‘…To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand…’
1θ. Towards a unified ethical social law
The human soul, perceived as ‘ego’, is not evil, as the human evil is just the offspring of defense against the cosmic evil that threatens with pain. Despite the bloody wars among societies, man could project himself on the face of his enemies and could empathize with them, whether they were members or not of his society. Enemy societies had already developed great civilizations and had prestigious members, philosophers, leaders, poets, scientists … Why should one refuse the unified nature of humanity? Which society or civilization would guarantee the best for humanity? [1]
At some point of the human history, societies that had reached high spiritual and technological level developed a human vision of unification. Through compassion, the strongest could give the chance to the feeble conquered outsiders to survive, by becoming members of one large society. The opening of the Greek and Roman societies to other tribes, the Alexandrian dream of a world composed by accepted citizens, regardless their ethnicity and religion, reflected a huge step in the transmutation of the human ego. Under conditions of peace and with the aid of wise civil laws, the man could live in a surrounding where the state guarantees less pain and fear. The primordial ethical law adopted by sub-societies would have no place in a unified society that lacked external enemies. The social laws should shelter justice and work for the prosperity of everyone [2], in the range of course allowed by the existing conditions.
This supreme idea conceived by esoteric societies (Pythagorians and others) and then by leaders, disciples of the great Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle [3], was the first realistic attempt of the humanity to stand against the leader of the world, the cosmic evil. Man would shout loud and without fear that ego is better than the evil universe and that it is possible to breed a society based on compassion, when the power and the law is concentrated in the hands of wise leaders and in the hands of the bests (aristocracy), the cast that works for the best of the society. The regime of an aristocratic democracy seemed to better serve this goal... before greediness prevailed, once again.
Initiation in the ancient mysteries aimed to the purification of the human soul from the illusion of their labyrinth born under the slavery of the primordial ethics. The revelation of a human core fighting against the powers of the cosmic evil since its genesis was the altar in the middle of all ancient mysteries. The duality of a good and a bad power dominated all religions and philosophic perceptions. The teaching of the naivety of the human core devoured by the Bad or, at best, indifferent powers and Gods of Nature was a fundamental truth. In these esoteric cycles, it was the man’s duty to understand the pure nature of ego and understand the ‘innocent’ criminality of the external society, developed by the weakness of the man who cannot afford the cruelty of the nature. The Platonic philosophy clearly had pointed out, by simple logical steps, the purity of the human soul existing beyond the current world [4].
[1] ‘After seeing all his kinsmen present Arjuna became overwhelmed with compassion and stricken by grief spoke thus: …Krisna, I do not see any good in slaying kinsmen in this battle, nor do I desire victory, nor a kingdom or even happiness… How strange we have resolved to commit great sin, just because of greed for royal luxury we are prepared to slay our own kinsmen. Even if the sons of Dhrtarastra armed with weapons in hands slay me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield that would be considered better for me...How can I counteract with arrows in battle, Bhisma and Drona who are worthy of respect?’ (Bhagavad Gita, Chapters 1 and 2).
[2] ‘TAT: But even in men there exist a different Logos according to the ethnicity.. TRISIMEGISTOS: Undoubtedly yes, my son, but mankind is one so that the Logos is one…’ (Corpus Hermeticum, About common NOUS)
[3] ‘A City is a community that secures the ‘living well’ (ευ ζην) of families and in the groups of families so that a self-sufficient life is achieved. … As the utmost aim of the State is the living well of the citizens, all laws and actions serve this purpose. A City is a community of families and villages where everyone leads a perfect and self-sufficient life. This is the meaning of living happy and according to the ethics’ (Aristotle Politika 1280a7-1281a10)
[4] ‘… So we have to admit that the soul is immortal. To understand, however, the real nature of the soul, we must not see it in the state of corruption as produced by its merge with the body and other evils, but we must study it with the reason isolated from every alien element and only then we will see the beauty and we will understand the nature of justice and injustice…” (Plato, Politeia)