#pre pythagorean

[weexploreanddiscover]

[thatscarletflycatcher]

"The thing that redeems Leibniz between the other Modern philosophers -philosophically speaking- is that his solutions are always so graceful and elegant" and other thoughts that would be supremely weird to share in pretty much every place except Tumblr and a philosophy department

[hose270]

I remember the exact moment math clicked for me, not in a “I understand it” sense, but in an “I understand why this is meaningful” sense.

I was in calculus, and we were using integrals to calculate the area under a curve. The teacher showed us how to use that process to derive the formula for the volume of a cone—a formula I’d had to memorize five years before in geometry class. My mind was blown, not only because there was logic behind that seemingly arbitrary formula, but because I understood that logic.

It wasn’t the first time I’d understood something, but never before had something so incomprehensible been so quickly transformed into something so rational, and that moment of understanding still stands out in my memory six years later. It taught me that, with enough study and research, almost anything can be understood. Now, I haven’t used the formula for the volume of a cube in years, let alone to calculus necessary for deriving it, but I have used that principle of study and research, and that’s something that math taught me.

Are you willing to make a long personal post about how Math should be presented in an educational environment or in general conversation trying to convince the other participants about its daily usage. How it can advance a person’s problem-solving skills and approach in life.

I’m really good in Mathematics. I’ve given help for my classmates and friends about Math when they are having trouble or ask for it. But I have never been convinced of its importance outside of the classroom, outside of the test papers that gives me the variables to substitute in the given equation of that test of the day.

How can Math and it’s many properties relate back to everyday life in a casual manner?

Hm. Well, as someone who hasn't had to solve an antiderivative in years, my perspective on this is that the most important and widely-applicable skill math can teach you is the stuff behind the math - mostly the muscle-memory you get from proofs.

Math is, at its core, puzzles and logic and pattern-recognition. You learn a set of tools, you practice those tools on a set of simple problems until you get a feel for them, you are presented with a bigger problem, you recall which tools best applied to problems that are shaped like this, you break the problem down using your tools and eventually reduce it to something you know how to solve.

The fact of the matter is, the tools that are specific to branches of math don't really have much widespread use outside pure mathematics, and unless you go out of your way to keep using them you're likely to lose track of them. Studying math is not going to turn you into a super-calculator-wizard who can bounce stuff off the walls at perfect angles and do six-figure arithmetic in seconds, and I think some people feel overwhelmed at the assumption that that's what's expected of them if they learn math, and some other people feel cheated when they learn that that's absolutely not going to happen, because most writers don't know math and when they tell stories with math in them their best guess is it makes you a wizard.

I think the most advanced math I've used lately was trigonometry, and that was just because I was curious about how fast my plane was traveling relative to the sun's apparent movement at my latitude. We were flying back to the US from Iceland and we'd taken off at sunset, and we had been in that sunset for at least an hour by the time I got curious how the math worked out and started estimating our latitude, the circumference of the slice of the earth at that latitude, and correspondingly how fast we were flying vs how fast it was spinning to complete a full rotation in 24 hours. But even if the math involved didn't tap into any of the higher-level stuff I'd learned post-trig, those years doing proofs and figuring out which tools applied to which geometry meant that I could use the tools and my training applying those tools to calculate what I wanted to know, and confirm that our plane was actually outflying the sun when we were at iceland latitude, but as we curved south the sun's apparent relative movement (aka the rotational speed of that latitude of the earth) slowly accelerated until we were falling behind, landing right as the sun finally set. The math involved was high school level, but if I'd been given that problem in high school it would've taken more work and more stress to figure out how the tools I had needed to be applied to the problem I was facing. The years of practice I had tackling much more complicated proofs made the diagnostic process much faster.

I saw someone once analogize studying math to lifting weights. Where am I going to use this in real life? How often will I really be faced with two dumbbells that need to be lifted in three sets of twenty? Where am I going to apply the skill of holding a heavy thing straight out to one side of my body?

