How Things Work – A Brief History of Reality
Book I – Dualism (The Sacred & The Secular – Augustine & Plato)
Be A Part of the Conversation!
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
“Everything you can imagine is real.”
– Pablo Picasso
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
In Book II: “The Power of Three,” and Book III: “The Enigmatic Mystery,” we will come to understand that much of what we think of as Christian theology and dogma does not come directly from the Bible or the New Testament; it comes from the interpretation of the Bible and the New Testament. The once small Jewish sect, which came to be known as Christians, would suddenly be transformed into an international Roman-styled power structure that would come to be known as the Roman Catholic Church. Originally founded as a Roman institution, it came to reflect the Greco-Roman system from which it had originated. The once simple group of poor and unknown people preaching the words and message of an unknown Jewish prophet almost instantaneously became transformed into the largest organized religious power the world had ever known. Based on a structure, similar to Rome itself, the Roman Catholic Church would eventually come to dominate the Western world. The foundation of this new religious institution would be built on the original physics and metaphysics developed by Plato and Aristotle.
“The first incarnation of Platonic philosophy and metaphysics is manifested in the Christian concept of an eternal afterlife involving the possibilities of Heaven and Hell.”
This new Christian Church carried with it the dualism of the past in terms of its relationship with physics and metaphysics. What generally had been classified as physics by Aristotle became associated with the physical, or secular, reality of the world. Things generally considered knowledge beyond the five senses which Aristotle called metaphysics became the essential reality of the sacred, on which critical spiritual doctrine was based. Thus, Plato and Aristotle, two Greek pagans, came to embody the fundamental principles of the new Christian religion. The first incarnation of Platonic philosophy and metaphysics is manifested in the Christian concept of an eternal afterlife involving the possibilities of Heaven and Hell.
Although there are some vague references to these ideas in the Bible, there is no consolidated concept referencing a solidified theory as to what the afterlife actually is or how it works. The overall structure of Heaven and nature of the Christian afterlife are essentially based on Plato’s Realm of Forms.
CONSIDERATION #9 – The Sacred and the Secular (Augustine & Plato)
Chapter 4
The Sacred and the Secular
“The person with a secular mentality feels himself to be the center of the universe. Yet he is likely to suffer from a sense of meaninglessness and insignificance because he knows he's but one human among five billion others - all feeling themselves to be the center of things - scratching out an existence on the surface of a medium-sized planet circling a small star among countless stars in a galaxy lost among countless galaxies. The person with the sacred mentality, on the other hand, does not feel herself to be the center of the universe. She considers the Center to be elsewhere and other. Yet she is unlikely to feel lost or insignificant precisely because she draws her significance and meaning from her relationship, her connection, with that center, that Other.”
– M. Scott Peck
Lao Tzu’s warning, that once the division starts it never stops, seems appropriate in regard to the split between secular and non-secular aspects of Aristotle’s metaphysics. Although originally part of the same unique category, they separated into two distinct paths that eventually became incompatible opposites: sacred and secular. The secular aspects of logic and reason became the foundation for the abstract metaphysics of mathematics and geometry, while the spiritual aspects of metaphysics, such as the soul, became the focus of religion, including Judaism, Islam, and particularly, Christianity. The chasm between science and religion had begun. Matters of the spirit, or soul, became the jurisdiction of religion and matters of pure abstract thought became the domain of mathematics and science.
“With Christianity becoming the official religion of Rome under Constantine in 313 ACE, the once floundering Jewish sect found itself one of the most influential powers in the world.”
With Christianity becoming the official religion of Rome under Constantine in 313 ACE, the once floundering Jewish sect found itself one of the most influential powers in the world. The Bible literally begins with the introduction of dualism into human consciousness, it is the act that sets the stage for the rest of the entire story. Therefore, there was already a deep connection to, and understanding of, dualism that fit well with the original metaphysics of both Plato and Aristotle. The Western tendency to organize and systematize through logic and reason made its way into the newly founded Roman Catholic Church through the works of Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas. Here is how it works.
