To Deface the Nomos

[Nungali]

What do you mean "prove it"  ?

 

You asked for a prediction, I answered with one and the next post proved my prediction right.

 

It's already proved.   

 

(Although you may still be 'entangled' . 

[9th]

What do you mean "prove it"  ?

 

You asked for a prediction, I answered with one and the next post proved my prediction right.

 

It's already proved.   

 

(Although you may still be 'entangled' . 

 

I know you are but what am I!

 

[Nungali]

http://dailysmashing.com/dumbest-things-ever-said-internet/

[Zhongyongdaoist]

Boys, will be boys, I suppose.
 

I am taking a long "sabbatical" from posting on the Dao Bums and will take my leave with the following observations.
 

For it (This is Plato describing his own teaching, ZYD) does not at all admit of verbal expression like other studies, but, as a result of continued application to the subject itself and communion therewith, it is brought to birth in the soul on a sudden, as light that is kindled [341d] by a leaping spark, and thereafter it nourishes itself. (Perseus Digital Library, Plato Seventh Letter 341c to d)

 
For Plato there is a profound gulf between opinion and knowledge, in the Meno he compares it to the difference between having a map and taking a journey and experiencing it, that is why the criticism that 9th has voiced here about the fallacy of intellectualism are not applicable to any person worthy of the  name Platonist.  There is no debate over menus, without ordering and proceeding to the meal, as my final note will indicate.
 
Platonism is a robust form of Philosophical Mysticism based on the articulation of a Metaphysics of the One, it is outlined in Plato's dialogue Parmenides, a very dense and analytical text which starts out with this set of propositions about the One taken as an example of itself:
 

Hypothesis n. 1: If it is one. The one cannot be made up of parts and cannot be a single part, because a part must be section of a whole, in order to be different from many. So it has not a beginning, a center or an end thus it cannot be spherical or linear. Since the one cannot be touched because has got no parts, it is neither anywhere nor into itself, because it would be many. Therefore the one cannot move and cannot dematerialize in order to reappear in another place. The one must be itself and cannot be different from it. The one does not take part in the flowing of time so it is imperishable. (Wikipedia article on Plato's Parmenides, section on the discussion with Aristoteles)

 

Thus, by examining this aspect of the One, the One is shown to exist outside of space and time, it is then examined from several more directions, to show it not merely in One aspect purely transcendent, but in others everywhere present and thus completely immanent.

This is developed by a recognized mystic, Plotinus, a thinker in the Platonic tradition as fallows:
 

Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent "One", containing no division, multiplicity or distinction; beyond all categories of being and non-being. His "One" "cannot be any existing thing", nor is it merely the sum of all things [compare the Stoic doctrine of disbelief in non-material existence], but "is prior to all existents". Plotinus identified his "One" with the concept of 'Good' and the principle of 'Beauty'. [i.6.9]
His "One" concept encompassed thinker and object. Even the self-contemplating intelligence (the noesis of the nous) must contain duality. "Once you have uttered 'The Good,' add no further thought: by any addition, and in proportion to that addition, you introduce a deficiency." [iII.8.11] Plotinus denies sentience, self-awareness or any other action (ergon) to the One [V.6.6]. Rather, if we insist on describing it further, we must call the One a sheer potentiality (dynamis) or without which nothing could exist. [iII.8.10] As Plotinus explains in both places and elsewhere [e.g. V.6.3], it is impossible for the One to be Being or a self-aware Creator God. At [V.6.4], Plotinus compared the One to "light", the Divine Nous (first will towards Good) to the "Sun", and lastly the Soul to the "Moon" whose light is merely a "derivative conglomeration of light from the 'Sun'". The first light could exist without any celestial body.
 
The One, being beyond all attributes including being and non-being, is the source of the world—but not through any act of creation, willful or otherwise, since activity cannot be ascribed to the unchangeable, immutable One. Plotinus argues instead that the multiple cannot exist without the simple. The "less perfect" must, of necessity, "emanate", or issue forth, from the "perfect" or "more perfect". Thus, all of "creation" emanates from the One in succeeding stages of lesser and lesser perfection. These stages are not temporally isolated, but occur throughout time as a constant process. Later Neoplatonic philosophers, especially Iamblichus, added hundreds of intermediate beings as emanations between the One and humanity; but Plotinus' system was much simpler in comparison.
 
The One is not just an intellectual conception but something that can be experienced, an experience where one goes beyond all multiplicity.[8] Plotinus writes, "We ought not even to say that he will see, but he will be that which he sees, if indeed it is possible any longer to distinguish between seer and seen, and not boldly to affirm that the two are one."[9] (Wikipedia Article on Plotinus teachings on the One)

 

All of the above develops from the discussion in Plato's Parmenides.

Which has been claimed by both native Indian Authors and Western sources as being extremely close to Indian Advaita:
 

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Ananda Coomaraswamy used the writing of Plotinus in their own texts as a superlative elaboration upon Indian monism, specifically Upanishadic and Advaita Vedantic thought.[citation needed] Coomaraswamy has compared Plotinus' teachings to the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta (advaita meaning "not two" or "non-dual").[17]
 
Advaita Vedanta and Neoplatonism have been compared by J. F. Staal,[18] Frederick Copleston,[19] Aldo Magris and Mario Piantelli,[20] Radhakrishnan,[21] Gwen Griffith-Dickson,[22] and John Y. Fenton.[23]
 
The joint influence of Advaitin and Neoplatonic ideas on Ralph Waldo Emerson is considered by Dale Riepe.[24] (Wikipedia article's section on Plotinus thinking and Indian thought)

 
The principle difference being, that while Advaita is a put forward on the authority of Indian "seers", the discussion of the one which starts the Platonic Metaphysics of the One, begins with a rigorous analysis of the properties of the One and the Many and their relationship, thus the notion of Rational Mysticism.
 
Finally here is an example of Platonic writing in the form of a "philosophical myth" about the "feast of the Soul" on truth:
 

The soul (245c–249d)

In heaven, he explains, there is a procession led by Zeus, who looks after everything and puts things in order. All of the gods, with the exception of Hestia, follow Zeus in this procession. While the chariots of the gods are balanced and easier to control, other charioteers must struggle with their bad horse, which will drag them down to earth if it has not been properly trained.[Note 25] As the procession works its way upward, it eventually makes it up to the high ridge of heaven, where the gods take their stands, are taken in a circular motion and gaze at all that is beyond heaven.[Note 26]
 
What is outside of heaven, says Socrates, is quite difficult to describe, lacking color, shape, or solidity, as it is the subject of all true knowledge, visible only to intelligence.[Note 27] The gods delight in these things and are nourished. Feeling wonderful, they are taken around until they make a complete circle. On the way they are able to see Justice, Self-control, Knowledge, and other things as they are in themselves, unchanging. When they have seen all things and feasted on them, coming all the way around, they sink back down inside heaven.[Note 28] (Wikipedia article on the Phaedrus, On the Soul, emphasis mine, ZYD)

 
And just as the Gods feast on what is beyond the "ridge of Heaven" (beyond Taiyi), so do true philosophers feast in Wuji on things not dreamed of by the Cynics.

[9th]

I am taking a long "sabbatical" from posting on the Dao Bums and will take my leave with the following observations.

 

Vaya con Dios