Difference Between Greek and Hindu Philosophy

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The majority of Greek and Hindu philosophy was written during the late BC period during a time of extreme philosophical productivity. This was not the only period in which philosophical advancements were made, but it was probably the most productive in documented history. However, according to the traditionalist Coomaraswamy, Greek and Hindu metaphysics are to be conflated with each other in what is essentially the only possible metaphysics. What I am arguing is that there are structural dissimilarities between Greek and Hindu philosophy- the two being inverses of each other.

Coomaraswamy and Radhakrishnan

There are really two types of Indians, there are Coomaraswamy Indians and Radhakrishnan Indians. Radhakrishnan Indians attempt to distinguish Greek and Hindu metaphysics as much as possible and see the Indian metaphysics as resembling the closest that of modern idealism, while the Coomaraswamy Indians see Indian philosophy as essentially Greek- or do they see Greek philosophy as essentially Indian. Coomaraswamy was really building off of the work of two catholic philosophers: Rene Guenon and Julius Evola, who classify the work of the Indians as esoteric- to be grouped in the same category as Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Coomaraswamy really must not have followed the same mold, and although his analysis of Hindu art should be labeled traditionalist, he must really be an ordinary Indologist equipped with the ordinary language movement. Thus Coomaraswamy is probably more popular with the Western audience, but in reality, Radhakrishnan is probably correct.

Difference Between Greek and Hindu Philosophy

Greek philosophy and Indian philosophy are really structurally distinctive entities- the two being inverses of each other. Indian philosophy is really around 70% esoteric and 30% philosophy, while Greek philosophy is 70% philosophy and 30% not esotericism, but spirituality, which is uses a looser epistemic framework in which to make transcendent claims. The reason that Indian philosophy should be considered esoteric is that the Indian philosophy is documented in a divine language with many indications pointing to the fact that it is describing a true facet of reality. This seems to be lacking in its Greek counterpart. But if you want to drop the esoteric-spiritual distinction, the fact is that Indian philosophy is mostly transcendent, while Greek philosophy is mostly transcendental. I didn’t say one was superior to the other, but one has to take his pick where his interests lie. Does he prefer transcendence or does he prefer the transcendental. Me personally, I believe I have philosophical talent and in fact the vast majority of what I was doing in my late teens and early twenties was philosophical metaphysics- the reconstruction of modern idealism- but my interests tend to lie in transcendence. So I didn’t say one was superior to the other, but the differ in this regard.

Defense of Greeks more transcendental nature

The presocratics are transcendental. The Ionian philosophers with all is fire and all is water and so forth- you can give arguments for that. Some of the Ionian philosophers posit non-elaborate cosmologies such as that the earth is flat and is surrounded by balls of fire- but this is a small amount of transcendence. The rest of the presocratics are transcendental. The sophists are rational in nature, the Pythagoreans with all is number- you can give arguments for that and the atomists are rational. Clearly, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are more transcendental in nature. The stoics posit the metaphysical entities of fatalism and realistic pantheism but that is only two metaphysical entities, and you can give arguments for that. Further, it is well documented among professional philosophers that although stoicism is metaphysical in nature, the emphasis of stoicism and the vast majority of its thought is on ethics. Skepticism is clearly rational. Finally ancient Greek philosophy gets into the purely ethical theories of epicureanism and eclecticism. These are very transcendental in nature.

On the other hand, Indian philosophy is mostly transcendent in nature. The Naya creates the epistemic framework in which to make transcendent claims. The Vaisesika and Jainism posit a host of atoms that transcend reason. The Samkhya gets into the transcendent entities of sattva, rajas, and tamas. The Yoga deals mostly with the paranormal. Also, the Mimamsa deals mostly with the rituals of the Vedas. The Vedanta posits the transcendent entities of maya, jiva, karma, moksa, and future life. Finally, Buddhism and Jainism posit elaborate cosmologies with many transcendent entities.

