THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

++Introduction: On Philosophy++

The mission of philosophy is to establish the relation of manifested things to

their
invisible ultimate cause or nature.

Six classifications:

metaphysics - deals with abstract subjects such as cosmology, theology, and the
nature of
being

logic - deals with laws governing rational thinking

ethics - science of morality, individual responsibility, and character

psychology - devoted to investigation and classification of those forms of

phenomena
referable to a mental origin

epistemology - science concerned primarily with the nature of knowledge itself and
the
question of whether it may exist in an absolute form

aesthetics - the science of the nature of and reactions awakened by the beautiful,
the
harmonious, the elegant, and the noble.

Plato regarded philosophy as the greatest good ever imparted by Divinity to man.
The
The academic philosophy of today is a shell of its original form as it has become
adulterated by opinion - "a falling sickness of the mind" according to Heraclitus -
result
of materialism - Sir Francis Bacon: "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to
atheism;
but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."

Greek school of philosophy created by seven immortalized thinkers: Thales, Solon,

Chilon,
Pittacus, Bias, Cleobulus, and Periander.

Thales - Water was the primal principle or element, upon which the earth floated
and
earthquakes were the result of disturbances in this universal sea. He was an
Ionian
and the school perpetuating his ideas became known as Ionic. He was
succeeded by
Anaximander who was followed by Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, and Archelaus.

Anaximander - Differed from Thales and declared measureless and indefinable

infinity to be
the principle from which all things were generated.

Anaximenes - Asserted air to be the first element of the universe, that souls and
even the
Deity itself were composed of it.
Anaxagoras - Held God to be an infinite self-moving mind. This divine Mind, not
inclosed in
any body, is the efficient cause of all things. Out of this infinite
matter and
consisting of similar parts, everything is ordered according to its
species by
the divine mind who created order from chaos. - atomism

Archelaus - Declared the principle of all things to be twofold: mind (incorporeal)

and air
(corporeal). The rarefaction and condensation of air resulted in fire and
water,
respectively. Stars were considered to be buring iron places.

Heraclitus - Asserted fire is the first element and the state into which the world
would be
reabsorbed. He regarded the soul of the world as an exhalation from its
humid
parts. He declared the ebb and flow of the sea to be caused by the sun.

Pythagoras of Samos founded the Italic or Pythagorean school. Prominent

representatives
include: Empedocles, Epicharmus, Archytas, Alcmaeon, Hippasus, Philolaus, and
Eudoxus.

Pythagoreanism was a system of metaphysical speculation concerning the

relationships
between numbers and the causal agencies of existance.

Pythagoras - conceived mathematics to be the most sacred and exact of all sciences,
and
demanded all who came for study to be familiar with arithmetic, music,
astronomy, and geometry. Emphasized the philosophic life as a
prerequisite to
wisdom. Introduced retrospection as essential to the development of the
spiritual mind. Taught celestial harmonics or "the music of the
spheres." He
taught nothing to his disciples before the discipline of silence,
silence
being the first rudiment of comtemplation. Accepted the theory of
transmigration - movement of the soul into another body after death.

Archytas - Invented the screw and the crane.

Xenophanes founded the Eleatic sect. Prominent members include: Parmenides,

Melissus, Xeno,
Leucippus, Democritus, Protagoras, and Anaxarchus.

Xenophanes - Founded the Eleatic sect. Declared that God was "one and incorporeal,
in
substance and figure found, in no way resembling man." - he is all
things.
Believed that all existing things were eternal, world was without
beginning or
end, and that everything which was generated was subject to corruption.

Parmenides - declared the senses to be uncertain and reason the only criterion of
truth. He
first asserted the earth to be round and also divided its surface into
zones of
heat and cold.

Melissus - Declared universe to be immoveable because, occupying all space, there

was no
place to which it could be moved. He rejected the theory of vacuum in
space.

Leucippus - held the Universe to consist of two parts: one full and the other a
vacuum. From
the Infinite a host of minute fragmentary bodies desceded into the
vacuum, where,
through continual agitation, they organized themselves into spheres of
substance.

