"All human laws are in the keeping of the one divine law."

Heraclitus, fragment 114

A video was published by the Kulture Dads podcast today which critiques Platonism. I do not normally make personalized responses like this, but I felt I needed to address the points made in their video.

In order to avoid posting an enormous wall of text, I decided to experiment with audio recording. I guess time will tell if that was a good decision.

Edit: In case it was confusing, the reason I refer to the above recording as a video is because I was originally intending to add images to the audio track but decided to just post the audio.

Link to the Kulture Dads video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obQVaHUV3m0

Who do you trust:
Ancient Greek philosopher whose ideas have resonated in our civilization for thousands of years

Or

Telegram anons?

How many times have you seen a cross or a Buddha statue in a shop or some other place?

Help popularize public displays of busts or statues of the Gods, Homer, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Stoic philosophers, etc. When appropriate, have one on your desk at work or in other places. This is a simple and powerful way to spread awareness. Or have a picture of a Delphic Maxim on the wall, for example. There are many things along these lines that could be done which will make people curious and raise awareness of our native spiritual tradition.

- CWT Admin

The Romanist Creed lays out the central beliefs that separate Romanists from other religious groups. While traditionally, Gentile religion has not been credal, there is good reason for us to establish a creed today.

In the presence of many other world religions, it is crucial for us to be able to clearly state what we value and what makes us Romanists. This isn't a Creed that all Gentiles must accept or a statement of absolute infallible truth.

Instead, it's a statement of our ideals, spiritual goals, and core tenets. This fits the classical definition of doxa as opinion. This is the opinion of the Romanists and the statement we make as an affirmation of our faith in the Gods and our aspiration for spiritual liberation.

When someone asks what it means to be a Romanist, this creed states our core principles while leaving an enormous amount of room for further interpretation and speculation, philosophically and theologically.

🔸 Click on the links in the text below to view some supporting quotes. The text is from the Romanist Society creed posted above.

I believe
that the Gods exist;
that they govern the universe well and justly;
that they are causes only of good;
that they are providential;
that they cannot be influenced by evil.

I honor,
first, Jove, King and Father of the Gods,
maker of the whole visible and invisible world-order;
and the immortal Holy Gods, His divine children.
Next,
those beings who unfold the powers of the Gods and purify lower natures:
the angels;
the good spirits [daimones];
the illustrious heroes.
Lastly,
the saints;
ancestral divinities;
my living kin.

I hold
that the human soul, being akin to the Gods, is immortal;
that, by a life of virtue and the favor of Father Jove, I will be purified of all evils;
that thereby having been freed from the wheel of destiny and generation,
I will rejoin the procession of the Gods and govern the universe with them.

"Is it not the case that, whenever there are no impediments to the functions of all the parts of the body, under these circumstances people say they are healthy and think they have no need of doctors whereas, whenever they become aware that any one whatsoever of the natural actions of the body is occurring either badly or not at all, they consider themselves to be diseased, at least in that particular part of the body whose function they see to be damaged, and they do have recourse to medical consultation regarding the treatment? ... And this person, in whom all the parts of the body function in accord with nature, is called healthy compared to them, and someone in whom there is damage, diseased."

Galen, Method of Medicine 1.5

"For the remedy, words of reason, requires listeners; but the garrulous listen to nobody, for they are always talking. And this is the first symptom of their ailment: looseness of the tongue becomes impotence of the ears."

Plutarch, Concerning Talkativeness 1

"Now goods are of two kinds, human and divine; and the human goods are dependent on the divine, and he who receives the greater acquires also the less, or else he is bereft of both. The lesser goods are those of which health ranks first, beauty second; the third is strength, in running and all other bodily exercises; and the fourth is wealth—no blind god Plutus, but keen of sight, provided that he has wisdom for companion. And wisdom, in turn, has first place among the goods that are divine, and rational temperance of soul comes second; from these two, when united with courage, there issues justice, as the third; and the fourth is courage."

Plato, Laws 631b-d

I am now on X.

https://twitter.com/gnothisauton

"'Live with the gods.' The man who lives with the gods is the one whose soul is constantly on display to them as content with its lot and obedient to the will of the guardian spirit, the fragment of himself that Zeus has granted every person to act as his custodian and command center. And in each of us this is mind and reason."

Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.27

"For love of bustle is not industry, – it is only the restlessness of a hunted mind."

Seneca, Letters 3

"Dithyrambs are hymns composed to Dionysus, not the son of Kore but the one [born] from Semele and from the thigh of Zeus. This latter is the god responsible for rebirth, who some say is called Dithyrambus because he was born a second time, first from Semele, then from the thigh of Zeus; and what is more to the point is the one who creates the enmattered forms for a second time and prepares all generation to go forth. (‘For a second time’ [actually means] many times, or times without number.) "

Hermias, On Plato's Phaedrus 1.52

"Concerning unseen things, [which] concern divine things, clarity is what the gods have, whereas for men there is inference, albeit of one thing after another."

Alcmaeon, fragment D-K 24 A1

Contemplation is a vital part of mysticism. Without it, you will sink. The problem is--in a world where we are so disconnected from our own minds, learning to contemplate, and contemplate properly, is a challenge. But, one that we must endure to be happy.

There can be a terminological confusion here when talking about contemplation. Traditionally, in the West, "meditation" meant something like "deep thinking," whereas "contemplation" had a sense more akin to what we now mean by meditation.

Meditation, or dialectic, leads us to contemplation. See my post on Platonism as meditation & contemplation for more.

- CWT Admin

"But the universe must be truly perfect since it embraces everything and nothing exists that is not in it. How therefore can it fail to possess that which is best? Nothing is better than intelligence and reason, so the universe cannot lack these things."

Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2.38

"This whole cosmos, in fact, would be dissolved, if one were to entrust it to the binding power of matter, granting it the rank of soul so far as titles are concerned, that is to say, to air and breath, things supremely liable to dispersion and having their principle of unity not from within themselves. For how, when all bodies are subject to fragmentation, in attributing this universe to any one of them, will one not render it non-intelligible and random in its motions? For what order could there be in a breath which itself requires ordering from soul? What reason, or what intellect? Rather, if soul exists, all these things will be subject to it for the establishment of the cosmos and of each living being, with various powers from various bodies contributing to the whole, whereas if this is not present in the cosmos, these things will not even exist, never mind not being in an ordered system."

Plotinus, Enneads 4.7.3.25-35

But he who neither perceives by himself nor takes in a lesson from another, he on the other hand is a worthless man.

Hesiod, Works and Days

"Apollo is the god who directs the harmony, and makes all things move together, whether for gods or human beings."

Plato, Cratylus 405d