Lecture 7 - New millenium and mentality Flashcards
Jesus and the 1st Millenium
- A.D. abbreviation for Anno Domini = since (or after)
Jesus’ birth - The 4th-century monk Dionysus the Short invented a
calendar pointing to events as happened in A.D.
(anno domini) or
in B.C. (before Christ) - It served as a system of relative locus of events;
e.g. The event happened two springs (summers or
years)
after Christ’s birth
esus A.D. 0 - 33
Hebrew: Joshua, Latin: Jesus, Greek: Iesous
- Born in Bethlehem to a Jewish couple from Nazareth
- educated in a synagogue, Jesus won great popularity for
His revolutionary social teaching:
Equality: All people – children of God – deserve respect and care;
independently of race, sex, social or political status.
Decalogue is for all: poor & rich, kings & subjects.
Fraternity: Respect, altruism, generosity, care, brotherly love
Compassion & forgiveness instead of vengeance
Freedom: The free will & the responsibility for our choices
Challenge to theological Zeitgeist
- Roman polytheist system, the emperor’s divinity
- Jewish Temple refused to recognize Jesus as the Messiah
* The Messiah in Hebrew or Christos in Greek
somebody anointed with symbolic oils and creams or
divinely appointed for a sacred role
His followers believed that God sent His Son
with the mission to:
- restore divine virtues in humans
- teach them love, forgiveness, care and altruism, thus
- save them from anger and mutual destruction
His “politically incorrect,” social teachings on
altruism and love
not compatible with
the Roman Zeitgeist of:
egoism, vanity, dominance, slavery, inequality,
and killing for pride, vengeance or entertainment.
Jesus - accused of a crime against the laws and order,
condemned to death by crucifixion -
three days later resurrected
(according to The Gospels)
* .
Early Christianity
Jesus’ followers - Apostles, Evangelists, priests, monks
have propagated His teachings
Christianity, an illegal religion in the Roman Empire
for 300 years, thus:
the persecution of the early Christians
- executions and public tortures
- hiding in catacombs
St. Paul A.D. ca. 10 - 64
Saul of Tarsus (now Turkey, then Roman Empire territory),
a Roman Hebrew, converted to Christianity
educated in philosophy
To the Decalogue
and the Old Testament teachings
about omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient
God
St-Paul added the theological and social
teachings of Jesus.
St-Paul
Tried to get Christians arrested…Tax collector
Eventually converted from Judaism to Christianity
Then preacher and teacher
Most valuable part of human is spiritual
After death soul keeps memory from terrestrial life (unlike what… some Greek guy I forgot.. said) … but not that originals, Egyptians also believed that
St-Paul
influenced by Platonian and Aristotelian philosophy
- Platonian ontological idealism and intuitive epistemology:
contemplative introspection (“the world is inside the soul”)
- Double aspects of human nature: physical needs and spiritual virtues
- Three components of the human being: the imperfect body,
the passive psyche and the active rational/moral soul
- The soul is a spark of God within us and the essence of the person
- After bodily death, the soul returns to eternity with
all the memory and responsibility for the terrestrial conduct.
Stoicism assimilated into Christian doctrine
The world is ruled by a divine master plan.
Whatever happens in the universe, happens for a reason -
even if people don’t understand it.
In the divine master plan, everyone has an assigned role.
The individual person must accept the assigned fate with
courage, dignity, humility and peace.
Apogeum of power and demoralization
43 Conquest of Britannia
68 Nero commits suicide
80 Colosseum: “Panem et circenses” free bread & circuses
free food & entertainment - a cynical way of making
the masses “happy”, obedient and uncritical
116 Trajan conquers Mesopotamia
The Roman Empire included: Britannia, Gallia, Iberia,
Armenia, Greece, Macedonia, Turkey,
Italia up to the Danube River and Romania,
Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia,
North Africa: Algeria, Libya, and Egypt
Claudius Galenus (“Galen”) A.D. 130 - 200
- Roman medicus
In Alexandria: trained in anatomy & medicine
In Rome: court physician to emperor Marcus Aurelius
Looked at bodies of people killed arena, accidents - books on anatomy & physiology
- The basic temperaments
- Aristotelian theory of human soul
- Psychotherapy and insight into psychosomatics
Anatomy, medicine
Dissection of animal bodies
Aware of ways to heal people with psychotherapy
The search for natural basis of human health and disorder:
Empedocles: 4 elements: earth, water, air, fire
Hippocrates: 4 bodily fluids: black bile, phlegm, blood, yellow bile
!! Galenus: 4 temperaments: melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine, choleric
Hans J. Eysenck: 2 dimensions:
Extraversion - Introversion
based on cortical
excitation - inhibition.