Democritus - Enlarged upon the theory of Leucippus. Declared the principles of all
things to
be twofold: atoms and vacuum as both are infinite- atoms in number,
vacuum in
magnitude. Thus all bodies must be composed of atoms or vacuum. Atoms
possess
two properties, form and size, with infinite variety. He thought the
soul to be
atomic in structure and subject to dissolution within the body. The mind
he
believed to be composed of spiritual atoms. Aristotle states that
Democritus
obtained his atomic theory from the Pythagorean doctrine of the Monad.

Socrates founded the Socratic sect. Prominent members include: Xenophon, Aeschines,
Crito,
Simon, Glauco, Simmias, and Cebes.

Socrates - Fundamentally a Skeptic and did not force his opinions on others.
Through the
medium of questionings he caused each man to give expression to his own
philosophy. He held that the soul existed before the body and, prior to
immersion therein, was endowed with all knowledge. When the soul entered
the
material form it became stupefied, but that by discourses upon sensible
objects
it was caused to reawaken and recover its original knowledge. He attempted
to
stimulate the soul power through irony and inductive reasoning. The soul
subject
of his philosophy was man. He declared philosophy to be the way of true
happiness
and its purpose twofold: to contemplate God, and to abstract the soul from
corporeal sense. Principles of all things are three in number: God,
matter, and
ideas. God was unknown, matter was the subject of generation and
corruption, idea
was an incorruptible substance -the intellect of God.

The Elean sect was founded by Phaedo of Elis, a disciple of Socretes, and succeded
by
Plisthenes, and later Menedemus. Little is known of this sect which later came to
be known
as the Eretrian.
The Megarian sect was founded by Euclid of Megara (not the mathematician) a great
admirer of
Socretes. Accepted the Socratic doctrine that virtue is wisdom and added the
Eleatic concept
that goodness is absolute unity and all change is an illusion of the senses. Euclid
maintained that the good has no opposite therefore evil does not exist. Prominent
members
include: Eublides, Alexinus, Apollonius Cronus, Euphantus, Diodorus, and Stilpo.

Diodorus - Held that nothing can be moved, since to be moved it must be taken out
of the
place in which it is and put into the place where it is not, which is
impossible
because all things must always be in the places where they are.

The Cynics sect was founded by Antisthenes of Athens, a disciple of Socrates. The
Cynics
believed in extreme individualism which considers man as existing for himself alone
and
advocated surrounding the self with suffering so that he may be driven to retire
into
himself more completely. They renounced worldy possessions and lived in poverty.
Followers
assumed that the Gods wanted nothing and that those whose needs were fewest were
closest to
divinity. Prominent members include: Diogenes, Monimus, Onesicritus, Crates,
Metrocles,
Hipparchia, Menippus, and Menedemus.

Diogenes of Sinopis - Beggar-philosopher who lived in a tub in the Metroum. He

believed that
nothing in life can be rightly accomplished without exercitation
and
that everything in the world belongs to the wise as all things
belong
to the gods- the gods are friends to wise persons, all things are
common among friends; therefore, all things belong to the wise.

The Cyrenaic sect was founded by Aristippus of Cyrene and promulgated the doctrine
of
hedonism. He believed that the quest of pleasure was the chief purpose of life much
to the
disdain of Socretes. All that is known concerning any object or condition is the
feeling
which it awakens in man's own nature. In the sphere of ethics that which awakens
the most
pleasant feeling is consequently the greatest good. Emotional reactions are
pleasent (leads
to pleasure), harsh (grief), and mean (nothing). Mental perversity has led men to
not desire
pleasure. Pleasure is above the spiritual and mental. Prominent members include:
Hegesias,
Anniceris, Theodorus, and Bion.

The Academic sect was founded by Plato and divided into three parts the old,
middle, and new
Academy. Platonic philosphy was comprised of ethics, physics, and dialectics. It
was based
upon the postulation of that which moves unmoved, that which is self-moved, and
that which
is moved which correspond to Divine Permanence, immortals, and mortals,
respectfully. The
Platonic discipline was founded upon the theory that learning is reminiscence, or
the
bringing into objectivity of knowledge formerly acquired by the soul in a previous
state of
existance. Platonism is based on a priori reasoning.Prominent members include:
Speussippus,
Zenocrates, Poleman, Crates, Crantor, Arcesilaus, Carneades, and Aristotle.

