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The Philosophy of Maximus of Tyre

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posted on May, 13 2014 @ 10:01 AM
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Maximus of Tyre was a greek philosopher who lived in the late 2nd century AD. He was a greek historian as well and professor at Athens. He was a bit of a Platonist, but really had his own philosophy on God and the universe. It was a philosophy based on common sense and reason. He wrote forty-one essays or discourses on theological, ethical, and other philosophical subjects.

His conclusion ... that there is one God in charge of all. There may be lesser gods or lesser spirits guiding things, but there is one God Who is the supreme creator and ruler. He also says we are not really alive in this world, but will be in the spirit world. This is a shadow world. We are alive .. but not fully so.

What Divinity Is According to Plato - By Maximus of Tyre

Shall not we also, ascending by reasoning into a certain elevated part of the soul, dare to survey the footsteps of deity, that we may discover where he resides, and what is his nature? We must, however, be satisfied with an obscure vision.



For there are not only thirty thousand gods, the sons and friends of God, but the multitude of divine essences is innumerable; partly consisting of the natures of the stars in the heavens, and partly of dæmoniacal essences in æther. But I wish to indicate to you what I have said, by a more perspicuous image. Conceive a mighty empire, and powerful kingdom, in which all things voluntarily assent to the best and most honourable of kings. But let the boundary of this empire be, not the river Halys, nor the Hellespont, nor the Mœotis, nor the shores of the ocean, but heaven and earth; that above, and this beneath: heaven, like a circular infrangible wall of brass, comprehending everything in its embrace; and earth like a prison in which noxious bodies are bound; while the mighty king himself, stably seated, as if he were law, imparts to the obedient the safety which he contains in himself. The associates of this empire are many visible, and many invisible gods, some of them encircling the vestibules themselves, as messengers of a nature most allied to the king, his domestics and the associates of his table; but others being subservient to these, and again others possessing a still more subordinate nature. You see a succession and an order of dominion descending from divinity to the earth.


Maximus of Tyre - Comparison to Sermon on the Mount

Maximus of Tyre, in his dissertation on the question “Whether injuries are to be returned?” can be seen as providing a Hellenistic complement to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus, of course, gives an answer to the question which transcends the one of Maximus. Nonetheless, Maximus can be shown as providing the philosophical foundation for the Christian rejection of vengeance. Maximus tells us that one who returns injury commits an offense and can no longer be seen as innocent and pure. Jesus goes further and tells us we must do good to those who would injure us, to love them even if they would not love us back (cf. Matt. 5:44-8). It is amazing that a non-Christian philosopher (from the second century of the common era) is able to appreciate the truth behind the Sermon of the Mount and proclaim it while many who claim Christ as their own do not.


Maximus of Tyre - How to Distinguish a Flatterer from a Friend

After this manner conceive that a flatterer differs from a friend: for it often happens to both that they engage in the same employments and the same associations; but the one differs from the other in use, in the end, and in the disposition of the soul: for the friend considers that which appears to him to be good to belong also in common to his friend; and, whether this proves to be painful or pleasant, he partakes equally of it with him; but the flatterer, following his own desires, conducts the association to his own advantage. The friend desires an equality of good, the flatterer his own private good. The one aspires after equal honour in virtue, the other after superiority in pleasure. The one in conversation desires an equal freedom of speech, the other servile submission. The one loves truth in association, the other deception; and the one looks to future emolument, but the other to present delight. The one requires to be reminded of his good actions, the other wishes them to be involved in oblivion. The one takes care of the possessions of his friend, as of things common, the other destroys them, as being the property of another. The company of a friend in prosperity is most opportune, and in calamity is most equal; but a flatterer can never be satiated with prosperity, and in adversity he is never to be seen. Friendship is laudable, flattery detestable; for friendship attends to equality of retribution, but this flattery mutilates: for he who pays servile attention to another through indigence, that his wants may be supplied, so far as he does not receive an equal submission in return, will reprobate the inequality. A friend, when his friendship is concealed, is unhappy; on the contrary, a flatterer is miserable when is flattery is not concealed. Friendship when tried is strengthened, flattery is confuted, by time. Friendship requires not to be corroborated by advantage, but flattery cannot subsist without profit; and if men have any communion with the divinities, the pious man is a friend to divinity, but the superstitious is a flatterer of divinity; and the pious man is blessed, but the superstitious is miserable.


There are 41 writings attributed to Maximus of Tyre. They are interesting reading. Common sense. Reasonable. Something to keep in mind to read on a rainy day. You might find it interesting.



posted on May, 13 2014 @ 10:37 AM
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I'd have to say the idea of "one god" or any gods at all for that matter would be better called a common misconception rather than common sense.

That being said I love reading into the minds of men who lived in our past, anyone you meet could be the descendent of some famous hero or king and we generally have no clue, and you hardly hear anyone coming up with their own ideas on our cosmos anymore. Quite an interesting read I'd say.



posted on May, 13 2014 @ 10:47 AM
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I do feel to comply with the pryed -eyed-one on "Quite an interesting read"...

Thank you OPT for this info.



posted on May, 13 2014 @ 10:56 AM
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The one God is what is being all there is.
What ever is happening is happening and no one is doing it - it is the whole thing happening.
It 'seams' as though there are separate things but it is just one movement - it is all.




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