Pythagorean Man Emulation
For the PythAcademia, the "Pythagorean Man" is an
ideal of a form of education, of human holistic formation, and virtuous behavior, that was extensively,
and very successfully, promoted
and implemented by its creator, the Greek philosopher
Pythagoras, in the 6th century BC. His successors, i
ncluding
Plato some150 years later, maintained the same ideal
quite well, in the best schools of the western world, for quite a few more hundred
years, including the mini-renaissance of the High Middle Ages, in the 12th
century, that was still based on the strong philosophical roots of Ancient-Greece,
Pythagoras in particular. This 'Pythagorean Man' ideal had
in fact a great cascading influence on the
education systems of a good part of humanity, until the "Faustian
Man" came along to gradually replace it,
after the advent of the
full Renaissance that started around the 15th century. The turning point of
transition between the two types was in fact the "Machiavellian
Man" that initiated the phasing out of the 'Pythagorean Man'
that had already dominated the scene of the culture of the western world for the
previous two millennia, via Plato's main influence. In other words, the educational,
and the related social, decadence of the last 50 years, that we have seen in our
Background page,
has a much older origin than just the pseudo 1968 revolution. Strangely enough,
it finds it real source in what is usually considered probably the most glorious period
of achievements in the history of humanity: the 15th century European Renaissance. This period,
admittedly magnificent in many ways, certainly brought in a long chain of great
achievements and conquests of humanity from
many points of view in the last 400 years. However, it brought in essentially a
quantitative
and external type of human life improvement, as oppose to a
qualitative and internal one, from the point of view of the best formation, and
desirable virtues, of
the human being, and consequently his best possible civic behavior. With the
advent of the Faustian mentality, the human
conquests started to be essentially centered on the exterior side of human life, as opposed to
its
interior side. With the beginning of the 21st century, there is a need, now, to return to a better balance between the
external and the internal aspects of human formation, achievements and desirable
social perfection. In other
word
s there is a need to return to a better Pythagorean Man mentality,
through an
emulation of what it was and meant, albeit maybe in a more modern way. The
Pythagorean formation was so holistic and so exhaustive, let alone quite ascetic, that
a similar attempt of formation today can only be an emulation, but nonetheless one that is highly desirable
to be achieved to the highest possible degree in our contemporary world. This
is where the EthoPlasìn intends to come in to help phase out the Faustian Man mentality
and give its powerful contribution to the resurrection and reinstatement of the
greatest part possible of a modern form of
Pythagorean Man formation and behavior.
The various types of protestant reforms, and Goethe's hero,
Faust, phasing out the hero of Dante in our modern culture, are good symbols of this
historical phenomenon
of progressive minimizing of interior human virtuous formation and perfection, as op
posed
to emphasizing first and foremost exterior material norms of
achievement and perfection. The
Protestants may have quite successfully freed their followers from the corrupted dominion of the Vatican,
but also, at the same time, they unfortunately started to deprive them from the positive
pursuit of ascetics, and of strong interior discipline, characterizing most
members of the church below the Vatican at, before, and until that time, let
alone a critical mass of intellectually relevant people outside the Vatican
sphere. Consequently
the Protestants were
never able to produce themselves any
of the great men, 'saints' or not, that
honored the Christian world for centuries before them. On the other hand,
Dante's hero was the
man who,
starting from the lowest level of a most imperfect 'sinner', fought all his life for
the attainment of a personal
improvement that would bring him closer and closer to a more divine level of
interior achievements and virtuous perfection. Goethe's
hero, Faust, did the opposite. He fought all his life to try to achieve no more than his own selfish exterior
and illusionary happiness. He was of course deeply influenced by the
'Prince' mentality of Machiavelli in between.
These three heroes express clearly the
history of a complete reversal of a world vision, and of the conception of
man in that world. Dante's hero still represented the ancient Greco-Latin genius, fighting
idealistically for the attainment of a
virtuous form of beatitude through a progressive qualitative improvement and control of self.
