus, a noble relative.
The Academy continued for
several more centuries.
Plato's Symposium
contains ideas on love held by
various philosophers and other
Athenians.
It entertains many points of
view, including the idea that
people were originally doubled,
most with the opposite gender
and a few with the same gender
and that, once cut, they spend
their lives looking for their
other part. This idea "explains"
sexual preferences, i.e. 2-4%
same sex preferences.
The mythical place known as
Atlantis appears as part of a
parable in a fragment of Plato's
late dialogue Timaeus and
also in Critias.
In the Middle Ages, Plato was
known mostly through Latin
translations of Arabic
translations and commentaries.
In the Renaissance, when Greek
became more familiar, far more
scholars studied Plato.
Since then, he has had an impact
on math and science, morals, and
political theory.
Instead of following a political
path, Plato thought it more
important to educate would-be
statesmen to be a
philosopher-king. The greatest
human by virtue of their
philosophical achievement and
nobility would rule the
republic.
For this reason, he set up a
school for future leaders. His
school was called the Academy,
named for the park in which it
was located. Plato's Republic
contains a treatise on
education.
It is widely known that Plato,
pupil of and close friend to
Socrates, accepted that Human
Beings have a " Tripartite Soul
" where the individual Human
Psyche is noticeably composed of
three aspects -
1.
Wisdom-Rationality,
2.
Spirited-Will and
3.
Appetite-Desire.
THE
TRIPARTITE SOUL
MIND/BODY/SPIRIT
1. MIND
OR SPIRITED-WILL I.E. THE EGO OR
LOWER SELF
2. BODY OR DESIRE
3. SPIRIT
OR WISDOM-RATIONALITY, LOVE OF
DIVINE TRUTH OR WISDOM =
LOVEWISDOM
(editor's
comments in parentheses)
3. Appetite-Desire
the
following is Socrates speaking
in Plato's Republic Book 9:
We called it appetitive, on
account of the violence of the
appetites of hunger, thirst, and
sex, and all their
accompaniments
(i.e. MATERIAL PLEASURES like:
cars, mansions, lands, estates,
physical pleasures like luxury
beds, perfumes, high fashion
clothing, luxury furniture and
appliances, latest cell
phone/computer, magazines,
books, sexual pleasure. CAN WE
COMBINE FOOD THIRST SEX COMFORTS
WITH WISDOM-RATIONALITY? LIKE
EATING A LIVING LACTO-VEGETARIAN
DIET, SEXUAL CONSERVATION OR
KAREZZA)
and we called it peculiarly
money-loving, because money is
the chief agent in the
gratification of such appetites.
Yes, we were right.
Then if
we were to assert that the
pleasure and the affection of
this third part have gain
(GAINING MONEY, MAKING MONEY,
BEING RICH)
for their object, would not this
be the best summary of the facts
upon which we should be likely
to settle by force of argument,
as a means of conveying a clear
idea to our own minds, whenever
we spoke of this part of the
soul? And shall we not be right
in calling it money-loving and
gain-loving?
I confess I
think so, he replied.
(2.
Spirited-Will)
Again, do we
not maintain that the spirited
part is wholly bent on winning
power and victory and celebrity?
(i.e. BEING FAMOUS, RESPECTED BY
THE WORLD, DRAMA OF REPUTATION,
HONOR, SOCIETAL VALUE, SOCIAL
STANDING, SOCIAL MEDIA
POPULARITY, SCANDAL, DO MY
AUNTS/COUSINS LOVE ME OR HATE
ME? IT'S ALL SO IRRELEVANT, NOT
IMPORTANT, BUT WE WORRY ABOUT
IT, ALL THE TIME. I WORK TO LET
IT GO. ALSO DOES CBS
NEWS/MAINSTREAM MEDIA ACCEPT
LOVEWISDOM OR THE
PARADISIAN-VITALOGICAL SCIENCE
MOVEMENT ? NO, THEY DO NOT. AND
SO WORK TO LET IT GO, NOT WORRY
ABOUT THINGS NOT WORTH WORRYING
ABOUT. THE PSYCHIC OR
SPIRITED-WILL IS THE ARCHON EGO
MIND, THAT IS NOT OUR TRUE SELF
OR HIGHER SELF COMPOSED OF LOWER
ON EARTH SELF AND HIGHER SELF IN
HEAVEN AND YOUR PARTNER
CONSCIENCE. WE HAVE NO POWER
OVER OTHER PEOPLE, NOT EVEN
FEMALE PARTNERS I.E. THE MACHO
DOMINANCE, THEY CAN AND WILL
LEAVE FREELY, ILLUSION OF MALE
DOMINANCE ALTHOUGH THEY LIKE TO
BE LEAD IN SOME THINGS AND MEN
ARE LEAD BY WOMEN TOO, LIKE ADAM
WHEN HE WAS GUIDED BY HIS
CONSCIENCE OR THE FEMALE IN THE
GARDEN OF EDEN.)
Certainly we do.
Then would
the title of strife-loving and
honour-loving be appropriate to
it?
Yes, most appropriate?
(1. Wisdom-Rationality)
Well, but with regard to the
part by which we learn, it is
obvious to everyone that its
entire and constant aim is to
know how the truth stands, and
that this of all the elements of
our nature feels the least
concern for wealth (number 3)
and reputation (number 2).
Yes, quite the least.
(THIS IS YOUR TRUE SELF, THE
REAL YOU, NOT THE EGO
WILLED-SPIRIT OF THE ARCHONS OR
THE BODY SOMATIC DESIRE OF THE
MATERIAL BODY WHICH IS
DESIRE-APPETITE-MAMMON SEEKING.
WHAT REALM OF THE TRIPARTATE ARE
YOU ACTING FROM? IS IT SOLELY
FROM THE LOWER TWO 2. AND 3. OR
CAN YOU MIX THE FIRST 1. OR
WISDOM WITH THE OTHER ACTIONS OF
FOOD-MONEY-SEX AND
FAME-RESPECT-HONOR.)
Then shall we not do well to
call it knowledge-loving and
wisdom-loving? (Wisdom Loving or
Love of Wisdom, Wisdom is Higher
Knowledge not merely
intellectual, scientific,
materially and temporally
quantifiable knowledge or
Divine Truth or Lovewisdom).