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| The Golden Chain |
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Author(s):
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Subjects(s):
Comparative Religion
Metaphysics
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Price: $21.95
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ISBN: 0-941532-61-5
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Book Size: 6" x 9"
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# of Pages: 368
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Language: English
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Description
This anthology of Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy promotes a new and fresh view of what Hellenic philosophy is and what kind of wisdom it offers us. The book demonstrates, through excerpts from the great Pythagorean and Platonic writers, that to these thinkers “philosophy” is a way of life and a means of spiritual realization—not the dry, rationalistic, mental exercise philosophy has become in the modern world. The “Golden Chain” of the title refers to the ancient belief that such “philosophy” transmits a heritage of unitive knowledge through a succession of enlightened teachers and students.
The editor, Algis Uždavinys, is a an author, translator, and scholar of remarkable scope who uses his scholarship and his own deep knowledge of the philosophia perennis to illustrate for us the timeless wisdom of these writings. The foreword is by John Finamore.
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The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Pythagorean and Platonic Philosophy is aimed at promoting a new and fresh view of what Hellenic philosophy is and what kind of wisdom it can bring to us. Due to the flagrant misunderstanding and misinterpretations of Hellenic philosophy current in modern times, it is pictured as ‘rationalism’ pure and simple, devoid of any spiritual content. This book shows that the reverse is true: Platonic and Pythagorean philosophy has been for millennia a way of life and a means of spiritual realization. For its true “practitioners,” it establishes a harmony with the cosmos, purifies the soul, leads to union with the Divine Intellect and the One. Such philosophy is close to the Great Mysteries of ancient traditions. By the Platonists and Pythagoreans themselves it is regarded as the “Golden Chain” of succession and transmission of knowledge.
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John F. Finamore is Professor and Chair in the Department of Classics at the University of Iowa. His areas of research interest include Neoplatonic philosophy from Plotinus to Philoponus, Greek and Roman philosophy, and Roman poetry. His most recent publication is Iamblichus’ De Anima: Text, Translation, and Commentary (with J.M. Dillon). Dr. Finamore also serves as President of the U.S. Section of the International Society of Neoplatonic Studies and is Editor for book manuscripts in Neoplatonism for the Brill Press Series.
Prof. Finamore has written the foreword to The Golden Chain .
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"The Golden Chain: An Anthology Of Pythagorean and Platonic Philosophy by Algis Uzdavinys (a Research Fellow at the Institute of Culture, Philosophy, and Arts) reveals that Platonic and Pythagorean philosophy is not directly equitable with our contemporary concept of "rationalism" and therefore devoid of any spiritual content. Rather, Platonic and Pythagorean philosophy in ancient Greece was seen as a way of life and as a means of spiritual realization. The object in Hellenic times was to establish for its practitioners of the philosophy of Plato and Pythagoras a harmony with the cosmos, purifying their souls and leading them into union with the Divine Intellect and the One. The Hellenic philosophies were closer to the Eternal Mysteries than to the 20th century fashions of Western logicians. The Golden Chain is informed and informative reading which is most especially recommended to the attention of philosophy students and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in how philosophy can free us from the chains of desire driven materialism and the rationalized hubris that is such a hallmark of contemporary western cultures.."
—Midwest Book Review
“Presenting key writings of the most important sources of Pythagorean, Platonic and Neoplatonic thought, The Golden Chain defines this philosophy as a spiritual and contemplative way of life that ultimately leads to the vision of God. These writings point to underlying influences from Chaldean, Egyptian, Phoenician and Indian sages, suggesting that the Hellenic wisdom from which all subsequent Western philosophy arose was established upon a perennial philosophy of unchanging metaphysical and divine truths. The rediscovery of this wisdom also allows us to see its crucial importance in the formation of later Judaic, Christian and Islamic thought.