Machiavelli's hero brought in a drastic change of predominance, from
spiritual idealism and practical realism, in achieving one's best objectives
of perfection and happiness in life. Goethe's hero finally completed the
reversal to represent the modern Anglo-Germanic genius pursuing only a superficial and
illusionary beatitude through the callous accomplishment of his own pleasure and
ambitions. The first one represents the "Pythagorean
Man",
fighting up, vertically, for his best personal
qualitative realization, with
quite good results. The second one represents the
"Machiavellian Man", fighting
horizontally to achieve his calculative
ambitions. The third one represents the "Faustian Man"
fighting all over, vertically and horizontally, animated by the devil Mephistopheles, for
achieving only his ambitious quantitative achievements, and
with
only negative results on the human
soul side of its being. The
first one was placed in a state of progressive agony in the last 400 years
and is now, sadly, practically dead. The second one led the way for an
effective transition to the third one. The third one grew in force in the last 400
years and is unfortunately alive more than ever today, having reached its
peak of nihilistic behavior with the advent of the 1968 revolution. The first one needs to be
resurrected and revived, while the second one needs to be substantially
re-dimensioned, and the third one needs to be put aside, if not eliminated
completely, or at least be totally reformed, as soon as possible.
In short, in spite of all its prodigious conquests, especially in the scientific and technological fields, the modern contemporary world of the Faustian Man has failed dramatically to improve human interior self-control and virtuous behavior, let alone maintain it at its good previous level. The last century, the 20th century, with its two world wars, has clearly been the most violent and decadent of the last two or three millennia. It was the crowning of the monstrous and violent Faustian Man mentality. By the same token, it was also unfortunately the beginning of the progressive disappearance the harmonious Pythagorean Man approach to human "perfection", through self-knowledge ("Know Thyself"), virtuous self-control of passions, and best possible behavior in civic, political and philoecosophical environments. This desire of the Pythagorean Man, of a progressive "Return to God", was eminently expressed by Michelangelo while painting the Sistine Chapel and sensing sourly its progressive disappearance. He immortalized beautifully that desire in that excerpt of the ceiling of the chapel as appearing to the right. With the turn of the 21st century, there are many timid signs of a diffuse will to return to the Pythagorean Man mentality. This required change is however felt more as an instinctive desire than an explicit conscious need, or an open social objective. The Pythagorean World Center, with its PythAcademia in particular, can help revive this desire, make it more conscious and explicit in a growing number of people, and contribute to the advent of a new era of a modern version of a more virtuous type of citizens or of a Pythagorean Man Mentality.
More than the Creation of Man, we see here the Pythagorean
concept of Man'
s
Desire to Return to God,
as essentially a divine creature to start with, through the "Know Thyself"
and the holistic and equilibrated formation to perfection at all 4 levels of the
"Human Tetractys" (explained further down). This was expressed
beautifully by Michelangelo, albeit some 2000 years later, at the center of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,
at the Vatican.
In this painting, it is the man who tends the arm, while God
is only holding his own hand in an inviting way. Michelangelo, from a cultural
point of view, was a Neo-Platonist of clear Pythagorean descent, as shown
by the new style of his painting and his sculpting, both very close to the true Ancient-Greece
standards, as opposed to the diluted Latin Middle-Age standards that just
preceded him. As such, he was
probably sensing, quite sadly, that the remains of the ideal of the virtuous
"Pythagorean Man", aspiring, and tending, to a progressive
perfection, in order to return to God in due time in his best possible
state, after having done good use of his freewill, was in danger of vanishing
completely from the dominant
culture, even surprisingly in the Christian church decadent environment that was overly
obsessed by external power at that time, instead of by internal, and
consequently also civic, perfection objectives and achievements.