You don't lift weights because lifting weights is such a valuable and widely-applicable skillset, you do it because lifting weights makes you better at lifting everything.

You don't study math because math is going to fill your daily life with concepts that you need to prove true for 1 and for n+1 given true for n, or complex solids that you need to sum an approximate volume for, or a surplus of sunset plane flights that demand you calculate a bunch of cosines. You study math because it is the skillset of making things make sense. It trains you to break a huge, incomprehensible problem down into a series of small problems you already know how to solve. It lets you reach true and correct conclusions by starting from facts and transforming them through operations that preserve truth, and correspondingly that if you reach a false conclusion from these methods, then either the methods are flawed or the initial assumption is not as true as you believed. It teaches you to put two and two together and be confident, once you've double-checked your work, that you can say four.

This is stuff I use all the time in both my video research and my freeform writing. Building out a slow picture of how a story was told or changed over time involves finding the context it was created in, and reverse-engineering what parts of that context could have produced what standout portions of the story - what authorial or cultural bias results in this standout story element. Worldbuilding where I take two wildly disparate parts of the world, put them together and see what web of implications springs out of combining them, following the threads to new and interesting concepts that follow from what I've already established. Building a character arc by breaking down exactly what events are happening to them and what transformation each component will apply to the underlying character. If I want the story to go in a certain direction, what transformations do I need to apply to make that happen while still preserving truth? If I'm faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem, what methods can I use to break it down into bite-sized pieces?

This isn't something I think about most of the time. It's just how my brain works at this point, and I can't promise it'd work for anyone else. But thanks to all my years of hard work and training, my brain has been buff enough to solve every problem I've tangled with since graduation, and that feels pretty good.

[cryptotheism]

I love when modern horror movies do this.

I was watching The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Let's play a game. If a coroner approached me with this symbol, what would I tell him?

Two big flags: That's a woven textile, and those are Roman letters. Most surviving Roman spells were written on stone or metal stele. Roman characters on papyrus practically screams North Africa, 1st-4th century AD.

Given, there is no textile on earth that could survive the stomach acid like this, so I'm assuming something supernatural is happening.

So north Africa, 1-4th century AD. That specific type of circle is clearly remineacent of Solomoic magic. The thing is. Solomonic seals were usually produced in an Egyptian milieu. Authentic North african magical characters usually have little loops on the end, because they're trying to imitate the ankh. Or they look noticably Greek.

Whats interesting to me, is that the symbol inside the circle is more Greek-Pythagorean than Egyptian. It's got that square capped with triangles. That's a neoplatonist sacred geometry thing.

Also, I have the movie paused, but I would bet money those numerals on the edges are supposed to correspond to bible verses. I would bet money one of them is supposed to be EX 22:18.

Which, if that's true, would mean that this isn't 1-4th century, but more like a pre-golden-dawn reprint from the 1850s.

Official prediction: This bitch is supposed to be an 1850s American frontier witch. The prop designers get extra points if they want me to think she was part of the Salem witch trials, or some other sensational event like that.

[oshygoshy]

what genre of tiktok brain rot do they watch (aka just things that pop up on my fyp)

word count - 1,054 words

warnings - not proofread also wrote this at 3 am so probably doesn't make sense

a/n - in honor of tiktok getting banned in the states. fly high, fellow americans. unfortunately i seriously need to Lock In so i am NOT redownloading any other app. i need to focus on school (desperate). feel free to add on your own headcanons too!

karasuno 

daichi - that one construction building meme like with the galvanized steel beams and wood veneers or whatever 

suga - whiteboard marker ink test videos

asahi - sticker room decorating like where they have the little tweezers and place the sticker down perfectly every time (tried to buy a pack of them for himself bc they seemed relaxing but actually just got more stressed from trying to place them down perfectly  first try. they're sitting half opened in his drawer)

noya - 3d ai art (animal fusions are his fave)

tanaka - those slideshows that are like "where are u shitting the hardest tag ur bro"

kageyama - volleyball videos. this man does not have a social media presence whatsoever. he is so disconnected 

hinata - anime edits with brazilian phonk music 

tsukki - car crash videos ("bikers fault") sprinkled in with the occasional study vlog. also on reels not tiktok. 