Stability - Neuroticism (not the same as neurosis)
based on subcortical
ANS - Limbic - endocrine
interactions.
The habits - learned
on basis of inborn
cortical & subcortical predispositions
- create the personality.
- 476 The last emperor in Rome deposed
by the Goths - The end of the Western Roman Empire
(soon to be replaced by Germanic kingdoms) - The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire flourished
until the XV century
he Fall of Rome - The Roman period ended, and the Middle Ages began (476)
- Rome, once a world capital of a million people,
shrank to ca. 17 000 inhabitants - Vandalized, violently destroyed and defeated by the barbarians
- The destruction came from outside: hungry, wild invaders and
illegal immigrants - and from inside: demoralization, corruption, power lobbying,
abuses of democratic privileges, political intrigues and arrogance
Decline of Roman civilization
165 - 180 Smallpox epidemics (“Plague of Antonin” or Galen”)
251 - 266 The 2nd smallpox plague (“Plague of Cyprian”).
256 Province of Gallia overturned by Germanic tribes
293 Diocletian: partition of Empire into Western & Eastern.
Persecution of Christians until 303
Gradual conversion to Christianity among poor and aristocratic
citizens; including the new emperor Constantine (r. 306 - 337)
313 Decree of Milano - religious tolerance of all religions
The barbarians attempt to invade Rome
Corruption and demoralization in the army
327 Emperor Constantine The Great moved to
Byzantine City of Roma Nova (Constantinopolis), n. Istanbul
400 Visigoths invade Italia, Gallia and Iberia
409 Scots and Angles repel Romans from Britannia
Saxons pushed them out of Northern Europe
Vandals invade Iberia
410 Visigoths destroy Rome
455 Vandals attack and vandalize Rome
The Huns (under Attila) invade Eastern Europe
476 Odoacer, the leader of the barbarian Goths
executes the last Roman emperor
Legalization and spread of Christianity
301 Kingdom of Ararat (Armenia)
319 Kingdom of Georgia
Roman emp. Constantine The Great r. 306 - 337
converted 312 but officially baptized 336
313: “Decree of Milano”: tolerance to all religions
construction of churches; coinage, Sunday
432 St. Patrick introduces Christianity in Ireland
380 “Edict of Thessalonica” emperor Theodosius I
Christianity proclaimed as the state religion
400 The bishop of Rome was elected as 1st Pope Leo I.
The Pope was the only moral and political authority after the emperor left Rome.
Neo-Platonism
Plotinus 205 - 270 A Greek philosopher, born in Alexandria
teaching in Rome. Friend of emperor Claudius I.
Plotinus… admired by scholars of all religions
Travelled to and learned from India, Persia and Babylonia
Mysticism without religious denomination
He was not Christian, without religious denomination
The universe - is spiritual; its essence is not material
-True reality is spiritual… what we see as material world is illusion
“The Soul is not in the universe.
On the contrary, the universe is in the Soul”.
To know the universe - look inside your Soul
through introspective, intuitive meditation
“The animating essence” - a historical review
of the concept
Prehistoric animism: Everything that exists contains its spirit.
(Aboriginal beliefs)
Ancient theism: Divine powers (gods) control the individual souls.
(Sumerian, Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Scandinavian, Amerindian
mythologies, and the Hebrews).
Incarnation-reincarnation: A part of the Cosmic Spirit is temporarily
incarnated in the physical body to animate and control it. The individual
soul passes through several reincarnations to return to eternal unity with
the Cosmic Spirit. (Buddhism, Hinduism).
Philosophical animism: All living organisms contain the soul that
animates them and represents their essence. (Aristotle).
Judaeo-Christian theomorphism and the divine incarnation: The
human person (equipped with the conscious mind or soul) is an image of
God and must be respected. We have God-like privileges of
consciousness, free will and creation.
