Philo Sophia, of the infinite self...

Hail Sophia, Goddess of wisdom, bearer of light!

Ancient Greeks displayed an insatiable passion for wisdom, they devoured the intellect with a zeal unmatched in the annals of societal history. Greek inventiveness, coupled with a thirst for knowledge, gave rise to many advances responsible for enhancing the quality of modern life. Where would we be today without Greek contributions in mathematics, astrology, cartography, the arts, medicine, most importantly, philosophy?

Philo Sophia, directly translates into the love of wisdom, it stands as the hallmark of all that was ancient Greece. From a Greek perspective, nothing was deemed more righteous than the pursuit of wisdom. What treasures drove thousands of Greek philosophers to remain faithful to their Goddess?

First breath of Sophia's spirit can be discerned from noting the etymology of the word philosophy. Hundreds of years before Christ was to have walked the earth, people of knowledge known as "Sophists" traveled throughout Greece. Encouraged by their role as teachers, these sages of the day were most often found, orating, debating, instructing, and in most cases, arguing with love in their hearts, countless points of philosophical reason. Greeks acknowledged two types of sages:

Sophists (Professional Wisdoms) were sages which demanded payment for the knowledge they dispensed.

Contrarily, there were also "Philo Sophists" (Gift Wisdoms) which freely dispensed knowledge as a means of sharing their love of wisdom, freely, to all within the realm.


Looking a little deeper into the etymological rabbit hole, it is very interesting to also note the definition of Sophist is one who is associated with moral scepticism, as well, specious reasoning. Moreover, a Sophist was known to be a deceiver, a manipulator of logic. Whereas, more often than not, their fallacious arguments served a malignant cause.

The Greeks were wise to denote the specific role both money, and love, play in ones path toward wisdom. Coining Shakespeare; herein lies the rub. True love can seek only one path. Either we search for physical wealth, or we hunt down knowledge, we cannot attain both. Surely, we can enjoy a comfortable life, whilst gaining knowledge. However, in our heart, the deepest yearning must be one of discovery.

The prefix Philo translates into "the love of". Greek love of Sophia, or love of wisdom, represented for all citizenry, the key to true personal growth. No person instilled with wisdom, will determine value in money or fame. True wisdom transcends all egoic limitations. The Greeks understood, the discovery of ones true nature is the only valid expression of a bona-fide philosopher. Having discovered a taste for discerning truth beyond illusion, Greek philosophers were compelled to dedicate their lives to advanced learning. Carrying the definition of philosophy forward into the realm of modern online dictionaries, I have teased together, for your consideration, the following compilation.

Philosophy: The loving pursuit of wisdom, whereby, one affects an intellectual unbiased interrogation of reality whilst maintaining a code of moral self discipline.

Most people are convinced the domain of philosophy is restricted to the purview of great thinkers, the likes of Plato or Aristotle. We fail to acknowledge Plato, like all children, fumbled through youthful ignorance. Teenage uncertainty, masked by petulant bravado, must have plagued Aristotle much the same as it ravages all teens today. Einstein could not speak until he was four, nor read until he was seven, In fact, for the longest time, his parents thought he was mentally handicapped. Isaac Newton failed at school. Newton was so incompetent running the family farm, his father sent him off to Cambridge, just to get him out of the way.

Finally, Newton blossomed into one of the greatest scholars of his day. Socrates, regarded as an immoral corrupter of youth, was sentenced to death by his intellectual peers. Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Sartre suffered greatly in their endeavor to philosophically enlighten us from a perspective of existentialism. Investigating the cross section of great philosophers, one discovers more than a fair share of misfits, miscreants and social bumblers. The point I am whittling away at is, deep within each of us, grains of philosophical sand are begging to form pearls of personal wisdom.

Further to this point, I advocate we are all philosophical beings by nature. Driving home the issue, I ask you to reach far back into your archives of childhood memories. Do you not see yourself as a young child intellectually interrogating reality? Can you see, within the heart of your child self, a loving pursuit of wisdom? Do you not live your life with a code of moral self discipline? Look into the eyes of any toddler, can you not see the philosopher within?