This anthology promotes a new and fresh view of what Hellenic philosophy is and what kind of wisdom it offers us. The book demonstrates, through excerpts from the great Pythagorean and Platonic writers, that to these thinkers “philosophy” is a way of life and a means of spiritual realization—not the dry, rationalistic, mental exercise philosophy has become in the modern world. The “Golden Chain” of the title refers to the ancient belief that such “philosophy” transmits a heritage of unitive knowledge through a succession of enlightened teachers and students.”
—Banyen Books and Sound
This Anthology will be very precious for the serious scholars and students of philosophy, because it comprises in one volume rare Platonic, Neo-Platonic, Pythagorean and Neo-Pythagorean texts, which constitute a truly golden chain of philosophic wisdom. There was a time when Plato and Platonism were considered as synonymous with Hellenic philosophia, understood as the love of wisdom, which was expressed in theoria and, especially, in praxis, as a way of perfecting the human soul and its noetic life. Pythagoras and Socrates were acknowledged as predecessors of Plato, while succeeding generations of philosophers, including Aristotle, were seen as precious links in this continuous golden chain of wisdom.
This concatenation lasted for more than a millennium, until fanaticism broke it in 529 B.C., when Justinian closed down the philosophical schools in Athens. Since that time Hellenic philosophy was forced to lead an atrophic existence and to serve successively such alien masters as dogmatic theology, scientific technology and political ideology. As a result of this long enslavement, the “philosophy” of our times, especially in the West, has become a false homonym, that is an amorphous, confused, disoriented and petty sophistry. Of course, it is not what it used to be, a path to lead the philosopher’s soul and mind to their divine perfection.
There is hope, then, that the present Anthology will help some serious and curious students of philosophy to rediscover, reconnect with, and revive the lost spirit of Platonic philosophy as a way of taking care of and perfecting the human soul in the Socratic manner. With the re-emergence of religious fanaticism and its concomitant terrorism, this Hellenic wisdom of reason and tolerance will be needed more than ever before.
—Christos Evangeliou, Professor of Philosophy at Towson University, and Vice President of ISNS
The decline of philosophy, from sacred knowledge of the Eternals to individualistic opinion and virtuoso speculation, is one of the most perplexing and tragic of fates in the history of the West. This book, expertly introduced by a true philosopher or “lover of wisdom”, brings together in a copious feast some of the profoundest texts devoted to the knowledge of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. True seekers of wisdom will find here, in this marvelous juxtaposition of intellectual treasures, not only luminous nourishment for their souls but essential keys for Theosis or the bringing forth of the Divine. And for those who think that philosophy is mere cogitation, this book will introduce them into the real meaning of philosophy, namely a holy practice (praxis), a realizational method for the critical perception of the Real and, more fundamentally, the worship of the Real that follows upon such perception when integral. This is the “growing of wings”, alluded to by Plato, for “the journey of the one back to the One”.
- Mark Perry, author of On Awakening and Remembering: To Know Is to Be
"…There is a uniquely Western spiritual tradition that has been lost to postmodern culture. And, to our delight, we find it here, in The Golden Chain. Algis Uždavinys has admirably compiled an array of seminal texts that powerfully reveal that ancient tradition.…[This is] ancient philosophy at its finest—where “becoming like god” is a modest, down-to-earth way of life. The Golden Chain and the perennial wisdom it imparts is a much needed and neglected clarion call to character, and service to the community, one in which words like truth, justice, and compassion are not just paid lip-service, but are living, breathing, ensouled, and embodied.…I cannot praise…Uždavinys, or The Golden Chain, too highly!
- M. A. B. Mineo, Dowling College
"Algis Uždavinys' anthology The Golden Chain will surely be of great help in the revival of the Neoplatonic spiritual tradition largely lost in America, but valued by New England Transcendentalists such as Emerson and Margaret Fuller and others. Uždavinys includes significant translations by 'faithful' American Neoplatonists.…
This 'religiously toned synthesis of Plato's thought' was the basis and jumping off point for early American explorations into Eastern Philosophy and Comparitive Religions.
