tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7154359965221795553.post1780444488908345468..comments2024-03-01T14:27:35.794-08:00Comments on Albion Awakening: Charles Morgan: England's Forgotten PlatonistBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7154359965221795553.post-64072117612633240902016-12-10T01:55:03.633-08:002016-12-10T01:55:03.633-08:00@Carter - I don't agree that Plato was of this...@Carter - I don't agree that Plato was of this kind - he was a greatly net-Good influence on the Pagan world, and remains so; and should be regarded as an incomplete or imperfect Good, not as an evil. <br /><br />However, Socrates was a much greater man (if not philosopher) than Plato. <br /><br />In the later Dioalogues Plato portrayed Socrates as himself, more or less, and we should not attribute the wrongness of these late dialogues to the actual historical Socrates; Socrates was as portrayed in the ealy work - as confirmed by Xenophon and other contemporaries. <br /><br />Socrates was deeply religious and principled, a proto-monotheist - even perhaps a Proto-Christian. <br /><br />But I agree that forcing Christianity into a pre-existing mould of Plato/ Neo-Platonism, then later Aristotelianism, did severely damage Christian theology and made necessary the Reformation (which failed to solve the problem) and then the Restoration (which solved it - although awareness of this fact seems vestigial, even among Mormons). <br /><br />Even so, there have been great achievments among Platonist Christians such as the Eastern Orthodox - who endured centuries of harsh persecuation while keeping alive the flame of faith - and very recently 70 years of the harshest persecution of any Christian group, or indeed of any group of any kind in history, in the Soviet Union; yet survived somehow to blossom forth remarkably after the Communist repression was (mostly) removed. <br /><br />In sum, I would be more than happy with a mass Platonist spiritual revival in The West as the first step toward something better and more sustainable - although I think it extremely unlikely!Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7154359965221795553.post-546216488044607492016-12-09T22:29:43.334-08:002016-12-09T22:29:43.334-08:00As a committed anti-Platonist, I suppose I should ...As a committed anti-Platonist, I suppose I should make it a priority to read this book, so I can perhaps go about refuting it.<br /><br />Plato was the cause, rather than the cure, of the modern West's materialism and spiritual decay. For the fallen, crass, corrupt material world really is The World, the one and only world. The philosopher's heaven does not exist, and no one can reach it- this is where the quest for that Ideal led, this society we live in now. Platonism and Christianity were wed at the very beginning, and today we see the fruits of that union.<br /><br />It may very well be the return of Platonism that revives Christianity in the West, as it did in the past, poisoning it yet again. Then crumbling as the quest fails and society turns back to materialism, yet again.<br /><br />- Carter CraftTheDoctorofOdoIslandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06654695224557150961noreply@blogger.com