yamaguchi - “your month your x” videos and sends the ugly ones to the gc always (yk how december is always a harlot and kageyama’s bday is in december?)

yachi - girl group idol fancams. makes study blogs on a side account. tsukki knows but doesn't tell her. he likes & follows (under a blank account with no pfp or anything duh) 

kiyoko - makeup grwm, nail art videos

nekoma 

kuroo - skibidi toilet rizz brain rot (unironically, for some reason it's always the smart stem majors studying the hardest shit with the most intense brain rot) or idk like those math edits that actually cook. like i've seen actual edits to the pythagorean theorem 

kenma - streamer clips, new video games news, etc. watches maxwell the cat ravage the block and sends them to kuroo. he enjoyes them as well. 

yaku - cooking videos, NOT asmr - very clear distinction. like newt on tiktok. funny and also helpful voiceovers

lev - skibidi toilet rizz brain rot (this time genuinely just brain rot, not studying stem) or gym videos 

aoba josai 

oikawa - volleyball. except this time he is connected to the internet unlike kags, he's just Addicted To That Grind so he consumes vb content on his downtown. or mercury cream depotting videos (my fave tbh i want to eat it so bad)

iwaizumi - makes the occasional gym videos and always blows up bc he's hot and oikawa is for sure jealous 

mattsun - those alien videos that's like blowing up the earth with a ray gun or something and the entire comment section goes "bleep blorp zop?" yk??? and always sends them to makki 

makki - matches his freak and always replies with "dw pookster daddy can handle it🐺🥀⛓️❤️🖤" and sends the exact same shit back to mattsun 

kunimi - matcha making aesthetic asmr videos (hates matcha though)

kindaichi - sports videos as a whole he kinda dabbles in them all (is confused why kunimi watches matcha when he hates matcha)

fukurodani

bokuto - animal video compilations (so cute!!)

akashi - booktok and literature, new manga & book releases. hates on coho but overall mature with his booktok takes

konoha - pokemon nuzlocke/competitive clips. highkey has no idea what's going on (same) but enjoys them nonetheless. tried to make a competitive team once, and immediately got lost (ev? like the little fox guy?)

shiratorizawa

ushijima- does not have tiktok or insta, but still watches the videos tendou sends him tho 

tendou - i feel like random shit in general but likes horror/true crime/cave exploding stories

semi - hair salon videos…like hair styling. the more alternative the better 

shirabu - school memes but is a haughty pre-med biology student and always likes the ones that are complaining abt how hard stem is, esp compared to humanities. sorry not sorry there's always gotta be that one kid 

goshiki - dog grooming videos. he wishes somebody could apply that level of care to his own hair bc wtf is going on top of his head 

inarizaki 

atsumu - artificially likes a bunch of random shit that he doesn't gaf abt to make his fyp seem all aesthetic and cool. in actuality doesn't go on social media ever bc 1.) his pr manager has begged him not to, at least without checking in first, and 2.) genuinely just On That Grind and isn't on his phone much to begin with 

osamu - coloring videos. loves hearing the sound of the marker scratching against the paper

suna - this man's screen time is insane. mostly spent on soap-cutting videos 

kita - the chickens in his backyard coop. his farm doesn't have wifi. 

aran - those what i fed my dog videos except it's those raw-fed dogs that are given like kangaroo bones and bear hearts and shit. actually insane diets they eat so much better than me. watches them as he eats like a microwaved tv meal and feels kinda sad abt himself 

extra schools

hoshiumi- clips of nature documentaries/movies. always tries to find the rest of the movie on the account, but they never post the entire movie and gets really pissed abt ending on a cliffhanger everytime 

hirugami - "what i cooked for my husband, john, after his 12 hour shift today: traditional british pea and carrot soup" and it's deep fried, frozen. and salty. ifykyk!!

