In the 6th Century BC, three great contemporary prophets
lived. The three prophets are Mahavira, Buddha, and Pythagoras. Mahavira
lived from 599-527 BC, and he went on to form Jainism. Buddha lived from
563-483 BC, and he went on to form Buddhism. Pythagoras lived from
580-500 BC, and he formed a school of thought in the west that would
later transform into Christianity. Pythagoras would be the first person
to call himself a philosopher.
Philia means love in Greek, and sophia means wisdom.
Thus philosophy translates to the love of wisdom. Western philosophy
began in the 6th Century BC in a country called Greece where much
intellectual development was progressing. One of the first philosophers
in this area was a man called Pythagoras. Pythagoras, in his youth
traveled to the East and accumulated a vast wealth of knowledge. He
brought back his learning to Greece, which was geometry from Egypt, and
oriental wisdom from the East. Eastern math and philosophy were to be
the doctrines in his unique school that Pythagoras formed in Croton.
Eastern philosophy was the cradle of Western philosophy. Pythagoras
created a unique philosophy of cum science cum religion.
The Pythagorean society in Greece is the foundation of
all Western thought. The school he formed was to change life on earth
forever. In the school, men and women were considered as equals, and all
were welcome to join. The property and discoveries were communal, and
thus everything would be attributed to Pythagoras even if he did not
come up with the theorems. No one knows for sure what was actually a
Pythagoras discovery other than somebody in the society came up with the
thought. The society came up with many discoveries, and had many
prominent members.
The school that Pythagoras created could be considered
like a monastery. Pythagoras was a master/teacher who felt he had an
intellectual and personal responsibility towards his students. Learning
was done on a personal basis. Pythagoras made sure that his students not
only developed intellectually, but also morally. There were different
degrees of teaching for different levels. His school went against
contemporary custom by allowing Females to join in. The female disciples
were extraordinary in his society and it is a disgrace to society as a
whole that females have been discriminated against so largely for the
last 25 centuries in the West. The world would be a much better place
had there always been equality among the sexes. A mind is a terrible
thing to waste, and so much has been lost due to sexist views. The lack
of women in math and science fields has definitely caused some
monumental thought and technology to be lost. Pythagorus taught equality
which Plato acknowledged. Plato allowed women in his academy, but his
pupil Aristotle would have none of this. Aristotle thought women could
not think rationally and thus he did not allow them into his school.
Many people would side with Aristotle and insist that
women were mentally defective and inferior to men. People like Kant and
Rousseau thought the creative works of science lay beyond the natural
capacity of a woman. This thought would bar women from the academics.
Around 4 BC Latin became the language for the educated. Since it was not
a living language, it could only be mastered through an education. Women
were not allowed an education, so they were not able to participate in
the learned fields. It is unfortunate that people followed Aristotle
view over a Plato/Pythagoras view. There have been many barriers towards
women. Who knows what talent has been lost because women were not
allowed an access to education. The insight and thought that was denied
for over two thousand years has been lost forever.
Pythagorus was very open minded and he had a large
following of both men and women. In his schools there were two types of
pupils: the Akousmata and the Mathematikos. The Akousmata were basically
novices. The Mathematikos were dedicated to a Pythagorean life. Divine
knowledge was to be revealed only to those who had been purified in both
mind and body, and thus all knowledge was kept secret in the community.
Purification of the member entailed them to have a vegetarian diet. They
were not allowed to eat any animal.
Pythagoras taught morals to his students. His disciples
did the same. There has been a long list of people that have followed
his reverence for life philosophy, or as the Jainism say �ahimsa�. This
sort of karma Pythagoras felt made the world better. Ahimsa was so
virtuously right that it is encouraged in such religions as Buddhism and
Hinduism. About five centuries later another important religious group
took up the cause. Jesus would live the same kind of life that
Pythagoras introduced into Greece. Jesus and his followers are said to
have practiced a strict vegetarianism. Gradually, Christianity would
have reincarnation and vegetarianism removed from its dogma. The church
would follow St. Augustine�s Aristotelian view that animals are machines
and women are not of equal standing with men.
Many great men though would still follow a Pythagorean
lifestyle which was contradictory to Aristotle. Men like Newton,
Einstein, Edison, Da Vinci, and many more who felt Pythagoras beliefs
both fitting and proper. Newton felt �science and religion were
fundamentally necessary to a full understanding of the world around us.�
Quantum mechanics was theorized by Einstein who also believed in
divinity.
Go on to All I Need -- poem
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