[MD] Boromir's Journey

[John Carl]

Ron, Matt,

On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 4:42 AM, X Acto <xacto at rocketmail.com> wrote:

>
> Platos glorification of the abstract, the best patterns, those of
> virtue and wisdom and their benefits in leading a happier life,
>  were taken quite literally when re-introduced
> into Roman Christian culture. Greek philosophy was thought of as
> Paganistic, Christians murdering philosophers (Hypatia of alexandria)
>


The confluence of greek and hebrew thought, because of Rome is interesting
to me.    Into the mix, pops one carpenter josh, and the biggest persecuters
of his followers are the hellenistic jews - the pharisees and such trained
in greek thought.  And then the most vicious of them all, saul of tarsus
finds some kind of enlightenment on the road, and bam, writes the new
religion in greek... well, it's an interesting story, you have to admit.



> I believe the angle of the neo-Platonists was to keep these ideals alive
> within the new religion of empirial Rome. Plontious (I believe) never
> claimed to be christian.
>

well anybody murdering anybody in the name of christ can claim to be a
christian... but, the label is not the thing.


> Sometimes Matt, I get the feeling Jesus was invented, at least the mythos
> of Jesus, the Platonic ideal of the perfect form steeped in the cult of
> Dionysus.
>

well duh, everything is an invention, Ron.  Even you.



> Comfort is fine, and usefull but when mixed with the conflagation of
> mythos as literal,....trouble.
>
>
trouble indeed.  right here in river city.  that's trouble with a t which
rhymes with p ... (you know the words)





> Matt:
>
> What you might make the move to from there is that the
> European Englightenment philosophers' way of alleviating
> anxiety in long run _merely exacerbates_ the situation,
> rather than proving to be a good long-term strategy.
>
>
John]

 anxiety is a great motivator and "society the giant" wants to keeps its
members running their laps.

So if the long-term strategy is to overcome anxiety, it's bad.  If the
long-term strategy is to grow and perpetuate its own pattern, then its
smart.