Platonic Orientalism
Platonic Orientalism is a school of thought that arose in the late Hellenistic world. It is distinguished from the abstract philosophical speculation of classical Platonism by the development of its own mythologies and ritual practices focused on the attainment of a liberatory salvation through gnosis.[1]
Notes
Platonic Orientalism represents the transformation of Platonism from a philosophy into a religious worldview. [2] It is "Platonism understood as ancient “divine wisdom derived from the Orient” [3]
Key elements
Platonic Orientalism is concerned with "gnosis," divine revelation--basically Connection Experience. They see this gnosis as an essential component/goal of authentic spiritual knowledge. For example, Shihäb al-Din al-Suhrawardi "For Suhrawardi true philosophy required mystical intuition, a kind of revelation, and the philosophers who employed mystical intuition often expressed themselves in symbols Those, like the Peripatetics, who confined themselves to rational speculation were limited in their ability to reach the truth, especially about higher things. It was the earlier philosophers who were the true exponents of the divine philosophy. The founder of philosophy was Hermes/Idris/Enoch, who is usually associated with Egypt."[4]
Sources
To trace sources in authors writing in late antiquity, see Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity." [5]
Platonic Orientalism is linked with "barbarian" cultures, Persian (Specifically Zoroaster), Babylonians, Indians, Celts, Thracians, Scythians, and Jews[6] all of which presumably had better access to divine gnosis. Hanegraaf writes
...there are innumerable references to the ruling idea that the most ancient “barbarian” peoples possessed a pure and superior science and wisdom, derived not from reason but from direct mystical access to the divine, and that all the important Greek philosophers up to and including Plato had received their “philosophy” from these sources. The modalities of such transmission were not seen as problematic: after all, countless testimonies confirmed that Plato himself and all his notable predecessors had personally traveled to Egypt, Babylon, Persia and even India, where they had studied with the priests and sages.[7]
Platonic Orientalism forms a foundation for gnostic, hermetic, and theurgical currents in late antiquity. [8]
Platonic Orientalism is a locus point of the Old Energy Creation Template, meaning it is a place where elites developed archetypes that would come to constitute the Old Energy Creation Template.
Platonic Orientalism (NeoPlatonism??) is linked with " Theosophy, Freemasonry, and the New Age movement. "[9]
Footnotes
- ↑ Hanegraaff, Wouter J. Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
- ↑ Hanegraaff, Wouter J. Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
- ↑ Hanegraaff, Wouter J. Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. p. 15.
- ↑ Walbridge, John. The Wisdom of the Mystic East: Suhrawardi and Platonic Orientalism. New York: SUNY Press, 2001.p. 2-3.
- ↑ Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity. London: Thames and Hudson, 1971.
- ↑ Walbridge, John. The Wisdom of the Mystic East: Suhrawardi and Platonic Orientalism. New York: SUNY Press, 2001. p. 5.
- ↑ Hanegraaff, Wouter J. Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. p. 14.
- ↑ Hanegraaff, Wouter J. Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
- ↑ Walbridge, John. The Wisdom of the Mystic East: Suhrawardi and Platonic Orientalism. New York: SUNY Press, 2001. p. 11.
