Philosophical Movements Influence on Spirituality Philosophical Movements The

Philosophical Movements Influence on Spirituality

Philosophical Movements • The word philosophy comes from two Greek words, philo which means “I love” and Sophia which means “wisdom”. • Hence, philosophy means lover/love of wisdom. • During the time of Jesus philosophical movements were widespread. • The Gospels don’t record any encounter between Jesus and any member of the philosophical movements. • Paul had an encounter with the Epicureans and Stoics. • Philosophy had an impact on early Christianity and Spirituality.

1. SOCRATES (469 -399 BC) • He was born in Athens, Greece. • His philosophical contribution was in the area of Ethics. • He never wrote anything. • All that is known about him was written by his students, especially Plato. • Basically, his philosophy was human centered. • He gave much attention to human beings while ignoring other phenomena.

• He focused on human behavior and the results of that behavior. • He taught that right behavior came from (gnosis) knowledge. • One has to know how she/he is expected to behave so that one can behave appropriately. • The more perfect our knowledge is, the more perfect our behavior becomes. • He taught that true knowledge gives birth to virtue.

Socratic Basic Virtues: 1. PROVIDENCE • The ability to provide not only for oneself but also for others. • One should not be selfish, thinking about oneself all the time. • Others should be accommodated. 2. COURAGE • True knowledge gives rise to courage. • Courage to protect others and to do heroic things despite the dangers one might encounter.

3. SELF-CONTROL • Life is full of temptations, and self-control is a discipline that is required. • Self-control is needed in the areas of food, sex, drink, anger, speeding, etc. 4. JUSTICE • True knowledge brings about justice. • Those with knowledge are prepared to fight for justice. • So, according to Socrates, knowledge gives rise to virtue. • A virtuous life leads to happiness.

Other Socratic Virtues • Listening, Patience, • Perseverance, Trusting one’s doubts, • Talking frankly, Postponing one’s judgment • Willingness to revise one’s opinion, • Respect for other point of view, etc.

ARISTOTLE (384 -322 BC) • He was a student of Plato. • Disagreed with his teacher about the existence of two worlds. • The physical world is a reality and there is no other world. • Everything that exists is substance. • There is no distinction between ideas and objects. • Of all the physical objects, there is one which is not made out of matter, and that is God. • God is immaterial.

• Aristotle explained the difference between matter and substance. • Matter is not substance until it is worked on, then it becomes substance. • So, substance is matter that has been acted upon. • If we want to attain knowledge, we can get it from this physical world because it is unquestionably real. • There is enough knowledge in matter, but it needs to be acted upon.

• According Aristotle, there is a force which he called Prime Force, which makes things happen. • Everything is in a state of motion, but for things to be in motion there should be a prime mover. • That prime mover has intelligence and purpose. • It is the beginning and end of that purpose. • He identified the prime mover with God. • Human beings are made of substance, and they are not gods.

Principal parts of a Human Being (a) Body (b) Soul (c) Divine Spark • The Divine Spark is eternal and impersonal, just like God. • The object of life is to seek happiness and well-being. • This can be achieved through walking the right path which he called the Golden Mean. • This means that, one must strike a balance between the pursuit of pleasure, desires, and the drives of the body, and spiritual life. • St. Paul is believed to have used Aristotle.

EPICUREANISM • It is associated with Epicurus (342 -270 BC). • He spent most of his life in Athens (Acts 17: 18 ff) where he taught. • Sensation/feeling/perception is the standard of all human truth. • If we want to know what is true, we can get reliable knowledge from our feelings. • The highest of human purpose is to achieve mental bliss/happiness/gratification/peace of mind.

• For Epicurus, the purpose of life was to attain happiness and tranquility, characterized by: 1. Ataraxia: peace and freedom from fear. 2. Aponia: the absence of pain. 3. Living a self-sufficient life, surrounded by friends. • Mental bliss is the most perfect state a human being can achieve. • Pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil. • The pursuit of mental bliss can be disturbed by certain undesirable factors.

Three Fears That Prevents Achievement of MB. 1. Fear of Death • Death should never be feared. • Human beings are a mere composite of atoms, which go to make other things at death. • After the disintegration of these atoms, there is nothing else left to live forever. • Death is the end of both body and soul. • Death, is in fact, a long sleep, and heralds the end of all suffering and pain. • Death must be embraced because it is not evil.

2. The Fear of gods • Epicureans affirmed the existence of gods. • However, gods were not to be feared because they too were made out of atoms. • They did not create the world. • The gods’ atoms do not come apart. • Gods have no concern about the welfare of human beings. • The gods do not reward or punish humans because it is not their business to do that. • The universe is infinite and eternal, and it will never end.

3. Fear of Misfortune/Fate • Don’t worry about misfortune and fate because there is little you can do to avoid it. • We must try to minimize our experiences of pain and maximize our pleasurable experiences. • One has to withdraw from politics and public life where we are like to get hurt. • Concentrate on the pursuit of tranquility and pleasure. • The pain that we cannot escape must be endured. • Paul met these philosophers at Athens.

STOICISM • It was named after the painted stoa in Athens. • It was popularized by Zeno of Citium (334 -264). • The stoics had a great influence in Greece and the Roman Empire. • They taught that the world is materialistic and real. • Everything that is real must be physical, material, visible, and tangible.

• The body is made up of particles of different textures. • It has finer particles that penetrate coarser particles. • Between the particles there is tension/divine spirit. • The tension is a result of the vital warmth/ logos, which is the source of all reality. • The Vital Warmth gives harmony to all things. • The logos is intelligent, self-conscious, and indwelling reason. • Some gods are not real, but manifestations of the logos.

• The wise should gain control over passions. • Should face both good and bad with detachment. • We must not worry about what we cannot control, but what we can control. • There is only one logos, one reason, one wisdom, and consequently there should be unity in terms of law and conduct. • All people, by virtue of the divine spirit in them are equal. • It is by accident that people have different stations in life. • The object of life is not just to seek happiness, but total obedience to all the good that is inspired by gods.

POSITIVE EFFECTS • It gave rise to very good leaders who worked for human equality. • It led to the modification of the Roman law. • It helped make the treatment of slaves less oppressive. • It also led to the extension of the Roman citizenship to people who were not Romans.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS • The teaching that people were equal and occupied different stations in life by accident led to a life of resignation and laziness. • The general objective of Stoicism was not to seek God as we know him, but reason.