In his brief but cogent introduction Uždavinys shows significant early connections, often obscured, between ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian and Greek wisdom traditions. Like his man, Proclus, the universal 'hierophant', appropriately, Uždavinys does not divide, but links East and West."
- Jay Bregman, University of Maine, and author of Synesius of Cyrene, Philosopher Bishop
"Algis Uždavinys’ The Golden Chain, An Anthology of Pythagorean and Platonic Philosophy, is an excellent resource for college humanities professors who wish to introduce their students to a spiritually transformative dimension of some key texts of the Pythagorean and Platonic (including later developments characterized by scholars as Middle Platonic and Neoplatonic) philosophical traditions and hence to a perspective on ancient philosophy easily passed over or missed all together by many contemporary university faculty in philosophy. It is also very good for general readers interested in an unusual perspective on such texts."
- Donna M. Altimari Adler, Loyola University of Chicago
"Golden, indeed, is the chain which goes through all the Platonist writers of antiquity. To have gathered such an impressive number of authors together in this astonishing anthology is one of the best ways to prove the strong continuity and power of philosophy when understood etymologically, that is, as the 'love of wisdom.' This anthology can serve not only as a textbook for a philosophy class but also as a wonderful reminder of what the Intellect is all about: remembrance of the Truth, the Good and the Beautiful inscribed in our deepest heart."
- Jean-Pierre Lafouge, Marquette University
"The rediscovery of the Doctrina Sacra in the West has necessarily led to a rediscovery of the true nature of the ancient Greek philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, of its sapiential essence and divine origin. 'The Golden Chain' is what links the Greek Sages to Heaven and to the Perennial Truth written both in the nature of things and in the very substance of the Spirit. A very enlightening anthology not only for scholars but also for serious spiritual seekers."
- Dr. Patricia Reynaud, Associate Professor, Miami University
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Foreword by John F. Finamore
Editor’s Introduction
PART I:
TRADITIONAL ACCOUNTS ON THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF PYTHAGORAS
Anonymous The Life of PythagorasDiogenes Laertius The Life of PythagorasPorphyry The Life of PythagorasIamblichus On the Pythagorean LifePART II:
TESTIMONIES OF PYTHAGOREAN AND NEOPYTHAGOREAN TRADITION
The Golden Verses of PythagorasPythagorean Sentences:- The Sentences of Sextus the Pythagorean
- Pythagorean Sentences from Iamblichus
- Pythagorean Sentences from Stobaeus
- Pythagorean Sentences from Clement of Alexandria
Fragments of PhilolausPythagorean Pseudepigrapha:- Fragments of Archytas
- Timaeus of Locri On the World and the Soul
- Theages On the Virtues
- Euryphamus Concerning Human Life
- Crito On Prudence and Prosperity
PART III:
PLATO: PHILOSOPHY AS THE REGROWTH OF WINGS
Plato’s Dialogues and Letters:- Seventh Letter
- Timaeus
- Phaedrus
- Phaedo
- Theaetetus
- Symposium
PART IV:
NEOPLATONIC HERMENEUTICS AND THE WAY TO GOD
Porphyry On the Life of PlotinusPlotinus EnneadsPorphyry Letter to MarcellaIamblichus Exhortation to PhilosophyIamblichus On the Mysteries of the EgyptiansHierocles Commentary on the Golden VersesHermeias Commentary on Plato’s PhaedrusMarinus Proclus or About HappinessProclus Commentary on Plato’s Alcibiades IProclus Theology of PlatoProclus Commentary on the Timaeus of PlatoProclus Commentary on the Chaldean OraclesProclus Commentary on Plato’s ParmenidesDamascius Commentary on Plato’s PhaedoDamascius On the First PrinciplesGlossary
Select Bibliography for Further Reading
Biographical Notes
Index of Proper Names
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Taken from the beginning of the Introduction by Algis Uždavinys:
The present anthology of the Pythagorean and Platonic tradition disagrees in certain important respects with the modern understanding of philosophy in general and of Platonism and Pythagoreanism in particular. Following the valuable insights of Pierre Hadot (supported by the witness of countless traditional sages throughout the world) we regard ancient philosophy as essentially a way of life: not only inseparable from “spiritual exercises,” but also in perfect accord with cosmogonical myths and sacred rites. In the broader traditional sense, philosophy consists not simply of a conceptual edifice (be it of the order of reason or myth); but of a lived concrete existence conducted by initiates, or by the whole theocentric community, treated as a properly organized and wellguided political and theurgical “body” attended to the principle of maat—“truth” and “justice” in the ancient Egyptian sense of the word.
