Summary of Greek Classical Philosophy: The Pursuit and the Abortion Halfway
From the mystical source of the Pythagorean school all the way to Aristotle, this basically covers a stage of primitive Greek philosophy.
Starting from Aristotle, the pursuit of the supreme Dao was abandoned, and the focus shifted towards development combined with social practice. Aristotle's disciples followed this path, while those inheriting from the Pythagorean school turned towards Neoplatonism, branching out into many different doctrines.
Due to the secrecy of the origins of the Pythagorean school, the lineage pursuing the Dao went into hiding. Meanwhile, Aristotle's disciples, captivated by Alexander's miraculous empire, embarked on a different path. Although some of Aristotle's disciples were quite interested in astrology and other fields, lacking the support of the concept of pursuing the Dao, they were destined to go astray.
From primitive Greek philosophy, it can be seen that these sages were actually vaguely pursuing an ineffable yet perceptible existence in their ultimate reflections. This existence was not merely the result of pure logical thinking, but rather the result of perceptual cognition.
The sages of ancient Greece loved contemplation, and this contemplation often allowed them to enter a state of deep meditation and tranquility, leading to a mystical experience. They perceived a flash of spiritual insight, and the wisdom that surged forth after this flash, they called divine revelation, believing it to be an启示 from the gods.
Pythagoras, Thales, Anaximander, Democritus, Heraclitus, Plato, none of whom did not claim that their knowledge came from divine revelation.
Although the history of Western philosophy places more emphasis on later developed philosophies, in terms of pursuing ultimate ideas, these sages before Plato can be called Daoists, because they never gave up on contemplating that ultimate entity permeating all things. Starting from Plato, he handed over everything about the origin to the gods, and then desperately discussed these things created by the gods—whereas his predecessors had proposed an existence higher than the gods.
Because there was no consistent thread running through it, for a long period afterwards, irreconcilable explanations all used theological tones to avoid answering questions.
This is created by God.
This is the will of God.
God is unknowable, inconceivable, imperceptible, and ineffable, so do not try to understand why God does this; humans can never comprehend God.
This is encroaching on the domain of the gods, a blasphemy that will be punished by God.
If you do not believe in God, you will eventually go to hell, while we will be saved.
Such a series of tones led to the interruption of ultimate reflection in Western philosophy until the 16th century. The Age of Discovery, the Renaissance, and the Reformation allowed these philosophies to be picked up again, but due to the great distance in time and the infiltration of too much subjective consciousness, even mystics, when obtaining mystical experiences, were influenced by their cultural environment, ultimately unable to seek and recognize the ultimate Dao.
The most typical example is the widely popular Indian yoga in modern times. Its original purpose was to pursue spiritual elevation, with the ultimate goal being the union of Atman and Brahman, holding a dismissive attitude towards the physical body. This shares common ground with the spiritual supremacy of Western mystical schools. However, the reason for yoga's rise and rapid spread in the West was not its spiritual practice or spiritual charm (although some people are very interested in that), but rather, the reason more people accepted it was: practicing yoga can help you lose weight.
Of course, we do not deny the mystical practices of the Middle Ages. Although they lacked dominant support and were tightly suppressed by theology, they still achieved considerable results in practice, especially in two areas: Tarot and Alchemy.