If we agree it is the curious nature of young children which lends them to philosophically devour their world, then we must ask ourselves, why does this aspect of our personality become dormant as we age? Unravelling the mystery of inquisitiveness lost, requires we look closely at the thoughts, feelings and emotions residing within our heart. Having affected, even briefly, an investigation into the core of our being, most will discover alien forces have supplanted their desire to seek wisdom. This indictment of our character, harsh as it may seem, does not infer adults are incapable of philosophical thought. Nor does it suggest alien beings have co opted our sense of intrigue. I carefully use the word alien to illustrate the desires we covet appear foreign, or at the very least, in contrast, to what one would consider the natural path of personal and societal evolution. If we agree alien indicates, not of the self, then we must also concur external programming at the hands of our educators, television, main stream media, religion, government, friends, parents, and family verily do represent the signposts we use to define our character and environment.

Where did that desire for knowledge go?

We have been trained to believe learning starts and ends with the education system. The farther we delve into post secondary education, the more assured we are of having completed our course of personal discovery. We assume maths, science, English, and a little geography is all that is needed to launch our adult lives. Having graduated with a knapsack full of near useless information, we feel confidence in knowing we have prepared well for our role in the work force. Into the breach we go. Alas, we discover added knowledge must be accrued to ensure we carve out a profitable niche in the consumerist marketplace. Having bevelled out a little piece of success, we arrive at the false understanding that we have learned enough to sustain our reality. Mainstream media teaches us material wealth is our raison d'etre, therefore, as soon as our checklist of success has been acquired, we assume we have fulfilled our need for wisdom. Fancy home, check, a new car, check, spouse and two point five children, got it. Finally, a loving dog in the kennel, while we sit in the holiday sun, aha, I have arrived! Having secured a foothold in society, we then occupy ourselves by seeking to increase our material status with upgrades ad infinitum.

Where, in this scenario of consumption, do we find a place in our heart for wisdom? What value is wisdom in a heart which has been trained to express an insatiable thirst for material gratification? Does this gluttony represent our true path, or is it an alien construct?

I charge you to remember, our table cannot feed both children, we must choose greed or wisdom! One child must sacrifice for another to grow, do you not agree, the child you feed is alien? Suckling the alien child starves us all. Avarice is a sin against self, family and society. Choosing to disregard philosophy will always lead to individual and societal chaos. Without knowledge, we cannot come to comprehend who we are, or why we exist. Philosophical pursuit is the only way forward, all other paths will lead to our inevitable destruction. I challenge you to look around your town, city, country, globe. Do you feel chaos is rampantly out of control? Philosophical enquiry can, and will, solve all the problems in our world. The only true course we can take is to demand an answer to three fundamental questions.


Define yourself?

Define your world?

Define your reason for being?

Can you answer the first question?

Most people, when asked to define the self, will start with a physical representation. By example, one would offer the bold statement, "I am a human man!". Pressed a little further to define self and our human man would likely resort to more detailed description, adding, "I am Christopher, I am 50 years old, I have grey hair." Pushed yet further to define the self, we discover discomfort settles over Christopher's demeanour.

"Haven't I said enough!".

Scratching his head, he clutches at straws by resorting to banal and ridiculous accreditation's, "I am a salesman, I am a Canadian!" In frustration he states. "What more is there?"

I am not concerned with what you look like, your profession, sex, colour or race. Thus far, the only statement of any merit is that you are a human man. Christopher, the question we need to answer is, what is a human? Please define yourself?

This is where the rubber hits the road, either Christopher will be left dumbfounded, or he will reach for high school science. "I am primarily carbon and water, however, I also represent, ad minutia, a bevy of many different ingredients, all found on periodic table, so there!"

I appreciate your biological constituents Christopher, however, if we look at your physique with physics in mind we can just as easily confirm, your physical representation, as Einstein would so eloquently convey, is an illusion. If you maintain your physical description is the basis of defining yourself Christopher, then, reason would suggest, you define the self as an illusion. Are you an illusion Christopher? If we agree you cannot pin your identity on a physical hook, then, I must ask you again, please define yourself?

Don't feel frustrated by the inability to hit the bulls eye. Being able to answer a question is not nearly as important as understanding the value in knowing the question must be asked. Dip your mind into the realm of philosophical pursuit, you will always find treasure. By way of example, accurately defining the self, takes us down paths which lead beyond the illusion of physicality. Whence we follow our intrigue, we discover the physical self, once considered the be all and end all of life, is merely a signature of energy which has no beginning nor end. Greek philosophers understood the path defining the self must invariably lead the adherent from insanity to sanity.

