Archive for March, 2011
Photo: jothecrusher
Unfortunately, this is sad, how women were treated … especially, by some of, said to be wise people, who were men only. And, some fools followed them blindly; that’s the way, a decadent society takes place.
In China, during the period of Confucius, it was believed,” women didn’t have any soul,” so killing of women wasn’t punishable. Women! Are you angry?
That’s not the limit
Even, there are stories about Gautama Buddha and Mahavir that they were hesitant to initiate the women. Though, later on, Buddha became comfortable, but Mahavir insisted that a woman needs to take birth as a man, if she wants self-realization. Well, it was humiliating.
Women are the mothers, they forgive … they keep on doing this time to time, and every time they do. Women are the source of creation, they create; whereas, all the destructions are by the men. Women make and men spoil.
Anyway, Confucius is dead; Buddha and Mahavir are dead, too. But the question is, what stops us to turn rebel against the blind belief system?
Photo: foxypar4
Plato insists that a ruler or a politician must be a philosopher. Socrates also believed in the same way. Because, a philosopher, or say sage, is the person who works on knowledge, concept, reason and logic, and his ways are universal, not tend to any biasness.
Though, the sages are less in number, most of the time, they are framed and killed, in the hands of those politicians who never want to be wise. And, still, sages are less, and hardly (actually no one) dare to go into politics; even, they say, politics are not for sages (so irresponsible statement).
No matter, how spiritual we talk negativity shadows the positivity. The real example is: people don’t have sane leaders. The day, leaders turn into sages, the whole world will change. And, the huge military, weapons, wars and terrorism would disappear.
Photo: The Raging Elephant
As knowledge never comes from perceptions and opinions; Plato also insists that individual pleasure isn’t the virtue. Underline it “Individual pleasure isn’t the virtue.”
Because, what is pleasure to a person, maybe, displeasure to other. And, what causes displeasure isn’t the virtue. So, this way, the difference between the truth and untruth end.
Virtue isn’t connected with pleasure or displeasure; though, its implications may cause pleasure to all, or displeasure to all; depends upon, how people take it.
The wrong teachings: the perception is knowledge and individual pleasure is virtue, in fact, cause much harm. No matter, how much we appreciate the teachings of Socrates and Plato, for character, knowledge and ethics. People, in general, are limited to “what is right for them, is right,” no matter how much other people are hurt.
Everyone is well aware of Japan condition (watch BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598 ) have a look at newspapers and T.V News Channels. Still, things are not normal. Unpredictable earthquakes and other calamities can occur anywhere, any part of the world. People lose lives, beloved and other valuables. The real scene is much more heart breaking. People need support, they are looking for support.
Though, countries are supposed to help at their level. But, you can help also; if each one of us contributes few dollars, the collected amount would be of great help.
Please, watch the following: Google Crisis Response, a google.org project. From where, you can participate in, Japanese Red Cross Society, International Medical Corps, Unicef, Save the Children and can know other ways to help. And, the second link is for fetching or submitting information of the people lost or found.
Photo: Rickydavid
A human soul has three parts: One part is in head, second around chest, and third below the chest. The soul of animals has two parts, around chest and below the chest. And, the soul of plants has one part, below the chest only.
The part which is in head belongs to reason and intellect, and it is immortal. The other two parts are mortal; the part around chest, belongs to noble qualities, e.g., intuition, truth, love, justice etc. The part below the chest belongs to sensual appetite, and it has ignoble qualities.
It was Plato’s doctrine of the soul.
In contrast:
Some people believe that soul is in unity, a bright shining dot, living between the eyebrows. Some believe this dot is just nothing but the projection of mind. And, some people believe soul lives in the heart … And, some believe there is no soul at all.
Well, what do you think about soul, do share in comments.
Photo: Pip_Wilson
This is the doctrine of the world, where Plato had to create the God. Interestingly, the man of logic and reason had to take the support of myth and its stories, which he created himself, maybe, he knew intuitively, whatever. But it doesn’t look like rational approach; rather, it looks like the mental projection of some mystic poet.
