Nowadays, science is almost exclusively equated with natural science. This was not always the case. Rather, it is a relatively recent phenomenon that natural science achieved its triumph with the so-called Enlightenment of the 18th century.
When we talk about science today, we usually only mean the measuring, dissecting, proving, and examining of objects that we understand to be outside of ourselves. Understanding and measuring the world through the material senses is a relatively new phenomenon.
Plato’s science suggests the unfolding conjunction between spiritual and natural science.
In Plato’s understanding of science, the attempt to know the world with the material senses was the level of knowledge of the cave dwellers, all those people who could not yet see the light of knowledge (in the East: enlightenment).
Accordingly, the material senses are blinded and not suitable to recognize the essence of things. With the help of spiritual and physical exercises, people tried to transcend the merely physical consciousness even in ancient times. Unfortunately, the line of practice has broken off and we now import meditative practices, yoga, tai chi etc. from the East, where this knowledge has been passed down through the centuries.
The intellect, which our culture today pays much homage to and praises as the final aim of knowledge, was, for Plato, a level of knowledge that stood above sense perception (old Greek doxa), but was ultimately only an intermediate stage to the spiritual SEE (old Greek nous).
Today, understanding these classical lines of enlightenment is no longer part of academic science, which tries to bang its head between the intellect and matter, but will not reach the path to the light of knowledge by doing so.
Plato probably would not have been an opponent of natural science, but in his science, the material lines of knowledge had their embodiment in the overall spiritual-emotional context of life, so that a degeneration and misdirection, as we see in the current pandemic, could not have taken place.
Yin & Yang: Harmonizing Feminine & Masculine Principles
In the famous dialogues of Plato and Socrates, a figure appears who has been little known—like many women the history books have forgotten: Diotima of Matinea, a Greek seer and prophetess of love.
Female knowledge and access to knowledge was not directly dealt with by Plato, but it is laid out in his science of the soul. Also in the dialogue with Socrates, both speak very appreciatively about Diotima and her knowledge, which was not accessible to the great Socrates. One can even theorize that his famous phrase, “I know that I know nothing,” referred to his meeting with the seeress Diotima and perhaps also meant, “I see that I do not see.”
In contrast to the rationalized and enlightened culture of the West, then, these two very wise gentlemen knew what they did not know and had an appreciation for feminine knowledge and feminine access to knowledge.
The feeling principle of the soul opens up through intuition and a high feeling of competence, which is increasingly found in eastern cultures.
The cultural orchestra of the world – peace be on earth
In my years of research in the Orient, I have repeatedly come across this intelligence of feeling and soul, which is so ridiculed by the West and especially in academic circles.
It is reflected in a pronounced social understanding and places a higher value on caring than on assertiveness. Success in family life is more important than career, prices adapt to people’s financial circumstances and are not always fixed. Many values that have no value when viewed through a Western cultural lens—for example, just as the work of a caregiver is often exploited and not valued very much.
Many cultural misunderstandings are then based on different valuations made by the male or female principle. Moreover, the male principle, as mentioned by Plato, is in decline nowadays. If it were in its highest expression of Spiritual SEEING (nous) as in Plato, it would also be able to recognize the abilities of SEEING the soul and the feminine feeling principle.
This quantum leap of consciousness would be a true blessing for understanding between cultures, reconciliation between the sexes, and peace in the world. Divine Science is dedicated to the promotion of this understanding.