daishou- twitter arguments with temple run in the background (also video always ends with "pluh!" ifykyk)

sakusa - aita videos omgggg he loves them sm. for one, it feels like gossiping which he loves (don't tell me he doesn't love gossip, 1.) he's cousins with motoya AND 2.) chided hinata for collapsing IN A HIGH SCHOOL match which?? did he even see that himself??? like karasuno wasn't against itachiyama for that match, AND THEN brought it up to hinata when they were both in msby - aka THEIR PROFESSIONAL CAREERS. he remembered a little mishap from like 6 years ago, and that’s the first thing he brings up to hinata?? not even a hello???? he TOTALLY remembers & holds a grudge) and two, it gives him something to listen to while doing his 10 step skincare routine 

komori - mukbangs. sends the messiest ones to sakusa every time, and gets blocked for an hour every time as well 

[niteshade925]

April 14, Xi'an, China, Shaanxi History Museum, Qin and Han Dynasties Branch (Part 3 – Innovations and Philosophies):

(Edit: sorry this post came out so late, I got hit by the truck named life and had to get some rest, and this post in itself took some effort to research. But anyway it's finally up, please enjoy!)

A little background first, because this naming might lead to some confusions.....when you see location adjectives like "eastern", "western", "northern", "southern" added to the front of Zhou dynasty, Han dynasty, Song dynasty, and Jin/晋 dynasty, it just means the location of the capital city has changed. For example Han dynasty had its capital at Chang'an (Xi'an today) in the beginning, but after the very brief but not officially recognized "Xin dynasty" (9 - 23 AD; not officially recognized in traditional Chinese historiography, it's usually seen as a part of Han dynasty), Luoyang became the new capital. Because Chang'an is geographically to the west of Luoyang, the Han dynasty pre-Xin is called Western Han dynasty (202 BC - 8 AD), and the Han dynasty post-Xin is called Eastern Han dynasty (25 - 220 AD). As you can see here, in these cases this sort of adjective is simply used to indicate different time periods in the same dynasty.

Model of a dragonbone water lift/龙骨水车, Eastern Han dynasty. This is mainly used to push water up to higher elevations for the purpose of irrigation:

Model of a water-powered bellows/冶铁水排, Eastern Han dynasty. Just as the name implies, as flowing water pushes the water wheel around, the parts connected to the axle will pull and push on the bellows alternately, delivering more air to the furnace for the purpose of casting iron.

The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art/《九章算术》, Fangcheng/方程 chapter. It’s a compilation of the work of many scholars from 10 th century BC until 2 nd century AD, and while the earliest authors are unknown, it has been edited and supplemented by known scholars during Western Han dynasty (also when the final version of this book was compiled), then commented on by scholars during Three Kingdoms period (Kingdom of Wei) and Tang dynasty. The final version contains 246 example problems and solutions that focus on practical applications, for example measuring land, surveying land, construction, trading, and distributing taxes. This focus on practicality is because it has been used as a textbook to train civil servants. Note that during Han dynasty, fangcheng means the method of solving systems of linear equations; today, fangcheng simply means equation. For anyone who wants to know a little more about this book and math in ancient China, here’s an article about it. (link goes to pdf)

Diagram of a circle in a right triangle (called “勾股容圆” in Chinese), from the book Ceyuan Haijing/《测圆海镜》 by Yuan-era mathematician Li Ye/李冶 (his name was originally Li Zhi/李治) in 1248.  Note that Pythagorean Theorem was known by the name Gougu Theorem/勾股定理 in ancient China, where gou/勾 and gu/股 mean the shorter and longer legs of the right triangle respectively, and the hypotenuse is named xian/弦 (unlike what the above linked article suggests, this naming has more to do with the ancient Chinese percussion instrument qing/磬, which is shaped similar to a right triangle).  Gougu Theorem was recorded in the ancient Chinese mathematical work Zhoubi Suanjing/《周髀算经》, and the name Gougu Theorem is still used in China today.

