“Through the study of books one seeks God;
by meditation one finds him.”
According to the Greek writer and geographer, Pausanias, the ancient Greek aphorism “Know Thyself” (γνῶθι σεαυτόν) was a maxim inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Throughout the centuries, people have studied the physical and metaphysical world through science and philosophy. But how can a person study himself or herself? By turning inward! In the Phaedo, one of Plato’s famous dialogues, Socrates explains that the senses are incapable of informing us about the true nature of reality, and thus are not to be trusted. One needs to look beyond the senses in order to find meaning and clarity. Socrates says to Simmias:
“Did you ever reach them [truths] with any
bodily sense? – and I speak not of these
alone, but of absolute greatness, and
health, and strength, and, in short, of the
reality or true nature of everything. Is the
truth of them ever perceived through the
bodily organs? Or rather, is not the nearest
approach to the knowledge of their several
natures made by him who so orders his
intellectual vision as to have the most exact
conception of the essence of each thing he
Later in the Phaedo, Socrates begins to expound on what we today would call “silent meditation.” Remember, this is not India. This is 5th century BCE Greece! Gautama Buddha happens to be Socrates’ contemporary. Socrates begins to describe the practice of meditation as follows:
“He who has got rid, as far as he can, of
eyes and ears and, so to speak, of the
whole body, these being in his opinion
distracting elements when they associate
with the soul hinder her from acquiring truth
and knowledge – who, if not he, is likely to
attain to the knowledge of true being?”
Over 500 years later, the Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus would also base his entire philosophy on meditative silence. So, given that Socrates (Plato’s teacher, who coined the phrase “Know Thyself”) lived in the 5th century BCE, it is difficult to say if this contemplative practice originated in the East or the West. Let’s not forget that Plato is deeply indebted to an older mystical philosopher named Pythagoras (6th century BCE), who was probably one of the first great and well-known mystics in the west!
Plotinus follows Socrates’ advice regarding the path to self-knowledge and the philosophy of Being. He insists that the soul must discard all form, image, and thought. It is through concentration, away from the sense world, that we reach the “One” (i.e. God). And the self discovers this when it is annihilated. In other words, a person loses his/her identity during the supreme mystical union with the “One.” it’s as if the person has been “ ‘seized’ by an elemental force and swept into liberation by mystical frenzy” (Thomas Merton). Plotinus says:
“shut your eyes . . . and wake
another way of seeing, which everyone has
The “awakening” in the presence of the “good” is a result that is accomplished by removing multiplicity through the process of negation (which later became known as apophatic theology). That is to say, there is a detachment from the many to the One. The disciple must proceed by way of negation. Rather than positing what the One is, the practitioner gets rid of all knowledge and begins by contemplating what the One is not. This practice has been alternatively called “silence” or “stillness.” It is a way of putting away all otherness and reaching an ineffable union with the One (or God). In the mysticism of Plotinus, the student must not chase after the good but wait quietly til it appears.
Unfortunately, since the time of the Renaissance and the Age of Reason, the contemplative aspect of the Platonic tradition is no longer discussed in modern academia. Plato is often taught as a cold, rational thinker whose insights are solely derived from discursive thought. However, Plotinus thought that he was simply clarifying Plato’s teachings. According to Wikipedia:
“Plotinus was not claiming to innovate with
the Enneads [his book], but to clarify
aspects of the works of Plato that he
considered misrepresented or
does not claim to be an innovator, but
rather a communicator of a tradition.
Plotinus referred to tradition as a way to
interpret Plato's intentions. Because the
teachings of Plato were for members of the
academy rather than the general public, it
was easy for outsiders to misunderstand
Plotinus lived in Alexandria, Egypt in the 3rd century CE. Over 150 years earlier, another Platonic philosopher, Philo of Alexandria, had done the same:
“Philo of Alexandria had written on some
form of ‘spiritual exercises’ involving
attention (prosoche) and concentration and
by the 3rd century Plotinus had developed
According to Plotinus, the One is not simply an intellectual concept but rather something that can actually be experienced; an existential experience where one goes far beyond all multiplicity. The individual eventually reaches a state of tabula rasa, a blank state where everything is deleted, so to speak, while the person merges with the One. The self is dissolved, completely absorbed into the One. But in order to reach this stage, “the Proficient’s will is set always and only inward” (Enneads I.4.11). This process eventually leads to ecstasy:
“The essentially devotional nature of
Plotinus' philosophy may be further
illustrated by his concept of attaining
ecstatic union with the One (henosis).
Porphyry relates that Plotinus attained such
a union four times during the years he knew
him. This may be related to enlightenment,
liberation, and other concepts of mystical
union common to many Eastern and
In Greek, Henosis is the term for mystical "union.” In Platonism, and particularly in Neoplatonism, the aim of henosis is union with the ground of being or absolute reality: the source or the One (τὸ Ἕν):
“Henosis for Plotinus was defined in his
works as a reversing of the ontological
process of consciousness via meditation
. . . toward no thought . . . and no
division (dyad) within the individual (being).
Plotinus words his teachings to reconcile
not only Plato with Aristotle but also various
World religions that he had personal
contact with during his various travels.”
Plotinus, and his successor Proclus, influenced many great philosophers and theologians, such as Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Husserl, Heidegger, Barth, Bultmann, and others. Plotinus’ meditation is not unlike that described in Ps. 62.5, which reads: “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” According to Wikipedia, “Plotinus' final words were: ‘Try to raise the divine in yourselves to the divine in the all.’ “ Meditation, therefore, is the method by which we not only grasp the essence of true Being, in the Platonic sense, but also how we find the sure way of salvation, in the Biblical sense:
“Be still, and know that I am God!”