Further structural differences between Greek and Hindu philosophy

many ordinary language philosophers would believe that Radhakrishnan and the people of the early nineteen hundreds were at a low point- they had inadequate knowledge of Greek philosophy and were simply reiterating what came in the past. From the perspective of metaphysical structuralism, Radhakrishnan had adequate knowledge of Greek philosophy and it was Coomaraswamy who made the error.

There are further structural differences between Greek and Hindu philosophy. Even at points were Indian philosophy and Greek philosophy seem to be identical, there are structural differences between the two. The atoms of the Greeks are quantitative, while the atoms of the Indians are qualitative and transcendent. Both the Greeks and the Indians posit categories, but the categories of the Indians are different from the categories of the Greeks. It is true that Plato posits a transcendent God and an eternal world but Plato’s god is fully transcendent; the idea of objective idealism, in which there is a transcendent god that contains the world in his consciousness is an Eastern conception that was invented by the Indians. And this has consequences of a peaceful and female centric society. I have Neoplatonism as an extension of Platonism. That is, Neoplatonism is essentially an epistemic idealism and the merging with God takes place fully within the person’s brain. And this merging with God has more to do with a feeling of closeness than with an increasing of intellectual capabilities. Finally, maya which seems on paper to be saying something similar to skepticism really has nothing to do with skepticism. Maya is a metaphysical claim and skepticism is an epistemological claim. If you can’t see the difference between maya and skepticism, look at the difference between cricket which is maya based and Greco-Roman wrestling which is skepticism based. Cricket and wrestling are really completely different sports from each other, and you can see through these sports the difference between these two entities.

Indian Philosophy

Mircea Eliade: The Religion of the Hittites and Canaanites

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The Hittites

In his book A History of Religious Ideas volume 1, Mircea Eliade gives his account of the religions of the Hittites and the Canaanites. The Hittites were a group of people that existed in Anatolia (modern day Turkey) from the seventh millennium BC to the beginning of the AD period. Their divinities were believed to have great force and the pantheon was very large. The divinities were believed to live in the temples. The pantheon was believed to be a family with the leaders being the storm God and his wife. Black magic was forbidden in Anatolia, but white magic was allowed.1

Two Myths

One of the Hittite myths is the myth of the god who disappears. This protagonist is Telepinus but other texts make the protagonist the storm god. Nobody knows why the god disappears but bad things happen once this occurs. Fires go out, grain stops growing, animals and men stop having relations. A bee is sent to find him and stings him to wake him up. Telepinus then becomes furious and sends calamities on the land. Finally, Telepinus is relieved of his anger and things resume to normal. The myth of Telepinus may have roots in vegetation practices. But the fact that the myth is often assigned to the storm god and others suggests that this refers to the mystery of creation.2 Another myth is the myth of the battle between the storm god and the dragon. In the first version, the storm god is defeated by the dragon to help him, the goddess Inaras invites the dragon to dinner. She asks the help of a mortal who consented on condition that she sleep with him. The Dragon eats so much that he can’t move and the mortal binds him with a rope. The Storm God enters and kills the Dragon. The fight between a god and a dragon can be found in later mythico-ritual themes. For example, the fight between Zeus and the typhon. This myth was ritually recited during the new years festival.3

The Hurrito-Hittite Theogony

Of particular interest is the Hurrito-Hittite theogony– that is, the story of the creation of the gods. Alalu was king and anu was subservient to him. Nine years passed and kumarbi attacked anu. Anu flew into the sky and kumarbi threw him to the ground and bit off his loins. Part of anus virility entered anus body hids body and kumarbi became pregnant with three gods. Anu has children with teshub and they dethrone kumarbi. In order to take back what teshub had taken, kumarbi impregnates a rock with his semen. This creates ulikummi- a stone giant ullikummi threatens to destroy the gods and so the go to ea. The gods then seek an old knife from the storehouses and saw off the stone giants feet. Finally, teshub overthrows the kumarbi.4

After the first translations of the hurratian/Hittite text, analogies were drawn between it and Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, the first god elioun corresponds to alalu Uranus corresponds to anu and kronos corresponds to kumarbi. Until Ugaritic literature was found there was doubt concerning trhe genuineness of this tradition. But the succession of divine generations is documented in canaaniter mythology.5

