| Over two and a half thousand years ago, at a | | | | Another leading member of the Milesian school |
| time when human beings were just beginning to | | | | was Anaximenes who regarded air as the first |
| think about the world they lived in, an | | | | principle of all things. His 'air' was rather |
| extraordinary concept was being articulated | | | | more than the kind we breathe. The Greek word |
| by the very earliest philosophers of Ancient | | | | he used was pneuma which referred to 'the |
| Greece. Ever since that time this idea has | | | | breath of the cosmos.' The equivalent Latin |
| been emphasised by many great philosophers | | | | word is spiritus in which case he clearly |
| including Socrates, the Buddha, Jesus and | | | | meant what we call 'spirit', that is, 'the |
| Gandhi. Yet we still haven't understood the | | | | spirit of the cosmos.' |
| secret that has the power to change our lives | | | | |
| - simply by changing the way we think about | | | | As Yale physics professor Lawrence Krauss |
| life. | | | | writes, "Anaximenes' pneuma was more than |
| | | | mere atmosphere; it had the germ of all |
| It's the secret of the meaning of life. | | | | creation and was therefore divine. As air |
| | | | gave breath to life, so pneuma maintained the |
| These earliest philosophers lived in Ancient | | | | stable pattern of existence." 2 |
| Greece around 600 BC, first the Milesians who | | | | |
| came from Miletus in Ionia (present-day | | | | Empedocles was born about 494 BC and at an |
| Turkey). | | | | early age made his home in Sicily. There he |
| | | | was regarded almost as a god and many |
| It's founder was said to have been Thales who | | | | miracles were attributed to him. The |
| was born (c.624 BC) about a hundred and fifty | | | | following brief quote from his writings |
| years before Socrates. He is regarded as the | | | | speaks volumes: "For before this [life] I was |
| founder of Greek philosophy, therefore of | | | | born once a boy, and a maiden, and a plant, |
| Western philosophy. All we know about him are | | | | and a bird, and a darting fish in the sea." |
| a few passing remarks made by his | | | | 3Clearly he was talking about pre-existence |
| contemporaries. The later Greek philosopher | | | | (of the soul) and reincarnation. |
| Aristotle wrote that he speculated on the | | | | |
| properties of the soul, that it was endowed | | | | Here, then, from the very dawning of rational |
| with the power of motion. There are various | | | | (and written) thought, from the world of |
| stories of his travels in Egypt which may | | | | Ancient Greece, I found my first three clues |
| have been the source of his ideas. According | | | | to the meaning of life: |
| to Aristotle, some Milesians believed that | | | | |
| the real, the underlying substance of the | | | | - the idea of a true unified, unchanging |
| world, is an unchanging, unified reality. | | | | reality of all things; |
| | | | |
| The secret was out. | | | | - pneuma as the divine pattern permeating all |
| | | | existence; |
| It seems that Thales was a brilliant | | | | |
| astronomer for his time. Apparently he was | | | | - and the pre-existence of the soul. |
| the first to predict a solar eclipse in 585 | | | | |
| BC. Plato tells the story that "a witty and | | | | REFERENCES: |
| attractive Thracian servant-girl is said to | | | | |
| have mocked Thales for falling into a well | | | | 1. Plato, 'Theaetetus,' |
| while he was observing the stars and gazing | | | | |
| upwards; declaring that he was eager to know | | | | 2. Krauss, Lawrence, 'The Fifth Essence,' |
| the things in the sky, but that what was | | | | page 11. |
| behind him and just by his feet escaped his | | | | |
| notice." 1 | | | | 3. Smith, T.V. (ed), 'From Thales to Plato,' |
| | | | page 33. |