Pythagoras is an incredible historical figure, representing just about the best
human perfection that humanity has been able to produce in the last 3000 years, of an importance probably
not inferior in global world influence to leading figures as eminent as Buddha,
Confucius or Jesus. Contrary to these last three grandees however, Pythagoras was not only a spiritual
guide, like these three were, but also a major philosophical, scientific and political leading
figure, thus overall second to none as a historical human perfection
representative of world standing. He was, and still is, not
more famous as a mathematician than he was as a soul healer, or as a political
reformer, let alone an excellent Olympic competition performer in his youth. His school formed the
best scientists, artists, philosophers, legislators, magistrates and politicians of the
time, through the use of a very strict discipline and life style (later baptized
the "Pythagorean Life Tenor"
by the great
Aristotle) that
included a vegetarian regime, intensive daily physical exercise, meditation, and a
series of clear rules of behavior leading to the acquisition of the best
personal and civic virtues. In spite of this well known severity, admission to his
school was extremely in demand, and considered a great honor and privilege when conceded.
The severity however did not prevent the school from being very joyful.
Friendship, joyful sharing, mutual help and emulation of best companions were some of its main marks.
As much as the Pythagorean Man was aiming at attaining virtue, his main
objective was nevertheless to keep everything in good equilibrium: from this
point of view, even an excess of virtue, preventing a happy and healthy
life, would have been considered an imbalance, or a vice, to get rid of. Pythagoras never prohibited the enjoyment of the best pleasures of life,
including food or sex, but all had to be enjoyed with measure and
equilibrium. After 30 years of travelling for acquiring his
knowledge from the best minds of the time, he got married, when he was
turning 60, with a much younger
woman, with whom he had 7 children. He died when he was about 100,
which was very exceptional at that time, and still in perfect health, presumably only because he was assassinated by
a jealous student rejected from his school and who put fire to the house
where he was staying. Even pleasure however had
to be kept under good control. As we will see below, Pythagoras required
that everything be kept in good balance, within certain simple rules, and under
full self-control, at all 4 levels of the
Human Tetractys
(see also further
down). The first three levels were the
Body, the Soul,
and the Spirit.
Wisdom
was the
4th level and component. To reach that 4th level however, the only possible
way was to ensure that the first three
had been already developed first in perfect equilibrium. Then the acquisition of
wisdom, or the development of the 4th component, was finally possible, and
the corresponding wisdom was constituted the only real form of human happiness on this Earth.
Pythagoras worked
on that basis with a maximum of 300 students, or really disciples, and provided them, directly or
indirectly, depending on their levels, with the best and most holistic formation
available on earth at the time. In fact he can be considered the inventor of
what we call 'school' today, and of a real school, providing real
'education' instead of just 'instruction' like it is unfortunately mostly
the case in public schools today. More than the inventor of the School, he is thus
the
inventor
of Education in the purest and best sense of the word. Pythagoras was also quite a 'Demiurgos', that is a man with powers
that often sounded like he was capable of miracles, like healing people,
soul and/or body,
whispering to wild animals to make them obey his commands and prevent their possible aggressions,
remote viewing and accurate prediction of future events like even earthquakes. He travelled for
probably around 30 years in all the known world, in the 6th century B.C.,
from Egypt to India, via Babylonia and Persia, where he got initiated to all the knowledge and
practices of the best world leaders of the time in all the various fields of human
activity, be they political,
spiritual or scientific leading figures. He put all this immense experience at
the service of a unique type of school of holistic formation, like there was
probably never any other one of equivalent value in the in the following 2500 years,
that is until today.
As such
he deserves all our admiration and commands our purest desire of emulation in
the context of a school like the PythAcademia that also pursues holistic
formation with a sense of a World Wellness Vocation from a civic point of
view.
Hemicycle School, similar in concept to the Pythagorean School in Crotone (South of Italy).