The Canaanites

The Canaanites were a semitic speaking group of people from modern day Syria that appeared shortly before 3000 BC. They were urban and practiced agriculture, but absorbed the cultures of herders and seminomadic warriors, including the Amorites. Before 1929, most of the information regarding the Canaanites came from the Old Testament and fragments from ancient Greek authors.  However, the Old Testament contains polemics against paganism and the work of the Greek authors is too fragmentary. After 1929, a large number of texts have been discovered in the port city of Ugarit in Syria. These texts come from the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, but contain conceptions that are much earlier.6

Conflict Between El and Baal

The head of the Canaanite pantheon is El. He is a personal god among the West Semites. He is powerful, holy, merciful, and very wise. He has two wives: Asherah, and Anath. All of the gods come from El and Asherah except for Baal. However, despite these titles given to El, he is described in some other texts as indecisive, weak, and resigned. Baal steals his two wives and El is replaced by the more dynamic, younger Baal. Baal and his support attack El by surprise in his palace on Mount Sapan and tie him up and wound him- castrating him. El is forced to take refuge at the bottom of the world.7 El first summons Yam- the seven-headed dragon- for help- who blesses yam and declares him his successor. Yam and Baal engage in combat. Baal equips two magical cudgels which have the ability to propel themselves from the user’s hands like arrows. The first arrow hits Yam on the shoulder but Yam is alright; the second hits him on the forehead and Yam is killed.8

Anath decides to throws a banquet in Baals honor in order to celebrate his victory over the dragon. Soon after Anath begins a homicidal rampage and kills all of the banquet’s hosts. She then relishes in the blood of her victims. This episode is significant and parallels can be found in Egypt and India. This myth probably has its roots in agriculture. At this point, Baal realizes that he is a god without a palace and must build one in order to secure his place as the new head god. However, he realizes he needs El’s approval for this and sends Anath over to beg for his recommendation. El consents and Baal builds his palace using the blacksmith who gave him his magical cudgels. This building of the palace marks Baal’s advancement to the supreme rank.9

Baal is getting out of control, so El next summons Mot- “death.” Mot is of particular interest because he represents the only known near Eastern personification of death. Baal descends into the underworld. It is unclear whether Mot kills him or whether he succumbs to Mot’s terrifying presence. Interestingly, Baal the head of the new pantheon goes to the underworld and perishes like vegetation gods. This causes the structure of the universe to receive its present form. El is immediately saddened by his deed. El tells Asherah to name another God as Baal’s replacement. Meanwhile, Anath prepares to burry Baal’s corpse. Once again Yam returns to life and seven years later, Mot again enlivens, and even Baal returns.10

Analysis

Eliade believes that it is possible that Mot’s victory represents the cycle of seven dry years. This particular myth seems to represent the more or less periodical disappearance and reappearance of vegetable life governed by the gods. It is probable that the myth of the combat between yam and Baal was recited during a new year festival and the myth of the Baal-mot conflict at the harvest season. But no known texts mention these facts. This religious vision was not exclusively Canaanite.11

Elements of the myth of the Canaanites can be found the Old Testament. Echoes of the Baal-Mot conflict can be seen in the Old Testament as well as analogues of certain rituals. The priests mentioned in the texts have the same name as in Hebrew. when the Israelites entered Canaan, they were met with a type of religion that was counter to Judaism. Baal represented a personality that did not share the same attributes as Yahweh. However, Canaanite religious elements were absorbed by the Israelites. Thus a conflict between Baal and Yahweh ensued with Yahweh seeming to resemble El despite its riddance of his dismembered form. Ultimately Yawhwinism prevailed.12    

Mircea Eliade

On the Pragmatics of Berkeley’s Idealism

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On the Pragmatics of Berkeley’s Idealism