Diagram of the proof for Gougu Theorem in Zhoubi Suanjing. The sentence on the left translates to "gou (shorter leg) squared and gu (longer leg) squared makes up xian (hypotenuse) squared", which is basically the equation a² + b² = c². Note that the character for "squared" here (mi/幂) means "power" today.

This is a diagram of Zhang Heng’s seismoscope, called houfeng didong yi/候风地动仪 (lit. “instrument that measures the winds and the movements of the earth”).  It was invented during Eastern Han dynasty, but no artifact of houfeng didong yi has been discovered yet, this is presumably due to constant wars at the end of Eastern Han dynasty.  All models and diagrams that exist right now are what historians and seismologists think it should look like based on descriptions from Eastern Han dynasty. This diagram is based on the most popular model by Wang Zhenduo that has an inverted column at the center, but this model has been widely criticized for its ability to actually detect earthquakes. A newer model that came out in 2005 with a swinging column pendulum in the center has shown the ability to detect earthquakes, but has yet to demonstrate ability to reliably detect the direction where the waves originate, and is also inconsistent with the descriptions recorded in ancient texts. What houfeng didong yi really looks like and how it really works remains a mystery.

Xin dynasty bronze calipers, the earliest sliding caliper found as of now (not the earliest caliper btw). This diagram is the line drawing of the actual artifact (right).

Ancient Chinese "Jacquard" loom (called 提花机 or simply 花机 in Chinese, lit. "raise pattern machine"), which first appeared no later than 1st century BC. The illustration here is from the Ming-era (1368 - 1644) encyclopedia Tiangong Kaiwu/《天工开物》. Basically it's a giant loom operated by two people, the person below is the weaver, and the person sitting atop is the one who controls which warp threads should be lifted at what time (all already determined at the designing stage before any weaving begins), which creates patterns woven into the fabric. Here is a video that briefly shows how this type of loom works (start from around 1:00). For Hanfu lovers, this is how zhuanghua/妆花 fabric used to be woven, and how traditional silk fabrics like yunjin/云锦 continue to be woven. Because it is so labor intensive, real jacquard silk brocade woven this way are extremely expensive, so the vast majority of zhuanghua hanfu on the market are made from machine woven synthetic materials.

Chinese purple is a synthetic pigment with the chemical formula BaCuSi2O6. There's also a Chinese blue pigment. If anyone is interested in the chemistry of these two compounds, here's a paper on the topic. (link goes to pdf)

A list of common colors used in Qin and Han dynasties and the pigments involved. White pigment comes from chalk, lead compounds, and powdered sea shells; green pigment comes from malachite mineral; blue pigment usually comes from azurite mineral; black comes from pine soot and graphite; red comes from cinnabar; ochre comes from hematite; and yellow comes from realgar and orpiment minerals.

Also here are names of different colors and shades during Han dynasty. It's worth noting that qing/青 can mean green (ex: 青草, "green grass"), blue (ex: 青天, "blue sky"), any shade between green and blue, or even black (ex: 青丝, "black hair") in ancient Chinese depending on the context. Today 青 can mean green, blue, and everything in between.

Western Han-era bronze lamp shaped like a goose holding a fish in its beak. This lamp is interesting as the whole thing is hollow, so the smoke from the fire in the lamp (the fish shaped part) will go up into the neck of the goose, then go down into the body of the goose where there's water to catch the smoke, this way the smoke will not be released to the surrounding environment. There are also other lamps from around the same time designed like this, for example the famous gilt bronze lamp that's shaped like a kneeling person holding a lamp.

Part of a Qin-era (?) clay drainage pipe system:

A list of canals that was dug during Warring States period, Qin dynasty, and pre-Emperor Wu of Han Han dynasty (475 - 141 BC). Their purposes vary from transportation to irrigation. The name of the first canal on the list, Hong Gou/鸿沟, has already become a word in Chinese language, a metaphor for a clear separation that cannot be crossed (ex: 不可逾越的鸿沟, meaning "a gulf that cannot be crossed").