After his extensive travelling all over the known world, and acquiring all the knowledge he could from the best minds of the time in his last span of 30 years, Pythagoras returned, as an adult, to the island of Samos in Greece, where he was born. He soon discovered the veracity of the old proverb saying that: "Someone cannot easily be a prophet in his own country". He was clearly appreciated, because of his exceptional prestige and knowledge but, at the same time, he found there, in Samos, an old culture that was reluctant to any substantial change in terms of human education and virtuous behavior. In Athens, there was an even older culture, thus more reluctant to the reception of a new philosophy of life, in particular a virtuous one like the way of life he was promoting. He consequently chose to move to the Greek colonies of the Magna Graecia (the "Great Greece", mainly in southern Italy, sometimes called ironically the "Hellenic America" of that ancient period) where the populations and the cultural environment were much younger and consequently much more receptive to new ideas. The young and athletic populations of that area offered more potential of 'Ethical Plasticity' (like in Etho-Plasìn...) than other people, in order to receive his new ideas and his kind of holistic and virtuous formation leading to a higher degree of human perfection. He established in Crotone, under the 'foot' of Italy, facing mainland Greece. The city of Crotone was renowned at the time for her particular healthy climate, the fame of her athletes, considered the best ones so far in all previous Olympics, and the beauty of her women. Pythagoras was himself known to them as an ex Olympic Games champion from when he was 12 years old. When he reached Crotone he was also already famous for all sorts of other disciplines. He was also tall, elegant, handsome, brilliant and an exceptionally eloquent person. He was received in the area as a kind of divine being. His influence soon became enormous. He was addressing continuously various kinds of people, politicians, women, youths, children, aristocrats and workers alike, always with an incredible success, promoting a more virtuous life to everyone, and higher levels of attainable human perfection, both from a personal and a civic point of view. On his influence, the constitutions of many cities were completely reformed on the basis of his ideas of meritocratic justice. He succeeded in reconciling the parties of most conflicts in the area at the time, and establishing a new kind of harmony in all human and political relations in the whole area. Many new governments were formed on his direct intervention and guidance. They were all basically 'aristocratic' governments, based on the excellence of their members, but aristocratic in the best sense of the Greek word 'Aristos', that is 'best', or 'excellent': he demanded an extremely virtuous life, background and behavior on the part of all government leaders, based on social meritocratic justice, in particular on the part of those having legislative or judiciary roles or powers.
In the meantime Pythagoras
was managing his school, often called the 'Hemicycle'
because of its shape. Because of our full empathy for the history of that school,
and our desire to emulate it, our school also has a hemicycle, but it is
usually called by the nickname of 'PythAcademia',
combining the prefix 'Pyth' of Pythagoras, and '
Academia' as the name of the
school of Plato that followed some 150 years later, and is much more well
known, even if it was in fact of pure Pythagorean conception. The choice of the
hemicycle shape of the premises of the school of Pythagoras was not
completely made by chance. A circle, in sphere form in particular, was
considered a symbol of perfection in Pythagorean geometry. The shape of the
school environment was a semi-spherical volume where 'imperfect' pupils were
expected to complete the 'circle' of their formation to 'perfection'.
Pythagoras was certainly forming 'imperfect' youths to become 'Aristos',
that is sort of "Perfect". The demand for entry at the school was enormous, but the admission was very
selective. Pythagoras used to say that "Not all wood is good to sculpt a
Mercury" (Mercury was the messenger of the gods, usually sculpted with the
winged feet). Most were rejected before admission, and many soon after.
Pythagoras
exerted a kind of mysterious fascination on everybody. His school was the
top there was at the time from a scientific point of view, but at the same
time it was also the top from a human soul formation point of view. His school was
providing a completely holistic formation: physical, moral, social,
intellectual, professional, and spiritual, even musical. The internal discipline was
very severe but all aspects of this holistic regime had nevertheless to be handled
joyfully and successfully by all students at the same time, otherwise they were
swiftly excluded.