     It is in fact the idealism that is inducing the heterosexuality among the public. The theory of vision attributable to Berkeley creates the framework necessary to appreciate the female form, and the female form tends to favor the skinny over the fat.  His idealism is further generating features that are conducive of the woman. The lower libido associated with idealism cuts out any attempt at living a hedonistic life. Finally, the free will allows the mind the conscious decision not to engage in questionable behavior. Berkely’s theory of vision creates a flat vision plane which favors the features of the woman over the man. Berkely’s negation of the theory of abstract ideas rests on his idealism. Regarding the lower libido, You can say that this is regarding idealism to be a force. However, this can be adjusted to the philosophical framework in that subjective idealism causes one not to be concerned with external objects. I think heterosexuality ultimately rests on the conscious decision not to engage in homosexual behavior. Color schemes induced by Bekrleyianism tend to be dark reds and blacks as opposed to the turquoise, purples, and pinks that many women dress in today.

Comparison with Avveroism and Reductionism

     Whereas Avveroism induces a medium to strong-built man and a neutral yet somewhat flashy woman, the subjective idealism of Berkeley induces a medium to light-built man and a flashy woman. The free will together with the reduced mind body interaction and existence of the soul produces these features. It may seem as though Berkeley is simply copying Averroes’s neutral monism under a slightly different guise- of the new philosophy instantiated by Descartes- which would have been pointless if Berkeley would have had knowledge of Avveorism in the first place. Nonetheless, this new idea results in a slightly different cognitive framework. It also grew into the entire edifice that is German idealism, which is quite distinct from everything that occurred before. So, we can see how detachment from the past results in new ideas. Avveorism is a neutral monism which creates a consistent framework throughout the entire body. This results in a sturdier framework that what occurs in idealism.

     is reductionism inducing heterosexuality? No, it is the idealism that is creating the cognitive function in the mind. This then carries over and all the reductionism is doing is cutting off people’s knowledge of why there are heterosexuals in the first place. Logical positivism although helpful in partially refuting certain metaphysical doctrines also serves as a tool to prevent people from knowing the truth. And that is that the idealism is creating the cognitive function in the mind. I believe what logical positivism is still inferior to the idealism of the early modern period. It is simply cfreates a higher libido, a lack of free will, and belief in nonidenticallity of the intellect. The heterosexuality of the modern period is in fact being induced by the idealism and if your not heterosexual you should learn idealism.

Impact of Berkeley’s idealism on American movies

     You can see the impact of Berkelyianism in the American movies where there are often a bunch of guys who are crazy over a girl. I can recall a movie I just saw in which a couple of guys sneak up to a girl’s cabin at a summer camp. They creep up and the girls look very good and one of the girls is dressed in red- how wonderful. Finally, the girls recognize that the boys are there and they sneak up on the boys and start picking on them. Oh well, so much for that. At least the guys are straight.

Berkeley

Biography of George Berkeley

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Berkeley and his entourage

George Berkeley (1685-1753) was the 18th century idealist from England. He is generally considered to be the second of three in the line of British empiricists starting with Locke and ending with Hume. Berkeley, although probably taking inspiration from Averroism, was the original Western idealist.  

Early Years

George Berkeley was born the eldest of six sons in 1685 in Ireland to and English father and an Irish mother. Berkeley went to a prestigious secondary school and was known to be a daydreamer as a child. Berkeley entered Trinity college Dublin in 1700. There Berkeley experienced the new philosophy of Newton, Locke, and Hobbes and became equated for the first time with the ideas of the freethinkers- a group of minds that were against metaphysics. In 1704, Berkeley wrote An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision. In the book, Berkeley argues that distances perceived in space are an illusion. All inferences of distance based on optic axes from the object to the eye are not actually perceived but are inferred from fluctuations in movement. Thus all notions of distance simply signify that if one were move toward such and such an object, then he would experience it through touch.

In 1709, Berkeley was ordained a deacon. In 1710, Berkeley wrote his second and main book: Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. In it, Berkeley argues that the world must be contained within mind or spirit. To say, for example, that a chair exists in another room simply means that if one were to go into another room under such and such a circumstance, he would see it. Berkley uses his claim to demonstrate the existence of God and the existence of the soul. Treatise was received with mixed reviews with many people misconceiving what Berkeley had to say. Many took Berkeley to be denying a sensible world, which Berkeley in fact confirmed- albeit a world contained in a mind.