Plato - Disciple of Socretes. Plato was initiated by the Egyptians into the
profundities of
Hermetic philosophy and derived much from the doctrines of the Pythagoreans.
Plato
defined the good as threefold in character: good in the soul (expressed
through
virtues), good in the body (expressed through symmetry and endurance), and
good in
the external world (expressed through social position and companionship). He
defined
God as a being that lives immortally by means of himself alone, sufficing for
His
own blessedness, the eternal Essence, cause of His own goodness. He believed
"the
One" was the best term for defining the Absolute. The One is before being
since to
be is an attribute of the One.

The Peripatetics school was founded by Aristotle after the death of Plato.
Aristotelianism
is based upon a posteriori reasoning. His followers include: Alexander the Great,
Theophrastus, Strato, Lyco, Aristo, Critolaus, and Diodorus.

Aristotle - He was well aquainted with every science. His moral philosophy
consisted of
perfection through the virtues, and the end of his contemplative
philosophy was
a union with the one principle of all things. He believed philosophy to
be
practical (ethics, politics) and theoretical (physics, logic). He
considered
Metaphysics to be the substance which has the principle of motion and
rest
inherent to itself. He believed the soul is that by which man first
lives, feels,
and understands. The soul has three faculties: nutritive, sensitive, and
intellective. He considered the soul to be twofold: rational and
irrational. He
defined wisdom as the science of first Causes. The four major divisions
of his
philosophy are dialectics, physics, ethics, and metaphysics. God is
defined as
the First Mover, immovable Substance, separate from sensible things, void
of
corporeal quality, without parts and indivisible.

Pyrrho of Elis founded a school of Skepticism encouraging its followers that those
who seek
must find or deny that they have found or can find, or persevere in the inquiry.
Those who
suppose they have found are Dogmatists, those who think it is incomprehensible are
Academics,
and those who still seek are Skeptics. The Skeptics were strongly opposed to
Dogmatists and
were agnostic towards the idea of a Deity. Since absolute knowledge was considered
unattainable, the Skeptics declared the end of their discipline to be "In
opinionatives,
indisturbance; in impulsives, moderation; and in disquietives, suspension."

The sect of the Stoics was founded by Zeno the Cittiean who studied under Crates
the Cynic.
Stoicism is a materialistic philosophy. They were essentially pantheists and
maintained that
there is nothing better than the world and the world is God. Zeno argued that the
reason of
the world is diffused throughout as a seed. Chrysippus maintained that good and
evil being
contrary, both resignation to natural law. The soul was regarded as a body
distributed
throughout the physical form and subject to dissolution with it. Actual immortality
was not
included though some believed that wisdom prolonged the existance of the soul. The
soul was
composed of eight parts: five senses, generative power, vocal power, and a
hegemonic part.
Nature was defined as God mixed throughout the substance of the world. The Stoic
philosopher
was meek in nature. Prominent members include: Cleanthes, Chrysippus, Zeno of
Tarsis,
Diogenes, Antipater, Panaetius, Posidonius, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.

Epicurus of Samos founded the Epicurean sect which resembled the Cyrenaic but had
higher
ethical standards. They believed pleasure was the most desireable state, but
conceived it to
be grave and diginified; it was achieved through renunciation of those mental and
emotional
inconsistances which are productive of pain and sorrow. Rest or lack of action is
equal to
action or motion in terms of pleasure. Prominent members include: Metrodorus of
Lampsacus,
Zeno of Sidon, and Phaedrus.

Epicurus - Pains of the mind and soul are more grievous than pains of the body;
thus, joys
of the mind and soul exceed those of the body. Accepted atomic theory of
Democritus and based physics upon this theory.

Eclecticism is the practice of choosing apparently irreconcilable doctrines from

several
schools and constructing a complete philosophic system in harmony with one's own
convictions.
It is not logically or philosophically sound as individual schools arrive at
conclusions
through different methods of reasoning. All thoughts were based upon conflicting
premises.
In the Roman empire little thought was devoted to philosophy and eclecticisim was
the main
form. It was a sort of layman's cult.

Eclecticism developed due to men doubting the possibility of discovering ultimate

truth.
This led to a pseudo-broadmindedness devoid of the preciseness found in true logic
and
philosphy.