Han-era wooden boat. This boat is special in that its construction has clear inspirations from the ancient Romans, another indication of the amount of information exchange that took place along the Silk Road:

A model that shows how the Great Wall was constructed in Qin dynasty. Laborers would use bamboo to construct a scaffold (bamboo scaffolding is still used in construction today btw, though it's being gradually phased out) so people and materials (stone bricks and dirt) can get up onto the wall. Then the dirt in the middle of the wall would be compressed into rammed earth, called hangtu/夯土. A layer of stone bricks may be added to the outside of the hangtu wall to protect it from the elements. This was also the method of construction for many city walls in ancient China.

A list of the schools of thought that existed during Warring States period, their most influential figures, their scholars, and their most famous works. These include Confucianism (called Ru Jia/儒家 in Chinese; usually the suffix "家" at the end denotes a school of thought, not a religion; the suffix "教" is that one that denotes a religion), Daoism/道家, Legalism (Fa Jia/法家), Mohism/墨家, etc.

The "Five Classics" (五经) in the "Four Books and Five Classics" (四书五经) associated with the Confucian tradition, they are Shijing/《诗经》 (Classic of Poetry), Yijing/《易经》 (also known as I Ching), Shangshu/《尚书》 (Classic of History), Liji/《礼记》 (Book of Rites), and Chunqiu/《春秋》 (Spring and Autumn Annals). The "Four Books" (四书) are Daxue/《大学》 (Great Learning), Zhongyong/《中庸》 (Doctrine of the Mean), Lunyu/《论语》 (Analects), and Mengzi/《孟子》 (known as Mencius).

And finally the souvenir shop! Here's a Chinese chess (xiangqi/象棋) set where the pieces are fashioned like Western chess, in that they actually look like the things they are supposed to represent, compared to traditional Chinese chess pieces where each one is just a round wooden piece with the Chinese character for the piece on top:

A blind box set of small figurines that are supposed to mimic Shang and Zhou era animal-shaped bronze vessels. Fun fact, in Shang dynasty people revered owls, and there was a female general named Fu Hao/妇好 who was buried with an owl-shaped bronze vessel, so that's why this set has three different owls (top left, top right, and middle). I got one of these owls (I love birds so yay!)

And that concludes the museums I visited while in Xi'an!

[dangerous-fighter-fairy]

So I love gravity falls, don’t get me wrong, but now that I’m an adult and a writer myself, I feel like one of the few things it fumbled was the Ford reveal. Anyone who theorized that Stan had a twin would have been written off for reaching, the “Gideon is a vampire” theory had more substantial evidence (I’m joking but also kinda not). The foreshadowing to the Ford reveal are things like “Stan finds an extra pair of glasses in the spare room” and “Stan’s license plate is ‘Stanley mobile’” which is kinda weak for such a clever show? They make no sense until you rewatch them, I feel like stuff like that reveal had to be something you could guess without sounding insane. No one pre-Ford reveal would have EVER guessed that Stan had a twin which made it feel a little bit like a cop out to me unless you REALLY reached for it.

Don't get me wrong, l like it, but for a show with so many details hidden in the background, it's a surprise that they didn't allude to it any better than that. No photos in the background with Stan and Ford as kids where the Stan half of the photo is covered so all you see is Ford, who looks wayyy nerdier than Stan would look as a kid, but there's no way it's not him, it looks exactly like him, just nerdier. Plus, isn't that weird, it looks like he has six fingers? Maybe it was an animation error. Besides, current Stan doesn’t have six fingers or a scar from a finger getting taken off. Maybe you get one scene where Mabel finds it and goes “HAHAH Grunkle Stan, look at you, you looked like such a dweeb!” And Stan snatches it out of her hand and grumbles something like “I’m the only one who calls Stanford Pines a dweeb.” Dipper gets confused and goes “you know it’s really weird that he was a nerdy kid, I wouldn’t have guessed that” and Mabel’s like “well he was really smart in college, right? People change.” Now the question is “what changed? Why isn’t he like that? It seems so opposite of how he is now.” It makes being hit with “he’s been masquerading as his twin brother” make a little more sense.

