Comments on: Socrates & the Mysteries

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 19:42:41 +0000

Here’s a good read along this topic… Not exactly what you ask, but pretty usefull nonetheless, as a stepping stone to other studies and a few solid insights thrown in:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN.../ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-3843218-3996654

By: james

james — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 02:43:39 +0000

Socrates, like Jesus, never wrote anything down. And, like JC, there’s a lot of speculation on what he actually did, what he really meant, and whether he even existed at all.

In my mind, Socrates is Jesus. Maybe even wiser than Christ himself.

And, the Socratic Method still works.

By: Avi Solomon

Avi Solomon — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:14:56 +0000

IMHO the best access to the historical Socrates is via Xenophon’s Socratic writings:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0801429633/
Plato was a ‘liar’ as Socrates himself is reported to have commented upon reading Plato’s ‘Lysis’

By: J. Puma

J. Puma — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 15:50:21 +0000

yeah, i think the manly hall has it. i have it at home; i’ll check this evening if i think about it. for a satirical view of ol’ socrates as related to the sophists & the mysteries, etc., read ‘the clouds,’ by aristophanes:

http://duke.usask.ca/~porterj/CourseNotes/CloudsNotes.html#soc

there’s also the question of how much of ’socrates’ is socrates, and how much is plato. plato would more likely have been initiated into the mysteries, so evidence of socrates having been so initiated might be reflections of plato’s bias.

By: prunesquallor

prunesquallor — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 14:26:27 +0000

I don’t know anything about the historical Socrates, but I can tell you Plato’s fictionalized Socrates had partaken in the Mysteries, and was attempting to bring his friend along in the Meno. Also, in the Last Days of Socrates IIRC, he was put to death for denying the supremacy of the gods, which could be interpreted as “revealing the mysteries.”

It’s all about the Penguin Classics, baby!

By: Jason Bradfield

Jason Bradfield — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 12:55:30 +0000

Fascinating stuff. I hope you post more on this.

By: Avi Solomon

Avi Solomon — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 10:25:04 +0000

You could start here:
http://www.jnani.org/mrking/writings/essays/essaysukc/socmysc.html

By: Chiggles

Chiggles — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 05:17:18 +0000

I want to say Manly P. Hall wrote of this in his Secret Teachings of All Ages, but it’s been ages (heh) since I’ve read that, and it is not on my body, so it cannot be confirmed.