Neo-Pythagoreanism is a link between older pagan philosophies and Neo-Platonism. It

contained many elements of thought derived from Pythagoras and Plato and emphasized
metaphysical speculation and ascetic habits. The writings have been compared to the
doctrines of the Essenes. They appeared to have a far wider knowledge of
Pythagoras's
teachings than are available today and placed emphasis on the mystery of numbers.
The
revival of Pythagoras's philosophy was an attempt to stimulate interest in the
deeper
systems of learning. However, most of humanity had awakened to the importance of
physical
life and could not be bothered with philosophy. This marks a notable transition to
an
emphasis on earthly affairs that reached its peak in the materialism and
commercialism of
the 20th century. Two prominent followers are Apollonius of Tyana and Moderatus of
Gades.

Plotinus founded the school of Neo-Platonism; although, it was long believed to

have been
founded by Ammonius Saccus. This school was concerned almost exclusively with the
problems
of higher metaphysics. It was the supreme effort of decadent pagandom to publish
and
preserve its secret doctrine. It recognized the existance of a secret and all-
important
doctrine which from the time of the earliest civilizations had been concealed
within rituals,
symbols, and allegories of religions and philosophies. On the surface it appears to
be a
mass of speculations interspersed with extravagant flights of fancy; however, this
ignores
the institutions of the Mysteries- the secret schools that nearly all the first
philosphers
of antiquity were initiated in. Prominent Neo-Platonists include: Porphyry,
Iamblichus,
Sallustius, Emperor Julian, Plutarch, and Proclus.

When pagan thought collapsed an attempt was made to resurrect it by instilling new
life into
it by the unveiling of its mystical truths. Neo-Platonism is a philosophic code
which
conceives every physical or concrete body of doctrine to be merely the shell of a
spiritual
verity which may be discovered through meditation and certain exercises of a mystic
nature.

Patristic philosophy is that of the Fathers of the early Christian Church. It is

divided
into two epochs: ante-Nicene and post-Nicene. The Patristic school is notable for
its
emphasis of the supremacy of man in the universe. Man was conceived to be a
separate and
divine creation- the crowning achievement of the Deity. It was inconceivable that
there
should ever exist another creature so noble as man who all the kingdoms of Nature
were
created for.

The ante-Nicene period mainly consisted of attacks upon paganism and apologies and
defenses
of Christianity. The entire structure of pagan philosophy was assailed and dictates
of faith
elevated above reason. Some efforts were made to convert evident truths of paganism
with
Christian revelation. Prominent Fathers include: St. Irenaeus, Clement of
Alexandria, and
Justin Martyr.

The post-Nicene period produced many philosophically unsound documents that were
created to
unfold the Christian philosphy along Platonic and Neo-Platonic lines. Post-Nicene
philosophers include: Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Cyril of Alexandria.

Patristic philosophy led to Augustinianism which is a form of Christian Platonism.

The
Pelasgian doctrine that man is the author of his own salvation was opposed and the
church
and its dogmas were elevated to a position of absolute infallibility.

Gnosticism interpreted Christianity in terms of Greek, Egyptian, and Persian

metaphysics.
It was deemed heretical by the ante-Nicene Church Fathers and nearly all
information
regarding the Gnostics is derived from accusations against them.

Later the system of Manichaeism appeared. This was a dualistic system of Persian
origin
which taught that Good and Evil were forever contending for universal supremacy.
Christ is
conceived to be the Principle of redeeming Good in contradistinction to the man
Jesus, who
was viewed as an evil personality.

The death of Boethius in the sixth century marked the close of the ancient Greek
school of
philosophy. In the ninth century the school of Scholasticism was founded which
sought to
reconcile philosophy and theology. This school was divided into Eclecticism (John
of
Salisbury), Mysticism (Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Bonaventura), Rationalism (Peter
Abelard),
and pantheistic Mysticism (Meister Eckhart). The zenith of Scholasticism was
reached under
Albertus Magnus and his disciple, St. Thomas Aquinas.

Thomism was the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas which sought to reconcile the
various
factions of the Scholastic school. Thomism was Aristotelian with the added concept
of faith
as a projection of reason.