And never ONCE did Dipper say "my parents told me you're a well accomplished genius who had a lot of scientific potential and you CANT see how weird this town is?" only for Stan to get all withdrawn and go "that was a long time ago, it was a different life, things are different now.” Dipper, being a nerd, would definitely be intrigued by Stan's past as "an up and coming genius who suddenly went quiet for a while & now runs a bogus tourist trap" SOMEONE WOULD HAVE POINTED THAT OUT. DIPPER WOULD HAVE INVESTIGATED (Mabel probably wouldn't care because "come on dude, people change, and isn't he cool now?" but Dipper would care). And their parents never pointed out how weird it is that Stanford went from this genius his parents were so proud of to this weird reclusive conman?? That's WEIRD, right??? Isn't conman stuff STANLEY-level nonsense??? Maybe they didn’t know much about him since he’s their reclusive uncle or whatever, but surely they’d know the bare minimum about him. “Yeah he was a real genius back in his day, went out to study something, I don’t remember what, and he’s still out there” which would mean Dipper and Mabel finding this old conman who couldn’t even tell you the Pythagorean theorem is Weird For Sure

I just feel like they could have done wayyyy better in the build up. It wouldn’t have taken much time to establish something more substantial than “Stan freaks out when he sees Mabel’s wax figurine” (which I always brushed off as “wax figurines are scary and he’s a weird looking old man”)

[talonabraxas]

Monas Hieroglyphica (The Hieroglyphic Monad)

Written by John Dee and published in Antwerp in 1564, the Monas Hieroglyphica (‘Hieroglyphic Monad’) was conceived in 12 days, a period, so claimed the author, of Divine Revelation. It presents Dee’s unified glyph, the Monad, by way of 24 theorems, each demonstrating a variety of mathematical, geometric, cabalistic, and cosmological principles gleaned from the ancient world. Highly influential, the titular glyph was later adopted into Rosecrutianism by way of the works of Paracelcian alchemist Heinrich Khunrath, with whom Dee was acquainted.

Chiefly a work of alchemy, it is perhaps best understood as a preeminent form of ‘diagrammatic alchemy’. The inception of the Diagram, a visual representation of information to accompany text, goes back to antiquity, but saw great use thanks to the printing technology of the 15th century. Dee took this a step further, with elaborate frontispieces brimming with cryptic symbolism. In theorem 18 he states, "it is not Aesop but Oedipus who prompts me," hinting at the presence of riddles within the text (just as Oedipus was challenged by the Sphinx).

Though still a devout Christian, Dee’s thinking was heavily informed by Pythagorean, Hermetic, and Neo-Platonic traditions which each posited that the universe was comprised of linguistic and numerical laws. Thus the symbols and images of Dee’s Monas were not mere representations of processes, but the manifestation of Truth itself. As such, meditative study of this truth would work the necessary alchemical transformation upon its student.

Given closer inspection, we see the Monad is a composite of other symbols. Indeed, it was designed such that all associated symbols, be they cosmological, alchemical, metallurgical, and chiefly, numerological, could be formulated, along with their governing principles. Together they form the ‘Unit’, or Monad; a key scientific concept of the many-in-one.

At the base we have the double crescent of Aries, the celestial fire of transformation; next the Solar Cross, the four elements, the cardinal directions, the Crucifixion, and the Hermetic mystery of the ‘quaternary in the ternary’, the ‘4 in the 3’. Dee believed in the Holy Trinity, but also that all creation was embodied in the number 4, the Trinity plus One (the One being manifest reality). Though seemingly mystical and arbitrary, the 4 in the 3 was a mathematical principle describing a Platonic solid called the Cuboctahedron, a shape made up of 8 triangles and 4 squares. This structure provides great supporting strength at little cost to weight, and was popularized in the 20th century by American architect Buckminster Fuller in the development of high-rise construction cranes as well as Geodesic Domes such as the one at Epcot, Florida.