After all, what is insanity, if it not the inability to perceive reality?

Choosing to define ourselves from a philosophical perspective, we discover our true identity is consciousness. Consciousness is not set in time or space, it is an eternal expression. Consciousness has no boundaries, it is limitless, omnipotent and omnipresent. Nothing exists in the absence of consciousness, therefore, you are the totality of all manifest reality. You are the chair you sit on, the car you drive. You are the moon and the entirety of all creation, you are me. Most people would call you insane if you tried to suggest they are a tree, they would be mortified if you suggested they are a piece of shit.

They would be wrong! Of course you are a piece of shit, as well you are a rose, you are the sunset we all adore. You are the light many call God.

From this vista of sanity, you will discover your world is commanded by the insane. Unfortunately, when you do discover sanity, you find yourself alone, abandoned, trapped in a societal nightmare. Within this ghoulish creation of insanity, you will feel compelled to lovingly guide the mind programmed masses toward paths beyond the corruption of illusion, past the chains of avarice. Standing on your self created rickety dais, you will urge those within earshot to stop, look within, listen to their heart.

What lessons do we learn when we discover the true self?

I say unto you all. Whence you have touched your heart, you will find a brother in every star, a sister in every blade of grass, a mother in the earth, a father in the sun. You will reach out to all aspects of this physical reality, knowing, this is who you are. You will demand an elimination of all money, for you will realise money is an abusive tool, capable of only serving chaos. You will insist all brethren be cared for, fed, housed and loved, there can be no exception. You will eliminate the need to judge yourself, others, and your world. You will understand the paradigm of duality and know that all expressions are divine. You will have discovered darkness is the provocateur of light, whereas, all is light, all is love. You will have evolved your spirit, you will have become a Socratic student, fully knowing and accepting that you know nothing. Can we afford to deny our true nature for much longer? What happens to a society who cannot forge a path to its true centre?

Observe the relationship between our lack of knowledge and the maya expressed in our reality. Many centuries have passed since the great Alexandria library was rendered to ashes. The charring of Sophia's physical legacy merely represented the opening salvo of countless abuses against Greek wisdom. Unquestionably, Greek society has turned it's back on the Goddess Sophia. Even if the desire were present, most Greeks are too preoccupied with keeping a roof over their head to find time for luxuriating in philosophical debate. The spirit of Sophia has been steadily bred out of Greek society. Steal wisdom from a society and we release it's counterpart expression, which, in this reality, is represented by an unabated malignancy of consumerism.

Avarice of greedy fat little bankers have eviscerated Sophia. Holding our hands to our faces, we behold, with horror, the once great Sophia, helpless, drained of life, barely breathing. She is held captive in a pit of inequity that we must all accept culpability in creating! Patrons of Goddess Sophia are difficult to find in today's Greece. The love of wisdom has been relegated to the backseat of a bus driven by the urgency to survive.

How apropos it is that the fuse presently igniting the keg of global economic collapse has been lit in Greece. Fractal imagery presents to us an iconic lesson as we observe, on this day, the nation which insisted upon a philosophical foundation, should fall to it's age old nemesis as represented by the insatiable greed of ignorant men. Suicide in Greece is rampant! The average citizen cannot envision a future for themselves, their children, or their nation. The exodus has begun. However, countries like England are already pushing back. We don't want your kind here, they ardently state! Stay where you are, we are not your brethren!

Recoil as they might, soon, English residents, as well as the rest of Europeans, will experience first hand the connection between empty bellies and emigration. Bitter irony suggests my Greek brothers and sisters will never find salvation until they rekindle the damaged relationship with their Goddess Sophia. The love of Sophia was, is, and always will be, the only salvation for Greece. Point in fact, none of us are exempt, Sophia is the only ray of hope left to all humanity! What does philosophy have to do with the salvation of mankind?

Empty your pockets, fill your hearts, tell me Sophia is your Goddess.

In Lak'ech, dearest brethren, prosper in truth live with love... Philo Sophia...