Scotism of Voluntarism was promoted by Johannes Duns Scotus and emphasized the
power and
efficacy of the individual will, as opposed to Thomism.

Scholasticism sought to cast all European thought in an Aristotelian mold. The

school later
descended to a decadent school of meaningless verbiage as Aristotle's words were
misinterpreted and reduced to nothing.

Sir Francis Bacon despised Scholasticism and created the Baconian, or inductive,
system of
reasoning (whereby facts are arrived at by a process of observation and verified by
experimentation) which cleared the way for the schools of modern science. Bacon was
followed
by Thomas Hobbes.

Thomas Hobbes - Held mathematics to be the only exact science and thought to be
essentially a mathematical process. Declared matter to be the only
reality,
scientific investigation limited to the study of bodies, the phenomena
relative to their probable causes, and the consequences which flow from
them
under every variety of circumstance. Laid stress on the significance of
words.

Post-Reformation or modern philosophy consisted of many diverse lines:

Humanism - man is the measure of all things

Rationalism - reasoning faculties the basis of all knowledge
Political Philosophy - man must comprehend his natural, social, and national
privileges
Empiricism - only that which can be demonstrated by experiment or experience is
true
Moralism - emphasizes the necessity of right conduct as a fundamental tenet
Idealism - asserts the realities of the universe to be superphysical (mental or
psychical)
Realism - asserts the realities of the universe to be material in nature
Phenomenalism - restricts knowledge to facts or events which can be explained
scientifically
Behaviorism - estimates intrinsic characteristics through an analysis of behavior
Neo-Realism - Total extinction of idealism

Baruch de Spinoza - a Dutch philosopher, conceived God to be a substance absolutely

self-existent and needing no other conception besides itself to render it complete
and
intelligible. This Being is comprehensible only through attributes which are
extension and
thought which combine to form an endless variety of aspects or modes. The mind of
man is a
mode of infinite thought; the body of man a mode of infinite extension. Through
reason man
can elevate himself above the illusionary world of the senses and find eternal
repose in
perfect union with the Divine Essence. Spinoza deprived God of all personality and
made
Deity synonymous with the universe.

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz - Concluded that substance itself contained an

inherent power
in the form of an incalculable number of separate and all-sufficient units. Matter
reduced
to its ultimate particles ceases to exist as a substantial body and is resolved
into a mass
of immaterial ideas or metaphysical units of power -monad. He believed the universe
is
composed of an infinite number of separate monadic entities unfolding
spontaneously. All
things consist of single monads of varying magnitudes which may exist as physical,
emotional,
mental, or spiritual substances. God is the first and greatest monad; the spirit of
man is
an awakened monad as opposed to the lower kingdoms.

Immanuel Kant - Dedicated himself to investigation of the powers and limits of

human
understanding. He rescued mind from matter. He had a critical philosophy which
embraced the
critique or pure reason, practical reason, and judgement. Kant conceived the mind
to be the
selector and coordinator of all perceptions which are the result of sensations
grouping
themselves about some external object. The mind categorizes sensations and ideas
into sense
(time, space), understanding (quality, relation, modality), and causation (unity of
apperception). He considered time and space to be absolute and sufficient bases for
exact
thinking as they are subject to mathematical laws. He believed that morality proves
the
existance of free will, immortality, and God.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte - Attempted to unite Kant's practical reason with his pure
reason.
Held that the known is merely contents of the consciousness of
the
knower, and that nothing can exist to the knower until it
becomes
part of those contents. Nothing is actually real, except the
facts
of one's own mental experience.

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling - regarded identity as the groundwork for a
complete
system of philosophy. He conceived infinite and external Mind to be the all-
pervading Cause.
Realization of the Absolute is made possible by intellectual intuition which, being
a
superior or spiritual sense, is able to dissociate itself from both subject and
object.
Material existance is the result of the reciprocal action of space (positive) and
time
(negative) expressions. He held that the Absolute in its process of self-
development
proceeds according to a law or rhythm consisting of three movements: reflective -
Infinite
attempts to embody itself in the finite, subsumption - attempt of the Absolute to
return to
the Infinite after involvement in the finite, reason - neutral point wherein the
two former
movements are blended.