The alimentation was strictly vegetarian (except in part for the best
athletes). Sport competitions were also very demanding. Even music training
was considered an essential requirement. All aspects however had to be kept
in a perfect equilibrium that represented a kind of human harmony that was a
base for the civic and political harmony he wanted to establish, itself only a reflection
of the harmony of the cosmic universe. The three levels of the human being
(body, soul and spirit) had to be formed and equilibrated: muscles, emotions
and intelligence. He was clearly forming an elite, but an elite based
strictly on best talents and efforts, never on money or family links. His whole syste
m of holistic formation
was essentially meritocratic and fully appreciated as such. Even kings and
most important political leaders were fascinated by his ideas and formation
and often requested lessons or training from the Pythagorean Hemicycle, but students
of all social classes were included, even some women, which was new
and unexpected at the time, not to say quite revolutionary. The candidates
who got fully
formed were not considered as any kind of 'Superman' at the time, but rather
as a kind of 'UpperMan', the 'OverMan'
with the 'OverSoul', the 'ExcellentMan'
("Aristos":
often represented with a crown of fresh natural
laurels, like the one to the
left, also
used for crowning Olympic champions instead of the modern gold medals. The
practice is also beautifully preserved in the modern use of the term "Laureate") ready to achieve their best own
personal realization and give their best contribution to the formation of
the best possible civic and political environments. A "Council Of the 1000" was ensuring
'democracy' in the cities under his influence, similar to what a
democratic parliament does today, but that 'democracy'
was not by far a democracy like it is today. It was clearly a meritocracy, like we
talk about in our page on Meritocracy, where
everyone is given the same chance, and the best opportunity, on the starting line,
but everyone can only get their best lot in life on the basis of their best
talents and efforts, like in sports or in Olympic competitions, not on the basis of money or family roots. It was a
human, social and political system animated by what we, at the PythAcademia, call the "SOS"
(Social Olympic Spirit), as promoted by our Academy and our Association.
Hermes Logios (Hermes Orator) up to the right, as a divine messenger and guide of the souls back to their divine source after the harmonious development of their Pythagorean Tetractys and the acquisition of the necessary Wisdom. Hermes is also represented as such in the picture of Botticelli further down.
Crown of fresh Laurels to the left, historical symbol of excellence and harmonious development of the human being in all its components.
The Sacred Tetractys ("Sacred
Quaternion") to
the right, often called more simply the "Human
Tetractys". This is
only one of its representations, in a flat geometrical format, and a
simplified one. The 10 points
form a perfect triangle that in
cludes the hexagon that is also the basic
shape of the EthoPlasìn logo (at the top of
the page) and some of its main buildings on the campus (seen in
Attachments to the home
page). The "Quaternion"
refers to the "Quarter parts", or the 4 parts of the human being, each
constituting a "Quarter" part of it. The first three components are the
Body (with its instincts
and related passions), the Soul
(with its rational intellect and related passions), and the
Spirit (with its judgment
and pure intelligence). The fourth component has its location in the
Spirit, but is only available after hard work of the human freewill for
harmonizing and equilibrating the first three parts in a state of
Godly Self Oneness. It is called
philosophical
Wisdom. Its attainment is
the main purpose of life and the only hope of real human happiness but,
unfortunately, because of ignorance, lack of will, or misuse of
freewill, and thus missing work to
harmonize the first three parts, it is too often out of reach. The four
parts of the Quaternion are represented by both the 4 levels of the
triangle and, in a more complete 3D version, by the Cube
figure located in the middle of the Hexagon at the center of the
Triangle. The six side angles of the central
2D Hexagon
itself (or the six faces of the corresponding 3D Cube) are often used to represent the
six forces at the base of all human holistic formation: the 4 Cardinal
Virtues (Temperance,
Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice), along with
Beauty and Love. The overall 3D Tetractys symbol,
with its central cube, should also be seen as integrated into a
Sphere, that is the symbol of perfection
once wisdom is reached.
Be it clear that each of the 4 cardinal virtues corresponds to each of the 4 levels of the Tetractys. Starting at the bottom: Temperance is the leading virtue of the body forces and its passions; Fortitude is the leading virtue of the soul and its passions; Prudence is the leading virtue of the Spirit and its passions; Justice is the leading virtue of the human Wisdom, but is fully attainable only in human beings who have reached that highest level of development in a state of Godly Self Oneness. For reasons of simplicity, Justice is usually considered the 4th virtue, at the 4th level of the Tetractys, but it is really a 5th virtue, over and above all the others, or, more than a 5th virtue, it is the effect of the harmonious amalgamation of the 3 lowest cardinal virtues controlling the human being in a state of "Godly Self Oneness". From this point of view, what we call "Godly Self Oneness", for lack of a better simple word for the translation of a beautiful and untranslatable word of Ancient-Greek, is really what is the 4th virtue. If we were not concerned to maybe unjustly look ludicrous, we could coin the new word "GosOneness" for that 4th virtue (from: GOdly Self ONENESS), but for the sake of simplification, we will agree that Justice is the 4th Cardinal Virtue at the top level of the Tetractys. The subject of philosophical virtues is in fact a very complex one, that includes 16 levels of virtues, but that is usually simplified in 4 main levels. More information is also available on some of the above considerations in our page on Platonic Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics.