In Plato’s definition of philosophy as a training for death (Phaedo 67cd) an implicit distinction was made between philosophy and philosophical discourse. Modern Western philosophy (a rather monstrous and corrupted creature, initially shaped by late Christian theology and post-Descartesian logic) has been systematically reduced to a philosophical discourse of a single dogmatic kind, through the fatal one-sidedness of its professed secular humanistic mentality, and a crucial misunderstanding of traditional wisdom. The task of the ancient philosophers was in fact to contemplate the cosmic order and its beauty; to live in harmony with it and to transcend the limitations imposed by sense experience and discursive reasoning. In a word, it was through philosophy (understood as a kind of askesis) that the cultivation of the natural, ethical, civic, purificatory, theoretic, paradigmatic, and hieratic virtues (aretai) were to be practiced; and it was through this noetic vision (noesis) that the ancient philosophers tried to awaken the divine light within, and to touch the divine Intellect in the cosmos. For them, to reach apotheosis was the ultimate human end (telos). Christos Evangeliou correctly observes that, “Neither Aristotle nor any other Platonic, or genuinely Hellenic philosopher, would have approved of what the modern European man, in his greedy desire for profit, and demonic will to power, has made out of Hellenic philosophia.”[1]
The purpose of our highly selective anthology is to glimpse the Pythagorean and Platonic tradition from the traditional Hellenic and especially Neoplatonic perspective. However, one ought to remember that the term “Neoplatonism” itself was an artificial invention of the 18th century Protestant scholars and preachers of the Enlightenment era, who rejected the claim that Plato’s philosophy was propounded in unwritten doctrines and oral teachings, and the “Neoplatonic presumption” of harmony between Plato and Aristotle. These founders of modern philosophical hermeneutics pretended to understand Plato better than the latter understood himself. Looking down upon Plato, Plotinus, and Proclus from the tower of their so-called “Enlightenment,” they claimed to have discovered “the real Plato”—one who had to be thoroughly cleansed from the filth of Neoplatonic interpretations. Thus, Neoplatonism was pictured as the root and source of all evils. This highly prejudiced opinion prevailed as unquestioned dogma despite the heroic resistance of such Platonic scholars as Thomas Taylor, and is still prevalent among the contemporary “priests” of current scientistic ideologies. According to the narrow Protestant mentality of the 19th century, and even that of modern secular scholarship, the ancient Hellenic Neoplatonists were madmen, liars and foolish forgers, who preferred illusions and imaginations to sound reason. They were regarded as “men inflated by metaphysical dreams, who always opposed Plato to Christ,” trying “to find a new way of impeding the progress of Christianity.”[2] It is little wonder, then, that in reading certain texts of classical scholarship (even those that are quite sympathetic), and thereafter proceeding to the ancient authors themselves, one cannot escape an impression of hearing two different stories and following two different paths that never really meet, despite certain appearances to the contrary.