Initially, God finds “ideas” and “formless matter” beside him. For Plato, Idea is the technical name for objective reality that exists in unity, out of time and space, and it is universal, immutable and imperishable. Now, God creates the souls; these souls are incorporeal but occupy the space. God spreads the souls like a net across the empty space. In next step, God bisects the space into two inner and outer circles, and these circles become the spheres of planets and stars. He takes the formless matter and binds into four elements, and uses these elements to fill into the empty net of the souls. This way the universe is created.
Photo: Pomegranaca
A fear or hallucination is not real. If it is; it should be for everyone, isn’t it? Some common fears are not fears at all, for example, of fire, wild animals, etc., they are defense mechanism, essential for survival. But a fear, that looks real to you, and unreal to others, is worth considering. Let’s have a look how it comes?
We are talking in the context of Plato’s theory of ideas, here ideas mean objective concepts. In simple term, this theory says, whatever you think should exist in objective reality, if it doesn’t; you are hallucination or fearing, from something which doesn’t exist at all.
If you have the problem of hallucination or fear, you need to understand this theory pretty well. And mainly the factors, which never exist always, drive the hallucinations and fears. This understanding is enough to erase your misunderstanding about hallucinations and fears. Guru thinks so, what do you think?
Photo: ellz
A flower is beautiful; some man or woman is beautiful; the moon and stars are beautiful. “Then what is beauty?” though, flower, man, woman, moon and stars all are different. If you ask Plato, he’d say, beauty has a separate identity, its own existence, universal, eternal and out of time and space; it is the ground on which you relate everything to be beautiful.
According Plato, concepts are the objective realities. The difference between a mad and a normal person is: a mad person has concepts which aren’t the objective realties. The technical name, Plato put for objective concepts is “ideas.”
Like beauty, everything, for example, trust, justice, love, hate, ugly, permanent, temporary, good, bad, smart … and so on, each one exists independently, external to the mind, somewhere out of time and space. Again, which doesn’t exist in objective reality and you think that, then, either you are hallucinating or you are mad. Plato has logic in his theory. Isn’t it?
For the objective concepts, the ideas, Plato gave following characteristics: Read More »
Photo: chooyutshing
You are a seeker of truth, and can reason out things on a fair ground, then, you must go through the Plato’s theory of knowledge.
To know what the knowledge is, first is to understand what doesn’t come in knowledge; our perceptions and opinions, obviously, aren’t knowledge; as both change from person to person. Second, to understand the definition of knowledge, it is better to use all the intellectual abilities, and to look into what Plato and Socrates have said about it.
In “Theory of knowledge,” Plato proves both the point: First, perception isn’t the knowledge; second, opinion isn’t the knowledge. We will talk about both the points and later on will ponder upon the definition of knowledge.
Plato had to give “Theory of knowledge,” because the teachings of Sophists, Cynics, and Heracleitus had perverted the meaning of knowledge, as they couldn’t objectify the knowledge in its true universal sense, and believed what appears to senses is right and lost in their own assumptions. But, Plato strongly refuted by telling that perception and opinion aren’t the knowledge. Read More »
Photo: hanneorla
He was born in aristocratic Athenian family, with wealth, power and status. But, he left his career of a ruler, a tyrant. Nevertheless, he opted much greater: the meaning and purpose of existence.
The war among the states and, killings and bloodsheds among the tyrants confused Plato to the extent that he felt no purpose of being a tyrant. Though, later in his life, he tried to help some tyrants to have some philosophical wisdom, but every time his life was at stake and all his efforts ended in disasters, he hardly saved his life.
Actually, there is no match of wisdom and politics; however, there are fewer exceptions (but, very rare), as Guru knows in Indian history King Janak and King Krishna, both had wisdom and politics; the examples of their wisdom are well known master pieces: Astavakra Gita and Bhagavada Gita.
Politics belongs to manipulation of its worst kind and Plato felt damn uncomfortable in it. He was born philosopher, he kept on studying the teachings of other philosophers, but after getting in touch with Socrates he explored the meaning of existence to its widest extent. As the ways of Socratics were only conversational, Plato worked in organized and systematic way, mostly in seclusion, and kept the record of his work.