Philosophy

The Ancient Roman philosopher Seneca finds:

It is a true saying which I have found in Athenodorus:

Know that you are freed from all desires when you have reached such a point that you can pray to God for nothing except what you can pray for openly.

But how foolish men are now!

They whisper the basest of prayers to heaven; but if anyone listens, they are silent at once. That which they are unwilling for men to know, they communicate to God.

Then such an advice could be given you:

Live among men as if God beheld you; speak with God as if men were listening!

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RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY

Leo Tolstoy

Lev (Leo) Tolstoy
(1828–1910)

Lev (Leo) Tolstoy, the renowned Russian novelist, won worldwide fame as a moralist and sage for his anti-ecclesiastical interpretation of Christianity and fervent preaching of non-violence.

In 1855 he wanted to found a new religion, free of dogma and mysticism. Happiness would be achieved not in heaven but on earth, by following the voice of one’s conscience.

Beginning in the early 1870s, Tolstoy engaged in a moral and religious quest that was to continue until the end of his life.

His next book, What I Believe (1882–1884), was a summing-up of Tolstoy’s creed:

He listed in it 5 commandments of Christ:

1. do not be angry;
2. do not lust;
3. do not swear oaths;
4. do not resist evil with force;
5. love all persons without distinction.

Observance of these rules would transform life on earth by putting an end to courts of law, governments, and wars between nations.

Stoicism

Among the personalities of the early Roman Empire there are few who offer to the readers of today such dramatic interest as does Lucius Annaeus Seneca(c. 4 BC – AD 65) , the author of the Moral letters to Lucilius.

The Stoic doctrine is interpreted better, from the Roman point of view, by no other Latin writer. The facts of Seneca’s life prove the sincerity of his utterances.

In no non-Christian author, except perhaps Vergil, is the beauty of holiness so sincerely presented from a Roman standpoint.

Seneca’s works discuss both ethical theory and practical advice, and Seneca stresses that both parts are distinct but interdependent.

His Letters to Lucilius showcase Seneca's search for ethical perfection and represent a sort of philosophical testament for posterity.

The letters often begin with an observation on daily life, and then proceed to an issue or principle abstracted from that observation.

The result is like a diary, or handbook of philosophical meditations. The letters focus on many traditional themes of Stoic philosophy such as the contempt of death, the stout-heartedness of the sage, and virtue as the supreme good.

Plato

Plato (c. 430 – 348 BC)

Plato was one of the most influential and important Philosophers of the Ancient Greece.

Without studies of Plato it may be very difficult to understand later Western Idealistic philosophies, including those of Christianity and especially those of Eastern Orthodox Christianity - they all have developed under influence of Plato and his students and followers.

Plato's meeting with Socrates had been a turning point in his life.

He was 28 when the master died; and this tragic end of a quiet life left its mark on every phase of the pupil's thought:

It filled him with such a scorn of democracy, such a hatred of the mob, as even his aristocratic lineage and breeding had hardly engendered in him;

it led him to a resolve that democracy must be destroyed, to be replaced by the rule of the wisest and the best.

6 Darśanas

Philosophy is the rational aspect of religion:

It is an integral part of religion in India. It is a rational enquiry into the nature of Truth or Reality. It gives clear solutions for the profound, subtle problems of life. It shows the way to get rid of pain and death and attain immortality and eternal bliss.

Philosophy has its roots in the practical needs of man. Man wants to know about transcendental matters when he is in a reflective state:

There is an urge within him to know about the secret of death, the secret of immortality, the nature of the soul, the Creator and the world.

In the following pages you can find a short overview of the 6 major schools of Indian Philosophy, also traditionally termed Six Darśanas or Shad-Darśanas, such as:

The Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Sānkhya, Yoga, Pūrva Mimāṁsa, Uttara-Mimāṁsa or Vedanta + as also the major teachings of Shaivism and Śaktism.

Non-Violence

Christian Non-Violence

The essence of Christian Non-Violence philosophy is probably expressed the best in short in the famous Declaration of Sentiments by William Lloyd Garrison which states:

We are bound by the laws of a kingdom - which is not of this world, the subjects of which are forbidden to fight;

We register our testimony, not only against all wars, whether offensive or defensive, but [against] all preparations for war:

- against every naval ship, every arsenal, and every fortification;
- against the militia system and a standing army;
- against all military chieftains and soldiers;

- against all monuments commemorative of victory over a foreign foe;

- against all appropriations for the defence of a nation by force and arms on the part of any legislative body;

- and against every edict of government requiring of its subjects military service.

Sānkhya

Sānkhya Darśana is a traditional philosophical school of India that assume the existence of 2 eternal principles – the Nature or Material principle (Prakṛti) and the Spiritual or Soul (Puruṣa).

The fundamental treatise Sānkhya Kārikā is written in the IV century AD by Īśvara Kṛṣṇa, when the Sānkhya system was on its zenith.

It is considered that Buddha Śākyamuni himself was practicing under the guidance of Sānkhya teachers, before he reached enlightenment.

Īśvara Kṛṣṇa taught that the reality is not singular but plural:

On one hand there are countless and ever changing unconscious forms of Nature (Prakṛti) and on the other hand – the incalculable amount of transcendent Selves (Puruṣas), which are in essence the pure, omnipresent and eternal consciousness.

Sānkhya Kārikās state that there these 3 primary forces – namely – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas underlying all material, including psycho-mental, phenomena.

The suffering is due to ignorance of the true nature of the Self.

George Berkeley

George Berkeley
(1685-1753)

George Berkeley (1685-1753) – is without a doubt my favourite Western Philosopher – since it was he – a notable Christian Theologian and Philosopher –

who first in Western Philosophy came so close and elaborated the concept – so familiar since very long time in Indian religious philosophy – especially in Buddhist Yogācāra school and later the teachings of Śankara – Subjective Idealism – initially called "immaterialism" – by George Berkeley himself.

As we know – Subjective Idealism – is a view on reality and the theory of knowledge – which postulates – that Reality – it is something we perceive by our senses – as sensible perceptions – which forms Ideas in our Mind (or Spirit) and this Reality – is to be found in the Mind (Spirit) – which perceives it.

But – since the reality we perceive – does not depend on our volition – and since this same reality – is perceived by Many – imperfect and limited Souls – the conclusion follows – that there is still some Other and Absolute Mind.

Milesian School

It was not accidental that the first Western Philosophers, pre-Socratics were citizens of Miletus, a prosperous trading centre of Ionian Greeks.

Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes were all from the city of Miletus in Ionia (now the western coast of Turkey) and make up what is referred to as the Milesian “school” of philosophy.

The Milesian heritage included the myths and religious beliefs of their own people and their Eastern neighbours and also the store of Egyptian and Babylonian knowledge.

Yet the Milesians consciously rejected the mythical and religious tradition of their ancestors, in particular its belief in the agency of anthropomorphic gods, and their debt to the knowledge of the East was not a philosophic one.

For the Greeks knowledge became an end in itself, and they gave free play to the typically Greek talent for generalization, abstraction, and the erection of bold and all-embracing explanatory hypotheses.

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