The essential aspect of the ancient philosophical tradition was its oral transmission and living praxis. Theory, therefore, was never regarded as an end in itself, but was put in the service of practice, often understood in terms of an “alchemical” transformation and an elevation of the soul through the rites of purification and the cultivation of the virtues. In most cases this cultivation was so all-encompassing as to make the philosopher—as a “lover of wisdom”—strange to the world of mortals and close to the immortal gods, or archetypal principles (archai) of cosmic manifestation. Since putting oneself in accord with the divine principles allowed one to experience the eternal irradiation of the Good, Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy was not simply a discourse about the gods and the world, but an anagogic path leading the soul to a concrete union with the divine Intellect and the ineffable One. All complementary sciences and arts served as the direct or indirect means to this goal and provided meaningful symbols and icons for contemplation. In a sense, there was a lived logic, a lived hermeneutics, physics, and ethics. Hence, as Pierre Hadot has pointed out, the practice of philosophy did not ultimately consist in “producing the theory of logic, that is the theory of speaking well and thinking well, nor in producing the theory of physics, that is of the cosmos, nor in producing the theory of acting well, but it concerned actually speaking well, thinking well, acting well, being truly conscious of one’s place in the cosmos.”[3]
Notes:
1. Christos C. Evangeliou, The Hellenic Philosophy: Between Europe, Asia, and Africa (New York: Binghamton University, 1997), p.71.
2. E.N. Tigerstedt, The Decline and Fall of the Neoplatonic Interpretation of Plato (Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 1974), p.55.
3. Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault, ed. with an intro. by Arnold I. Davidson (Oxford and Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1995), p.24.
Select Bibliography for Further Reading on Platonism :
Armstrong, A.H. Platonic Mirrors.- Eranos 1986, Jahrbuch, vol.55, Insel Verlag Frankfurt am Main, 1988, pp.147-181.
Armstrong, A.H. Itineraries in Late Antiquity.- Eranos 1987, Jahrbuch, vol. 56, Insel Verlag Frankfurt am Main, 1989, pp.105-131.
Athanasiadi, P. Persecution and Response in Late Paganism: The Evidence of Damascius.- The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. CXIII, 1993, pp.1-29.
Blumenthal, H.J. Aristotle and Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity. Interpretations of the De Anima, Duckworth, London, 1996.
Brague, R. The Body of the Speech. A New Hypothesis on the Compositional Structure of Timaeus' Monologue.- Platonic Investigations, ed. Dominic J. O'Meara, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 1995, pp.53-83.
Brown, P. The World of Late Antiquity AD 150-750, Thames and Hudson, 1997 (first ed.1971).
Burkert, W. Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1972.
Burkert, W. Craft Versus Sect: The Problem of Orphics and Pythagoreans.- Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol.III Self-Definition in the Graeco-Roman World, ed. Ben E.Meyer and E.P.Sanders, SCM Press, London, 1982, pp.1-22.
Burkert, W. Ancient Mystery Cults, Carl Nuvell Jackson Lectures, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA and London, 1987.
Coulter, J.A. The Literary Microcosm. Theories of Interpretation of the Later Neoplatonists, E.J.Brill, Leiden, 1976.
Dillon, J.M. Image, Symbol and Analogy: Three Basic Concepts of Neoplatonic Allegorical Exegesis.- The Significance of Neoplatonism, ed. R.Baine Harris, Old Dominion University, 1976, pp.247-262.
Dillon, J.M. Iamblichus of Chalcis.- Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romischen Welt, ed. Wolfgang Haase, Hildegard Temporini, II: Principat, 36.2, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 1987, pp.863-909.
Dillon, J.M. The Middle Platonists. A Study of Platonism 80B.C. to A.D.220, Duckworth, London, 1996 (revised edition, first publ.1977).
Edwards, M.J. Two Images of Pythagoras: Iamblichus and Porphyry.- The Divine Iamblichus. Philosopher and Man of Gods, ed. H.J.Blumenthal and E.G.Clark, Bristol, 1993, pp.159-172.
Evangeliou, Ch.C. The Hellenic Philosophy: Between Europe, Asia, and Africa, Institute of Global Cultural Studies, Binghamton University, 1997.
Finamore, J.F. Iamblichus and the Theory of the Vehicle of the Soul, Scholars Press, Chico, California, 1985.