In order to settle these misconceptions as well as expand upon the Principles, Berkeley wrote Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in 1712. In the book, Berkeley develops several new arguments. Among them are the assimilation argument which argues that qualities such as heat are indistinguishable from sensations such as pain, and so the qualities must be dependent on the perceiver and the argument for conflicting appearances which argues that if there is no perceptual error, then the conflicting perceptions reveal the mind-independent world to be inconsistent.

In order to print and commercialize his book, Berkeley traveled to London in January 1713 to meet “men of merit.” Berkeley wrote to his colleague that he enjoyed the views of rural England on his trip to London much more than anything in London itself. Berkeley met many famous intellectuals in London including Steele and Addison. Berkeley had a good time in London. Berkeley’s three dialogues was published in June, and we find Berkeley in Oxford. Berkeley then spent ten months in France and Italy in the suite of Lord Peterborough. Thus began Berkeley’s 20 years of travel and social activity in which metaphysics and authorship was in the background. There Berkeley met, for example, Malebranche- the French philosopher.

Middle Life

In 1723, Berkeley made the decision to sail to Bermuda with several of his close freinds from London. Meanwhile, Berkeley received funds from his patent and from a diseased woman who decided to leave her fortune in his name. In 1728, Berkeley married Anne, a daughter of a chief justice of the house of commons. They sailed to Rhode Island that year with a small entourage. Pictured is a portrait taken by Smibert (pictured left) of Berkeley and his entourage. Berkeley stayed with his wife for several years in Newport in a farm house with a view of orchards and the ocean in the distance- mixing with the people of Newport occasionally. It was at this estate that Berkeley wrote Alciphron– Berkeley’s main book on the philosophy of religion. In the book, Berkeley argues that religious beliefs are a type of belief that goes beyond what is received through nature. Moreover, virtue and faith in God are consistent with happiness. Belief in beauty and goodness are inadequate for the highest good and something higher is needed to direct us. Berkeley then goes on to discuss his famous doctrine in which the universe is given to us in a visible language. Finally, Berkeley argues that Christianity is the highest form of religion. Berkeley returned to London in 1732. Many of his friends from his early years had now died including Steele and Addison.

Later Years

In 1734, Berkeley was ordained a bishop of Cloyne. At Cloyne, Berkeley was almost as removed from the world as he was at Rhode Island- Cloyne being 20 miles from Cork.  Berkeley then spent 18 years in Cork- serving the diocese. Berkely enjoyed his surroundings- mainly the Irish and a small group of English settlers. Meanwhile, Berkeley’s philosophy was finally beginning to receive detailed attention. At this point, famine and disease were widespread in Ireland, and because of this, Berkeley began to study the medical values of tar water. Berkeley thus wrote Sirus: Inquiries Concerning the Virtues of Tar Water. Berkeley, here, discloses his idealism in mature form mixed with his analysis about tar water. Tar water is a medical substance that can cure disease. Similar to work in the Greek vein, tar water works through interaction with the non-mechanical fire and aether that permeates the cosmos. Thus, tar water can be seen as a form of alternative medicine.

Berkeley had three sons; one died young, the second did not live very long after Berkley died and the third became a student at Oxford. In 1752, Berkeley went to live in Oxford. He was becoming weak at this point. Not much is known of Berkely’s life at Oxford. At some point, Berkeley’s health improved and he even began to study again. Berkeley died in 1753.

Berkeley

Fichte’s Ethics and Political Philosophy

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Ethics

Fichte’s ethics depends exclusively on Fichte’s conception of freedom and the relation of the I to the not-I. In particular, it deals with the conception of a free activity situated among things in relation to itself. One of the main relations between the I and the not-I used in Fichte’s ethics is his positing of the not-I as a limitation on the I. Fichte’s philosophy particularly deals with the notion of a “summons” that is issued forth by other I’s and calls for a limitation of the I’s behavior.