The revival of the Tetractys Formation is where institutions of real holistic education, like the Pythagorean Hemicycle School or Plato's Academy in the past, or the PythAcademia today, can serve to help society get back some of its lost wellness, let alone the happiness of the individuals concerned who may have reached at least some level of philosophical Wisdom. The acquisition of Tetractys Wisdom, through the best use of the maximum level of consciousness, given only to man, is meant to make us more efficient Participators in the process of co-creation of our universe. Being Co-Creation Participators, hopefully in a growing and loving state of Self and Planet Oneness, instead of simple and insignificant separate entities in the universe, is not only what gives man most happiness, but also what makes man respond best to what the real sense of his existence is. Some will be better Participators and others will be worse participators, but all are participators, hopefully in a positive constructive way instead of a destructive way, and this is exactly where the acquisition of the philosophical Wisdom of the Pythagorean Tetractys comes into play. It is for improving this consciousness, knowledge and role, on the part of a growing number of men, that the PythagorArium, and the EthoPlasìn Academia in particular, were created.
Forming better Co-creation Participators, in a loving state of Self and Planet Oneness, through the acquisition of Pythagorean Tetractys Wisdom, is thus the very essence and objective of the holistic education at the heart of the EthoPlasìn mission, discipline and Science of Being, and the reason why the PythagorArium was founded. It involves a long process of soul education and purification that, from its incarnated state, shall help it return to its more divine nature (θεος εγενου εξ ανθρωπου). From the point of view of the Greek myth of Dionysus and the Titans, this requires the final domination of the Titan element of the human being, tending to the bad, by its Dionysian or divine element, tending to the good.
Interestingly enough, there is a Political Tetractys corresponding to this Human Tetractys. The above Human Tetractys has to do with the control of the harmony of a human being as an individual Person. The corresponding Political Tetractys has to do with the the control of the harmony of the human being as a People. See these similarities in our page on EthoCracy Suggestions, specifically in the section about the Political Tetractys.
For Pythagoras, the worst of evils was nihilistic chaos, as the
source of all violence and injustice (just like the situation we are in
today). On the other hand, the type of order
preventing chaos could only be based, in his mind, on meritocratic justice.
In turn, the merit system could only be applied correctly with young people
being given best care, and their best chance of knowing themselves and their full potentialities.
This chance was first given to them at the very time they were still like tender flower buds
(like the blue flowers to
the left), in the middle of their adolescence. The formation
lasted until they reached the age of
at least 30. This meant a total of at least 15 years of basic formation. The
o
nes aspiring to senior government
positions, and to political, legislative or judicial
functions, had to continue their formation until they were at least 50 year
old adults. The formation involved tough holistic educational formation, but
with the possibility of using their freewill positively or negatively, or
even leaving the school freely at any time, let alone being expelled swiftly
when required.