The arrival of the divine Messiah – God, incarnated in the human body, is
expected
THE ONE
Supreme, transcendent and unknowable
pure beginning, the 1st cause
and the primary source of emanation/creation
The One emanates/creates The cosmic Spirit or Mind
(Divine Intellect, Logos, Harmony)
The cosmic Spirit emanates/creates the human Soul/Mind
The human mind emanates/creates the world of appearances
Plotinus:
Happiness in the mental state of Henosis
a mystical experience of oneness, union and
unity with The One, the Primary Source
attainable through:
- a humble, ascetic lifestyle and
- deep meditation aimed at liberation from the material,
bodily sensations and rational thoughts
up to a blank state of nothingness
and a numinous sense of the union with the universe
St-Augustine
Three components of
the Augustinian concept of the human soul
- Neoplatonism (Plotinus)
- Stoicism and
- Christian faith
ST. AUGUSTINE A.D. 354 – 430
Augustine Aurelius of Tagaste now Algeria
Roman philosopher
Studies of rhetoric in Cartagena now Tunisia
Converted to Christianity,
sent for theological studies to Rome and Milan
Ordained as a priest, and later, the bishop in Africa;
The founder of the major Christian theology
430 died in Hippo (now, Algeria)
.
00: “Confessions”,
a meditative dialogue with God.
A profoundly introspective,
honest self-analysis
“He who knows his Soul knows his Creator” (Augustine)
“The universe is in the Soul”. The soul is an image,
an emanation (projection) of the cosmic Spirit and The One (Plotinus)
Search for the meaning of life
City of God rather than material city of Rome
Neoplatonian mysticism and Stoicism
adopted into Augustinian theology
The privileged position of humans:
* the human Soul as an image, emanation, and projection of God
* semi-divine nature: thus, a privilege of the free will and
responsibility for the choices and the duty of caring for others
Major faculties of human soul:
Memory ability to learn how to behave
Understanding intellectual reasoning & faithful contemplation
The Free Will judgement & prediction of consequences
Trust and submission to supreme will of God
Moral virtues: grace, humility, self-discipline,
ascetic life, allocentric generosity, love,
compassion, respect for others
Guidance & good example (model) for children
Epistemology: intuitive introspection and meditation
rather than sensory examination
Omnipresent God
Be gentle to children, reinforcement rather than punishment
Major faculties of human soul:
Memory, understanding and free will (memorize for exam)
Summary
The beginning of the 1st Millennium
A.D. abbreviation for Anno Domini Lord’s year = since (or after) Jesus’ birth
IV c. the monk, Dionysus the Short,
invented a calendar pointing to events as happened in B.C. or A.D.
It served as a system of relative locus of events.
e.g. “2 springs after the end of the X-dynasty.”
or “3 summers after X king-coronation”
or “n years since the birth of the Lord”
Jesus A.D. 0 - 33
Hebrew: Joshua, Latin: Jesus, Greek: Iesous
Born in Bethlehem to a Jewish couple from Nazareth
- educated in a synagogue, Jesus won great popularity for
His revolutionary social teaching:
Equality: All people – children of God – deserve respect and care,
independently of race, sex, social or political status.
Decalogue is for all: poor & rich, kings & subjects.
Fraternity: Respect, altruism, generosity, care, brotherly love
Compassion & forgiveness instead of vengeance
Freedom: The free will & the responsibility for our choices
Challenge to theological Zeitgeist
- Roman polytheist system, the emperor’s divinity
- Jewish Temple refused to recognize him as the Messiah
His followers believed that God sent his Son with the mission to:
- restore divine virtues in humans
- teach them love, forgiveness, care and altruism, thus
- save them from anger and mutual destruction
Challenge to social Zeitgeist
The “politically incorrect,” revolutionary social teachings on altruism and love
-
were not compatible with the Zeitgeist of:
egoism, vanity, power, slavery, inequality,
and killing for pride, vengeance or just entertainment.
The early Christians
Jesus’ followers - Apostles, Evangelists, priests, and monks have propagated
His teachings
Christianity, an illegal religion in the Roman Empire for 300 years, thus:
- persecution of the early Christians:
- executions and public tortures
- hiding in catacombs
St. Paul A.D. ca. 10 - 64
Saul of Tarsus (now Turkey, then Roman Empire territory),
a Roman Hebrew, converted to Christianity
educated in philosophy
To the Decalogue and the Old Testament teachings about the omnipotent,
omnipresent and omniscient God, St-Paul added the theological and social
teachings of Jesus
St. Paul was influenced by Greek classic philosophy.
- He assumed Platonian ontological idealism and intuitive epistemology
(the contemplation of God and his creation inside the soul
- Recognized the double aspects of human nature: physical needs and
spiritual virtues
- Recognized three components of human being: the imperfect body,
the passive mind and the active rational/moral soul
- The soul is a spark of God within us and the essence of the person
- After bodily death, the soul returns to eternity with
all the memory and responsibility for the terrestrial conduct.