Fichte’s ethics is also equally about the ability to transform oneself into a free individual independent of empirical motives. One always has a “desire” in which there is a strong wish or wanting of something in the physical world. This is a accompanied by a “drive” or the person’s sensational experience of the desire and a “longing” which is a consciousness of this desire. There are two types of drives: the lower or empirical drive which is a person’s desire for something in the material world and the higher or pure drive which is the drive resulting directly from a person’s pure will. But Fichte does not believe that it is the pure drive that should take full precedence over the lower drive. It is the goal of the I to make his higher drive conform to his lower drive. People become aware of the ethical drive through the conviction that something is their duty; and this arises out of a person’s conscience. One can never be certain that their conscience is correct- i.e. our conscience is subject to fallacy- but one can know that he is not doing something wrong. And this is supplemented by the empirical drive.  

Political theory

Fichte advocates a unitary government in which to enforce laws. As such Fichte is against the splitting of the government into judicial, legislative, and executive branches.

Fichte’s advocates a property contract made in agreement between the state and the people. The property contact gives the person’s rights involving their body and their property. The person is given a set of rights in regards to their sphere of action and the limits on their sphere of action. This contract is mutually agreed upon by all. In addition, the individual signs a protection contract which prohibits their interference in the external sphere of others. In regards to personal rights, Fichte regards the home to be the personal property of the owner. As such, the state does not have the ability to enter except with permission. Although against Fichte’s ethics, the state cannot punish for things such as prostitution, adultery, fornication, and suicide. On Fichte’s view, the validity of a marriage comes from the woman. The woman’s love for a man decides the validity of a marriage. However, once the marriage is instantiated the woman’s rights are subordinated to the man.

Next, we turn to criminal law and economic justice. All crimes committed are in violation of the social contract and the criminals are thus removed of their rights in proportion to the magnitude of the crime; they are, however, given a chance to reenter society. Murder, being the most severe crime, leads to a removal of all rights; however, Fichte is against the death penalty. The property contract guarantees that the person will have a sufficient sphere of action in which to act freely. But if the person does not have enough money to support their household the government can redistribute the property. Fichte outlines other redistributive properties of the government, e.g., the ability to redistribute the wealth of a diseased person or the ability to redistribute trade and commerce. Fichte’s later political thought took on a nationalist direction that has had an impact but has been much criticized.

Fichte’s views on women

Fichte tends to have more liberal views toward women than some of his predecessors. For example, Fichte bases marriage on the woman and believes woman should have the right to vote. This is indicative of the shift toward feminism that occurred the modern and contemporary period. However, Fichte’s philosophy, like the rest of German idealism, tends to be male dominant- which is demonstrated with for example, Fichte’s famous doctrine of property where he believes women are not allowed to have property. This probably should not be adopted in the Western world today, but is an indicator of Fichte’s idealism in which things are as they appear. In other words, women according to the idealist appear to be less intelligent than men, therefore, they probably are so. Of course, women could appear to be more intelligent than men- in which case idealism would confirm that result. But the general idea is that idealism is removing the brain which would potentially allow empirical elucidations as to exactly what the women’s position in the world is. Additionally, Fichte is removing the neuroplastistic element of things meaning although women are given lower status than men, they are still expected to come up to the men as much as the men go up to the women.

German Idealism

Guenon: Insights into Christian Esotericism

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Christianity as exotericism

In his posthumous book Insights into Christian Esotericism, Guenon gives a description of the exoteric nature of Christianity. Contrary to some popular opinion, Guenon believes Christianity in its beginning had a true initiatory character of the esoteric type. However, this was eventually lost and Catholicism then entered into an exotericism. In line with what many protestants believe, at some point- probably at the at the council of Nicaea- a cannon law had to be adopted in which a Roman component entered. This component was completely foreign to Christianity. At the time of the augmentation, the sacraments became performed by a greater number of unqualified people. This augmentation was necessary in order to preserve Christianity to a wider public. This shift into the exoteric was necessary to preserve tradition in the Greco-Roman world since the old religion had then entered a state of degeneration. This kept tradition going for another thousand years since the West was not yet at the stage to move into a state of no tradition. At this point, the holy spirit no longer acted through the sacraments. However, Guenon believes that as an exoteric religion, some force continues to act through the sacraments but he is not sure what. This force continues to be supra-individual and not sub-individual. However, this force is not as strong as the holy spirit.