Augustine and Plato
“Platonism is part of the vital structure of Christian theology… If people would read Plotinus, who worked to reconcile Platonism with Scripture, they would understand better the real continuity between the old culture and the new religion, and they might realize the utter impossibility of excising Platonism from Christianity without tearing Christianity to pieces…”
Dean Inge – Professor of Divinity Cambridge University
Aurelius Augustinus, later canonized St. Augustine by the Catholic Church, is one of the most influential medieval philosophers and Christian thinkers of all time. He developed and created a theological system based on the original metaphysics of Plato and the mystery of faith that impacted the very foundation of the newly established Christian theology. Even after the Reformation of the Church, the Platonic metaphysics embedded by Augustine continued to influence Christianity’s metaphysics and theology.
First, Plato’s Theory of Forms serves as a model for the Christian concept of Heaven and Hell. Heaven represents the eternal non-corrupt reality of goodness and perfection which Plato called the Realm of Forms. The physical world represents the corruption of that ultimate goodness and perfection. In Christianity, the body becomes the metaphor for this corruption, the corrupted physical manifestation of sin, or separateness, from the divine Realm of God, or the Good. Plato’s unique view of the soul fit perfectly into this new Christian dichotomy.
“For many early Christians, Platonists helped bridge the possibility of an absolute Truth and unchanging reality where the souls of the atoned would live forever.”
Plato believed that the soul existed separately from the body in the Realm of Forms. That meant, that when the physical body dies, the perfect immortal soul returns to the Realm of Forms from which it came. In Christian theology, the soul is perfect and immortal and will return to its original perfection in Heaven if it can be cleansed of its imperfection through faith in Christ. Fitting in to this idea is the counterpart suggesting that if the soul remains imperfect it cannot ascend to perfection in Heaven; it would be forced to remain in the world of imperfection, which in Christian terms becomes Hell. The plurality of life and death, heaven and hell, sin and forgiveness, reward and punishment, and lost or saved all become infused into the very foundation of the early church. For many early Christians, Platonists helped bridge the possibility of an absolute Truth and unchanging reality where the souls of the atoned would live forever.
“For Augustine, God was the very source of the Forms, therefore the very source of everything.”
The possibility that the human mind could in fact become connected to the perfect knowledge and understanding of a “sacred” reality gave the concept of being “born again” a logical connection for Christianity. Those “born again” are transformed with the experience of “grace” which comes from the rejection of the corrupt physical world of sin and the total acceptance of the non-physical world of perfection. For Augustine, God was the very source of the Forms, therefore the very source of everything. Christians, through faith, can transcend the realm of physicality and experience the Realm of Forms while alive and will return there after death. Simply replace “Realm of Forms” with “Heaven,” and you recognize the Christian manifestation.
“Augustine believed that the influence of knowledge, logic, and reason were not enemies of faith.”
Perhaps even more importantly, Augustine believed that the influence of knowledge, logic, and reason were not enemies of faith. They were in fact tools for investigating the truth and possibility of faith. However, Plato was not the only ancient Greek to influence the new Christian religion. Soon Aristotelian thought and influence would become the prevalent authority in Christian metaphysics.
POSTSCRIPT
While there are many examples of Platonic influence in Christian theology and philosophy, there is perhaps no clearer example than the connection between the Christian concept of an afterlife in an eternal realm of perfection called Heaven, and Plato’s concept of the Realm of Forms. It serves as a clear example of the continuous, and unavoidable, influence of past interpretations of reality merging into our own; sometimes without even consciously realizing it. This is an important point. All reality, including our own, has been influenced by the past; this is unavoidable. We can choose to accept it and therefore learn and grow from it, or we can ignore it and pretend the influence is not real and therefore not still manifesting itself into our existence. The first option represents the option of enlightenment and transformation. The second option represents the option of destruction and annihilation in an attempt to completely start over by obliterating all past reality; including its memory. This is the choice we are currently facing.
Next week we will consider Aristotle’s influence on Christianity, particularly relating to Natural and Revealed Revelation.
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