Home Pharos Fiction Site Map Updates Search

 

                                                                                                                        Back

Halexandria Foundation
Communications
Sacred Mathematics
Connective Physics
Synthesis
Chronicles of Earth
Justice, Order, and Law
Daath
Extraterrestrial Life
Creating Reality
Tree of Life

Philosophy

Philosophy can be defined as: “ 1 the use of reason and argument in seeking knowledge and  truth of reality, esp. of the causes and nature of things and of the principles governing existence, the material universe, perception of physical phenomena, and human behavior. 2 a a particular system or set of beliefs reached by this. b a personal rule of life. 3 advanced learning in general (doctor of philosophy). 4 serenity; calmness; conduct governed by a particular philosophy. [philosophia wisdom (as PHILO-, sophos wise)]” [1]

It is noteworthy that “philo-” is a combining form “denoting a liking for what is specified,” such that “philosophy” becomes the love of wisdom.  This is very distinct from seeking truth and knowledge.  Wisdom far exceeds both knowledge and truth.  It is the use of such tools, “experience and knowledge together with the power of applying them critically or practically.”  Wisdom is perception, perceptiveness, percipience, perspicuity, perspicacity, and prudence.  (As in The Tao of Pooh.)  It could even be thought of as enlightenment.

In addition to wisdom, “sophy” (from Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom) can be thought of as “the study, knowledge, and wisdom of...”.  If we further break down “philo” to “phi” and “lo” -- and “lo” means “the amazing sight” (as in “lo and behold”), then philosophy also means, “the study, knowledge, and wisdom of the amazing sight of... phi.”  Meanwhile, phi is the Greek letter which is used to denote the Golden Mean, a ratio or number which equals 0.618033987... (or 1.618033987... -- the two numbers being interchangeable).

Philosophy as per our first set of definitions (which covers really a lot of ground), and even as a love of wisdom (in its highest connotations), can simultaneously be thought of as the study, knowledge, and wisdom of a numerical ratio!  This latter fact is evidence of the vast importance of Sacred Mathematics as an integral part of philosophy.

Now, which would you rather study?  All the machinations and bewildering thoughts of mentally rearranged minds like Nietsche (who advocated the concept of the Superman, an idea which Nazi Germany took to an extreme), Peanuts (as in The Gospel According to...), Decartes (“I think, therefore I am”), Bush (“I don’t think, therefore I am President”), Spinoza, and so forth and so on?  Or would you prefer the logic, purity, and inherent predictability of mathematics, a field without the bias of interpretation?

Whichever you choose, it is wise (i.e. the use of wisdom, perspicacity, etceteras) to remember that when Rene Decartes, the French philosopher, died, the funeral bier on which his body was taken to the cemetery was pushed by a horse, instead of being drawn in the traditional way.  This was the first example of “putting Decartes before de horse.”  Now, dis is philosophy!

Xenophobia is often thought of as ‘fear of strangers’, but is more likely, “an abnormal or morbid fear or aversion” (phobia) of anything “strange, foreign, or stranger” (xeno)  Xenophobia is thus contrary to philosophy, wherein wisdom requires a xenocuriosity.  Which is the basis for this extended website -- in case you were wondering.

But consider the case of strangers in our midst.  Evan Hodkins has noted that “Philoxenia is the Greek word for hospitality.  The literal meaning is ‘love of strangers’.”  But enlarge this concept of stranger to include any strange or foreign event.  Even then, “A stranger is different from both enemy and friend.  The stranger is an emissary from the unknown, the placeholder of surprise, the instrument of Divine interruption, the speaker of stunning revelations.  Foreigners come to us from beyond the borders and boundaries of our insularity and deliver new perspectives.” [2]

“When relationships of destiny insinuate themselves, we call it b’shert in Hebrew, kismet in Arabic.”  It’s the orchestration of apparent chance encounters, where we suddenly find in an event or another person the delights of an “ancient belonging.”

Thus true philosophy can be viewed as the strange, the unknown, the foreign, all being things to be welcomed.  Even adversities.  For they bring their own form of gifts, and with an increasing wisdom, an ever expanding love of wisdom, our philosophy will always find an honored place in our home for all such emissaries from beyond.

At the same time, it must be remembered that a society which honors philosophers and does not honor plumbers will have neither philosophies nor plumbing which hold water.

 

Sacred Geometry         Golden Mean         The Golden Spiral

Forward to:

Geometry of Alphabets         The Great Pyramids

____________________

References:

[1] Reader’sDigest, Complete Wordfinder, Reader’s Digest Association, Pleasantville, NY, 1996.

[2] Evan Hodkins, “Strangers in Our Midst”, The Alchemist, Vol 2, No. 1, Spring 2002.

  

               

                                                                                      The Library of ialexandriah       

2003© Copyright Dan Sewell Ward, All Rights Reserved                     [Feedback]    

                                                                                                            Back