The fact that the sacraments have descended into a exoteric domain is shown by the fact that many of the rights that were once private and initiatory are now public. One example is baptism, being a sacrament that initially involved a long ceremony involving preparations; this then turned into a public ceremony that anyone can perform and in which anyone can attend. Similarly, confirmation and the obtaining of the Eucharist are now public. It is this making of the rights public which is of the tendency of an exoteric right, as esoteric rights should be performed in secrecy with high initiates.

Analysis

Guenon believes that when the augmentation occurred, a Roman component entered and the holy spirit ceased to act through the sacraments. However, there is reason to believe that the holy spirit continues to act directly through the sacraments. If Christianity was first and foremost designed for the Roman people, it would make sense that a Roman component would have entered into it; things were in essence designed that way by Jesus. There is substantial evidence from the New Testament alone that the Christian doctrine was designed specifically for the Roman people and their kin. As such, there is reason to believe that Jesus would continue to have the power to bless the sacraments through the priests from heaven after the augmentation occurred. Since the Roman people are the inheritors of the tradition, the priests would specifically be allowed to bless the sacraments and he would bless the sacraments through them. However, the most fundamental way of validating an esoteric claim is to verify it a posteriori. In other words, the best way to verify the sacraments validity is to take them and look at people who have taken them and see their effects. I personally have taken the Eucharist a number of times and I can say that I think it has had a direct impact on me. But I continue to maintain that the sacraments are in part a mystery.

Traditionalism

New Thought as Idealism

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Fichte’s influence

Fichte, with his setting up the world as a product of the mind and his development of action theory, was still very close to the ordinary person and a whole lot of a ways off from Nietzsche. Positing the world as a product of the mind causes forward development in the world, but nothing as exaggerated as Nietzsche. However, Fichte is generally not considered to be the most important philosopher of the last 200 years. He is generally considered to be the founder of German idealism proper which includes only three philosophers- Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. However, once you take into consideration not only new thought and Evola (which are usually overlooked) as well as the plethora of non-metaphysical egoists of the early 1900s and all of his direct influence, Fichte should probably be considered the greatest philosopher of the last 200 years. These latter ones are often overlooked because of either the religious nature of the work or the obscurity in the case of the egoists. Was Nietzsche inspired by Fichte? He usually lists Schopenhauer as his direct influence. However, Fichte probably impacted him indirectly; his philosophy was probably prevalent in society at the time of Nietzsche.

New Thought as idealism

Neville Goddard, the New Yorkean ballet instructor and metaphysician, expounds in his book The Power of Awareness a doctrine in which the individual has the ability to control the world with his imagination. This can be handled either idealistically in which the subconscious manipulation is ripples in the idealistic construct or perhaps more physically in which the mind’s ability to control the world involves some sort of four-dimensional manifold exiting the persons brain. Goddard probably did not know who Fichte was, and lists as his inspiration kabbalah- which I take to be a mystical reading of the Bible involving the cosmological nature of the world. However, Goddard’s inspiration to Fichte is clear as in his ethics he expounds an action theoretic theory along Fichtean lines in much exaggerated form.

Is the law of attraction idealism? It certainly would be considered idealistic by many. However, new thought is more physicalist in nature and is a far way away from original idealism. Technically, new thought should be considered esotericism and not idealism. However, in Atkinson’s The power of concentration, he lays down an ethics that is Fichtean in nature in greatly exaggerated form together with religious connotations. This has to do with Atkinson’s thought vibration which involves a mind dependence on the world. It has to do with the mind dependence on the world that causes this forward momentum. Thus, Atkinson owes inspiration to Fichte’s idealism. Additionally, Atkinson writes many books on suggestion and autosuggestion and psychic phenomenon which can be considered idealistic in nature. These are perhaps outlined in Fichte with his positing other individuals as subcategories of the persons subconscious, but the detailed analysis was not carried out until Atkinson. Many would consider Fichte’s position to be closer to solipsism than to have a belief in psychic correspondence, but psychic phenomenon can be found in Hinduism which I am arguing all Hinduism presupposes idealism. Thus the idealistic nature of Atkinson of the Fichtean variety is obvious. William Atkinson certainly did not list Fichte as his inspiration, and I doubt Atkinson knew who Fichte was. However, yet again Fichte was probably an indirect influence of Atkinson