Stoicism continued in the Christianity.
The world is ruled by a divine master plan.
Whatever happens in the universe, happens for a reason -
even if people don’t understand it.
In the divine master plan, everyone has an assigned role.
The person must accept the assigned fate with
courage, dignity, humility and peace.
Roman Empire: conquest and hegemony in Europe, Africa and the Middle
East.
Claudius Galenus (“Galen”) A.D. 130 - 200
- Roman Medicus
In Alexandria: trained in anatomy & medicine
In Rome: court physician to emperor Marcus Aurelius
* books on anatomy & physiology
* The basic temperaments
* Aristotelian theory of the human soul
* Psychotherapy and insight into psychosomatics
The search for the natural basis of human health and disorder:
Empedocles: 4 elements: earth, water, air, fire
Hippocrates: 4 bodily fluids: black bile, phlegm, blood,
yellow bile
Galenus: 4 temperaments: melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine,
choleric
Hans J. Eysenck: 2 dimensions:
Extraversion – Introversion, based on cortical excitation - inhibition.
Stability – Neuroticism, based on subcortical, ANS - Limbic - endocrine
interactions.
The habits – learned, based on inborn cortical & subcortical predispositions
The Decline of Rome
The legalization and spread of Christianity
Neo-Platonism
Plotinus 205 - 270 A Greek philosopher born in Alexandria
; went teaching in Rome. Friend of emperor Claudius I.
Travelled to and learned from India, Persia and Babylonia
Mysticism without religious denomination
The universe - is spiritual; its essence is not material
“The Soul is not in the universe.
On the contrary, the universe is in the Soul”.
To know the universe - look inside your Soul
through introspective, intuitive meditation
THE ONE
Absolute Truth, Harmony, Good and Beauty
Supreme, transcendent and unknowable
An absolute pure beginning, the 1st cause and
The primary source of emanation - creation
Its 1st creation: The cosmic Spirit
Divine Intellect, Mind, Logos, Order
Parts of the cosmic Spirit emanated onto humans
the human Soul
Creations of human soul/psyche -
the world of appearances
Happiness in the mental state of Henosis
a mystical experience of oneness, union, and the
unity with The One, the Primary Source
attainable through:
- a humble, ascetic lifestyle and
- deep meditation aimed at liberation from the material,
bodily sensations and rational thoughts
up to a blank state of nothingness
and a numinous sense of the union with the universe
NEOPLATONISM + STOICISM + CHRISTIAN FAITH = St. AUGUSTINE ( A.D.
354 – 430 )
St. AUGUSTINE A.D. 354 – 430
Augustine Aurelius of Tagaste now Algeria
Roman philosopher
Studies of rhetoric in Cartagena, now Tunisia
Converted to Christianity,
sent for theological studies to Rome and Milan
He was ordained as a priest, and later, the bishop in Africa.
The founder of the major Christian theology
430 died in Hippo (now, Algeria)
400: “Confessions”,
a meditative dialogue with God.
A profoundly introspective,
honest self-analysis
“He who knows his Soul knows his Creator” - Augustine
“The universe is in the Soul”. The soul is an image,
an emanation (projection) of the cosmic Spirit and The One - Plotinus
Search for the meaning of life
City of God rather than material city of Rome
Neoplatonian mysticism and Stoicism
adopted into Augustinian theology
The privileged position of humans:
* The human soul is an image, emanation, and projection of God
* People have a semi-divine nature; thus, a privilege of the free will and
responsibility for the choices and the duty of caring for others
Major faculties of the human soul:
Memory ability to learn how to behave
Understanding intellectual reasoning & faithful contemplation
The Free Will judgement & prediction of consequences
Trust and submission to the supreme will of God
Moral virtues: grace, humility, self-discipline,
ascetic life, allocentric generosity, love,
compassion, respect for others
Guidance & good example (model) for children
Epistemology: intuitive introspection and meditation
rather than sensory examination
* 476 The end of the Western Roman Empire
* The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire flourished until the XV
century.
The Fall of Rome
* The Roman period ended, and the Middle Ages began (476)
* Rome, once a world capital of a million people,
shrank to ca. 17 000 inhabitants
* Vandalized, violently destroyed and defeated by the barbarians
* The destruction came from outside: hungry, wild invaders and illegal
immigrants
* and from inside: demoralization, corruption, power lobbying, abuses of
democratic privileges, political intrigues and arrogance
