Plato (427-347 B.C.) wrote "For there is no light of justice or temperance or any of the higher ideas which are precious to souls in the earthly copies of them: they are seen through a glass dimly."
Paul (5-67 A.D. or C.E.) wrote "For now we see through a glass darkly."
One might easily make the case that Paul, who was a learned man, knew Greek, and was immersed in the theophilosophical consciousness of the time, was influenced by Plato. Plato's apt metaphor of seeing "through a glass dimly" thus appears in the Bible.
For many, this is of no or little interest or import. For others, engaged in anti-Christian, anti-Bible polemics, this is additional fodder for their anti-canon cannons.
For me, it is a further understanding and confirmation of how ideas, once born into this world, are here to stay and to unfold in the minds of others. And more than that, it gives me even greater respect for Plato who provided great insights and vast room for those who were to come after him.
He wrote this: "For a man must have intelligence of universals, and be able to proceed from the many particulars of sense to one conception of reason, -- this is the recollection of those things which our soul once saw while following God -- when regardless of that which we now call being she raised her head up towards the true being. And therefore the mind of the philosopher alone has wings; and this is just, for he is always, according to the measure of his abilities, clinging in recollection to those things in which God abides, and in beholding which He is what He is."
"And he who employs aright these memories is ever being initiated into perfect mysteries and alone becomes truly perfect. But, as he forgets earthly interests and is rapt in the divine, the vulgar deem him mad, and rebuke him; they do not see that he is inspired."
May we all have the mind of a philosopher. May our minds have wings. May we all be continuously inspired.
Paul (5-67 A.D. or C.E.) wrote "For now we see through a glass darkly."
One might easily make the case that Paul, who was a learned man, knew Greek, and was immersed in the theophilosophical consciousness of the time, was influenced by Plato. Plato's apt metaphor of seeing "through a glass dimly" thus appears in the Bible.
For many, this is of no or little interest or import. For others, engaged in anti-Christian, anti-Bible polemics, this is additional fodder for their anti-canon cannons.
For me, it is a further understanding and confirmation of how ideas, once born into this world, are here to stay and to unfold in the minds of others. And more than that, it gives me even greater respect for Plato who provided great insights and vast room for those who were to come after him.
He wrote this: "For a man must have intelligence of universals, and be able to proceed from the many particulars of sense to one conception of reason, -- this is the recollection of those things which our soul once saw while following God -- when regardless of that which we now call being she raised her head up towards the true being. And therefore the mind of the philosopher alone has wings; and this is just, for he is always, according to the measure of his abilities, clinging in recollection to those things in which God abides, and in beholding which He is what He is."
"And he who employs aright these memories is ever being initiated into perfect mysteries and alone becomes truly perfect. But, as he forgets earthly interests and is rapt in the divine, the vulgar deem him mad, and rebuke him; they do not see that he is inspired."
May we all have the mind of a philosopher. May our minds have wings. May we all be continuously inspired.
For many these days, it is "the thing" to stand without any God and thus to make oneself a god, to spurn and scorn any God language and to try to fly around holding on to one's own bootstraps. Self is god. We kiss our own hands and fall down in adoration at our feet. This is vulgarity. this is madness. We raise ourselves on our haunches and howl at the universe. We forget it is the universe that births us. What comedians we are.
ReplyDeleteThanks, G! Perfectly divine for me this morning,
ReplyDeleteT
How deeply, and on how many levels, those words move me. Thank you, George. Knowing you is such a blessing!
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