New Thought

Schopenhauer’s Philosophy of Music and Analysis

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Schopenhauer’s Philosophy of Music

Schopenhauer believes that poetry does in the idea what philosophy does in the concept. That is, poetry does in an a posteriori intuition what philosophy does in a priori reasoning. This makes poetry more suited for youth and philosophy more suited for old age. But Schopenhauer does not see music simply as an augmentation of poetry. The musical notes take on a significance in their own right. The words are not as important when it comes to music and take on a secondary quality. And in fact, most often, a good composer is matching the words to suit the melody and not vice versa. Thus, music and poetry form the perfect combination together- one invoking the idea and the other invoking the will itself.

Schopenhauer ranks music the highest of all of the fine arts, with architecture having the lowest ranking, and poetry, sculpture, and painting in between. Schopenhauer believes that music is the only art form that does not exhibit the idea, but exhibits the Will directly. Since music exhibits the will, the bass should be placed at a much lower interval than the higher voices of tenor, alto, and soprano. When a musical tone is at a rational distance from the previous tone these two tones are said to be in harmony. This represents a lack of tension in or satisfaction of the will. When two tones are at an irrational distance from each other, this is called dissonance, and represents tension in the will.  Rhythm forms the constitutive building blocks through which music is formed. Melody consists of the tones constantly entering discord and renewing itself. This takes place via rhythmic cycles, better often being obtained on “good beats.” Satisfaction consists in a discord resolving simultaneously with a good beat. For example, a melody goes about and is resolved first on a bad beat creating no satisfaction but then later on is resolved on a good beat creating greater satisfaction. In this case, the will is tinged with representation, making the effect pleasurable even in the case of tension in the will. That is, the will is not itself affected but an intellectual image of the will. As such we become nostalgic over the connection in our history we find between the music and our own will.

Music as isomorphism

I agree with Schopenhauer that music is not necessarily simply an extension of poetry. However, I give poetry a slightly higher evaluation that Schopenhauer as I believe there are wider array of ideas available than through there are concepts. The reason is that an a posteriori intuition has a wider array of ideas to draw on than through conceptual reasoning and need not necessarily subscribe to proper rational form. Not everything in the physical world reduces to philosophy.

However, I have a modification of the philosophy of music which I came up with as a teenager and that is that music is an isomorphic representation of emotional structure and mindset. This means that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the structure of emotion in the mind and the notes in music. The key is that every emotional structure in the mind is represented by a note pattern and every note pattern is represented by an emotion in the mind- i.e. it is an isomorphism. For example, certain dissonances can represent the emotional structure sadness/compassion, and a cluster of these can represent loose sadness/compassion. This transcends the one-dimensional mode advocated by Schopenhauer in which music simply represents tension or a lack of tension in the will. And under this guise there needs to be perhaps a bit less emphasis on the base. One should go at great lengths to obtain as unique and exotic of an emotional structure and mindset as possible.

The question now becomes what value does music have when one can be described the emotions by reading, for example, On the Passions by David Hume. However, there is a point of divergence and that is that music has access to direct qualitative features that are not available through reasoning alone. This can be demonstrated with arguments for qualia. As an example, suppose a person is born in a black in white room wearing black and white clothing and has never seen a color and spends their whole life reading about color. When that person finally sees a red apple, that person will probably have learned something new. Exotic timbre can help enhance music by inducing exotic mindsets. I’m sure this does not constitute the core of the musical experience and no one should substitute melody for timbre.  But developments in timbre can help induce very exotic and unique mindsets.  Timbre helps contribute to the mindset of the piece.

German Idealism