The base of the whole formation process was thus the famous
"Γνῶθι σεαυτόν"
("Know Thyself"),
written on the door of the
Apollonian temple of Delphi, and the theory of the "Sacred
Tetractys" in relation to 4 parts of the composition of the human being that
needed to be harmonized and balanced as perfectly as possible (see the
figure and note above to the right). This
formation involved first the perfect
self-control of all passions and emotions of the human
Soul. The control of its emotions and related
passions was even more important than the
development of the rational intellect, in fact a pre-requisite to its
development, as without it, a strongly developed intellect could only be a
dangerous negative asset. The development of the
Mind (the rational intellect of
the soul) was nonetheless very
important, but undesirable at an early stage, without having first secured the
control of the emotions and related passions of the soul, or a at least a harmonious development of all spheres
of the human Tetractys all together. Of course, the beauty of this interior development was inconceivable
without a similar harmonious exterior development involving the best
aptitudes of the Body,
including the control of its basic instincts and passions. That overall process also involved at
the same time the philosophical study of the great Absolutes, the ideal concepts
that should be founding all human development and activity: "Good",
"Just", and "Kallos"
(Beauty), all pursued in a state of Love, the
great cosmic attraction force of Love, commanding all aspects of our world,
from the force of gravity in the (apparently) 'inanimate' realm of the
mineral kingdom, to the aspirations of the soul to perfection in the
spiritual kingdom, via the loving reproductive
forces of the vegetal and animal kingdoms. As seen in our page on
Science Of Being, this great cosmic force
of Love is, and was, considered 'the' main force behind the whole world, and
is thus the most meaningful
attribute of what we call the CoPHLE energy. The artistic development (mainly music but
also other expressions of Kallos beauty) came to crown the whole
process as a reflection of the cosmic harmony of the "Music of the Spheres". The final aim
and result of the overall holistic formation process, if and when completed, was the attainment
of Wisdom, associated to the Spirit
element of the human being, intended in terms of pure intelligence capable
of producing best Judgment and thus best meritocratic Justice and best Good.
Wisdom was thus the fourth element of what Pythagoras called the "Sacred
Tetractys". In fact, the four columns of the EthoPlasìn
logo at the top of the page represent this holy Pythagorean Tetractys. The
whole process of formation was also based on an intense life in common, with
mutual help and sharing of belongings, but with also good moments of complete
isolation for meditation and self-examination purposes. It was not centered
on producing
'technicians', like schools do today, even if it produced the
best ones at the time, but rather first and foremost 'geniuses'
or, much better said, using an untranslatable word from Ancient-Greek, 'Demiurgos',
a type of men capable of prodigious creativity, outstanding achievements, and meritocratic justice for
themselves and all the other members of their communities; a type of man
with wisdom where, in his heart and mind, passion was transmuted into compassion and
fire into light. The harmonious
development of the Tetractys was also inevitably leading to
Kallos Beauty, as seen in that related
page. Our page on EthoPlay also mentions these techniques as elements of help
in controlling the passions of the body and of the soul while attempting to
achieve a harmonious development of the Tetractys.
Botticelli "Primavera" (Spring) to the right,
~1482. It
represents the ideal cycle of the life of the human soul. The
Pythagorean cycle of Tetractys formation was also the foundation of the platonic cycle of the
evolution of the soul during a harmonious life, as represented by
Botticelli. The divine Aether unites forcefully with the human nature (the first
couple to the right). This becomes the source of Spring rebirth (the third
figure with a dress of flowers. The central figure, a bit higher and withdrawn at
the back, is the Aphrodite (the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty,
representing the higher part of the human soul). Her son Eros (above her head,
with his erected arrow, as a symbol of harmonious sexuality) is animating
the evolution of time (past, present and future, as represented by the
three dancing graces). The final figure to the left is Hermes (the
handsome messenger of God, and guide of the human souls on their way back to Him after
crossing the border of their earthly life). Hermes leads the souls back to their divine source, after a
harmonious development of their Pythagorean Tetractys and the acquisition of the
necessary Wisdom, as a reward for having been the best possible
meritorious Co-creation Participators.
The Caduceus (or Kerykeion) held by Hermes in his right hand pointing to the sky, is the symbol of a Negotiator. The two snakes entwined together are like two interested parties negotiating an agreement. It this case it means a mission of mediation between the human and the divine realms. The two wings symbolize the desire to raise the level of the negotiations to their highest level and best results.
A small representation of the Caduceus appears further down to the left.
A beautiful sculpture of Hermes, albeit having lost his Caduceus, is also represented further up to the right.