Findlay, J.N. The Neoplatonism of Plato.- The Significance of Neoplatonism, ed. R.Baine Harris, Old Dominion University, 1976, pp.23-40.
Fowden, G. The Pagan Holy Man in Late Antique Society.- Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. CII, 1982, pp.33-59.
Griswold, Ch. Plato's Metaphilosophy.- Platonic Investigations, ed. Dominic J. O'Meara, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 1985, pp.1-33.
Griswold, Ch. Self-Knowledge in Plato's Phaedrus, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1986.
Hadot, P. Philosophy as a Way of Life. Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault, ed. with an Introduction by Arnold I. Davidson, tr. Michel Chase, Blackwell, Oxford, 1995.
Kingsley, P. Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic. Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995.
Kingsley, P. In the Dark Places of Wisdom, The Golden Sufi Center, Inverness, California, 1999.
Lewy, H. Chaldean Oracles and Theurgy. Mysticism, Magic and Platonism in the Later Roman Empire, Nouvell edition par Michel Tardieu, Etudes Augustiniennes, Paris, 1978.
Lloyd, A.C. The Anatomy of Neoplatonism, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991.
Merlan, Ph. From Platonism to Neoplatonism, 3 rd. ed., revised, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1968.
Miller, M.H. Plato's Parmenides. The Conversion of the Soul, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991 (first ed.1986).
O'Meara, D.J. Pythagoras Revived. Mathematics and Philosophy in Late Antiquity, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997 (first ed.1989).
Rappe, S. Reading Neoplatonism. Non-discursive Thinking in The Texts of Plotinus, Proclus, and Damascius, Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Rist, J.M. Mysticism and Transcendence in Later Neoplatonism.- Platonism and its Christian Heritage, Variorum, London, 1985, XV, pp. 213-225.
Schuon, F. Rationalism, Real and Apparent.- Frithjof Schuon Logic and Transcendence, tr. Peter N.Townsend, Perrenial Books, London, 1975, pp.33-55.
Schuon, F. Concerning Pythagorean Numbers.- Frithjof Schuon The Eye of the Heart. Metaphysics, Cosmology, Spiritual Life, Foreword by Huston Smith, World Wisdom Books, Bloomington, 1997, pp.19-26.
Shaw, G. The Geometry of Grace: A Pythagorean Approach to Theurgy.- The Divine Iamblichus. Philosopher and Man of Gods, ed. H.J. Blumenthal and E.G.Clark, Bristol, 1993, pp.116-137.
Shaw, G. Theurgy and the Soul. The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995.
Sheppard, A. Studies on the 5th and 6th Essays of Proclus' Commentary on the Republic, Hypomnemata, Vanderhoeck and Ruprecht in Grottingen, 1980.
Sheppard, A. Proclus' Attitude to Theurgy.- Classical Quarterly 32, 1, 1982, pp.212-224.
Smith, A. Porphyry's Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition. A Study in Post-Plotinian Neoplatonism, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1974.
Steel, C. Iamblichus and the Theological Interpretation of the Parmenides.- Syllecta Classica, vol.8, University of Iowa Press, 1998, pp.15-30.
Taylor, T. Thomas Taylor the Platonist. Selected Writings, ed. With Introductions by Kathleene Raine and George Mills Harper, Princeton Universiy Press, 1969.
Uzdavinys, A. Putting on the Form of the Gods: Sacramental Theurgy in Neoplatonism.- Sacred Web. A Journal of Tradition and Modernity, vol.5, 2000, pp.107-120.
Uzdavinys, A. Between Sameness and Otherness: The Rediscovery of Tradition.- Sophia. The Journal of Traditional Studies, vol.7,1, Summer 2001, pp.117-145.
Wallis, R.T. Neoplatonism, 2nd ed. With a foreword and bibliography by Lloyd P.Gerson, Bristol Classical Press, 1992 (first ed.1972).
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