The intellectual development process itself was based on
mathematics because it involved logic and order at the base of all good
development. Mathematics included geometry, astronomy and music as the "Four
Sister" basic sciences. Then followed a vast var
iety of sciences related to
physics, morality, economic administration, political involvement, judiciary and
legislative functions etc. Only the students having completed the whole
cycle of this holistic education were considered worthy of leading other people as
politicians, magistrates or legislators, and usually not before having reached at least
the age of 50... They were the only ones with the necessary
"Tetractys Wisdom" to do so,
as they had not received only 'instruction', like our schools provide today,
but real 'education' through a fully holistic formation. In fact the
school of Pythagoras was not usually considered a simple school of
'students' being instructed in various matters, as it was often called a
school of 'governments', or of 'governors', because of its formation of persons with a type of
'holistic perfection' that made them worthy, and the only ones worthy, of
governing other people. It was an institution of professional instruction
but first and foremost an institution of real education in the best and
purest sense of the word. Like we say in our opening page, the Pythagorean
school and formation was "Instruction made Education",
like the PythAcademia hopes to achieve: a "Learning
Process" made a "Living Process", in turn
made a "Loving Process".
All the above is what the PythAcademia intends to try to
emulate, with a type of "Polite Emulation"
(Ευγενησ
Αμιλλα) to use a beautiful Ancient-Greek expression related to the
Olympic competitions and to what we call the SOS (Social Olympic Spirit).
The Olympics at the time were not felt like "games", not even a competition
in a modern sense, even if
competition there was, and very tough indeed, to the outmost degree, but perceived and f
elt mainly as an
emulation of the ideal represented
by the best athletes, not only as sport performers but also as harmonious
human beings with an equilibrated development of their "Tetractys".
The most famous Olympics performer of all times is still considered to have
been Milone, who was probably the son-in-law of Pythagoras, trained by Pythagoras
directly, through a holistic Tetractys formation that made Milone's physical
performance only a reflection of his overall excellence as a person who had
become a "Demiurgos".
Apollo sculpture to the right, by Praxiteles, ~364 BC, symbol of Harmonious Tetractys, Beauty, Excellence and Wisdom.
The special Spirit animating the EthoPlasìn philosophy has its source in the Light of Apollo and is propagated by the related discipline of the Pythagorean Man fighting the darkness of the Faustian Man.
The Pythagorean Man ideal to its full extent is quite probably an impossible objective to have today, but the best contents of this ideal concept deserve to, and can certainly, be emulated, as much as possible, for the best benefits of this and future generations on this beautiful Planet Earth. Pythagoras wanted to bring Man, considered a divine creature in essence, back to a level as close as possible to God, and give men clear co-creation powers as much as possible, for all their purposes at their own level, making them Demiurgos. In the later Pythagorean tradition, these Demiurgos became what Plato called "Responsive Virtuous Counselors" (Αγαθος συμβουλος) at the full service of the good of the community independently of their work or profession. This might be a difficult objective today, but nonetheless many youths today are, or should be, attracted by the basic Pythagorean ideal of obtaining the best holistic personal formation possible, to in turn be able to provide their best possible contribution to the most meritocratic society possible.
These are the types of candidates the PythAcademia hopes to attract and form as fulltime students. Like the Pythagorean Hemicycle, the PythAcademia will only handle maximum 300 candidates at any given time, but the EthoPlasìn Association in turn can influence and form thousands more at distance, if not eventually possibly even millions, in all kinds of civic environments around the world. This can be achieved through a so-called PythArmy. The members of this PythArmy are not fulltime students in any faculty, but youths brought in for special Pythagorean formation during various shorts periods of one to three months, for rising their awareness on the goodness of the emulation of the virtuous Pythagorean man through a system of related so-called STRA (Step-Thought Rising Awareness). The combined efforts of all members, the fulltime students at the PythAcademia and the soldiers of the PythArmy, coming from the Greek diaspora around the world, with their formation to excellence and their World Civic Wellness Vocation, shall contribute to help society find back some of its harmony, and make a step forward from its present decadent Dionysian ways to a better Apollonian kind of life style based on Beauty, Merit and Justice, let alone Love animating the conquest of these three beautiful objectives in a spirit of Philoecosophical Oneness and SOS (Social Olympic Spirit). All shall then contribute together to the pursuit of the final objective of transforming our current fake democracies into real direct democracies, or rather into what we call TruthOcracy as a first step, an Aristarchy as a final step.
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