Moving up, we have the point and the circle, two basic principles of geometry from which all others follow. Together they become the Sun with the Earth at its centre (a pre-Copernican worldview), over which we have the horned Moon. These horns combine with the circle to present the Earth sign of Taurus, as well as symbolising the alchemical wedding of the Active (Sun) and Passive (Moon). Joined with the circle and cross we find the symbol for Mercury, that the ancient Greeks called Stilbon (the God of the Wandering Star), which they considered the prime planet and metal. All seven classical planets, and the metals of the ancient world, are also revealed.

Considered as a whole, we can view the Monad as the alchemical process, with the transformative, Promethean fire of Aries at the base, and silver (the Moon) and gold (the Sun) at the top, forming the Cornucopian horns of wisdom. It also has an anthropomorphic aspect of a contemplative, kneeling figure. This finds a natural comparison in the spiritual concept of the Kundalini, the upward progression of energy points through the body, from the root through to the Divine light of revelatory experience; as well as in the Buddhist practice of meditation, in which fiery Desire fades with the awakening to our true, wise nature.

Despite Dee’s somewhat tarnished reputation as a magician and necromancer, even his critic, the pious Andrestius Babius, capitulated to recognising the Monad’s importance as a standardising tool that transcended language; a true, universal, scientific notation. That it so keenly marries Science with Spiritual wisdom presents an opportunity of revelatory understanding for those who would still take the time to study it.

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

I'm interested in occultism/esotericism and know pretty much nothing, where should I start?

okay.

this is a great question. i have a lot of opinions about this. this is probably gonna be longish.

some very general rules: i tend to prefer older stuff. pre-17th century at least. but pre-4th century is even better. i have my reasons for this but i won't get into it. again, these are only general rules so there are exceptions.

i know more modern books are generally more accessible and easier to read for people, but that's partly why i don't recommend them. it's esoteric for the reason. if something is easily accessible for the masses then it's probably not very esoteric/occult. so i tend to suggest people avoid a lot of new age, spiritualist, theosophist, "thelema" type shit. fuck the golden dawn. fuck blavatsky. fuck eliphas levi. fuck crowley (though i think he's the least bad of them all). but these types i consider a part of a kind of spiritual disinformation campaign.

some exceptions to this rule are: evola and the other traditionalists/perennialists (guenon, eliade, schuon, etc), carl jung, bohme, guido von list, manly p. hall, rosenkreuz, etc. none of this is to say i wholly endorse any of them or their beliefs in their entirety. just that i think these guys are a bit "closer" to the truth of things than the others i mentioned above. but still, i consider a lot of them to be pretty outlandish and wrong in their own ways.

anyway. it would go a long way if you simple understood ancient greek and roman philosophy. so much of (authentic) occultism is rooted in ancient philosophy. especially neoplatonism and the mystery cults like orphism, pythagoreanism, mithraism, etc. so i'd recommend you read ancient greek philosophy and mystical texts. the hermetica, the chaldean oracles, the golden ass, the golden verses, plato's symposium and phaedra, iamblichus' on the mysteries, proclus' elements of theology, aristotle's metaphysics, the greek magical papyri, etc. aggripa's three books of occult philosophy is a pretty decent (though late imo) compendium of magical/occult wisdom.

i could keep going but i hope you get the picture. like a lot of this modern pop occultism stuff is just rehashed from these texts, often with a lot of the author's own weird syncretisms and interpretations which obfuscates more than it elucidates. why not just go to the source? but like i said, if you have trouble with the older stuff just stick with some of the others i mentioned. like evola. read his "hermetic tradition" or his "introduction to magic". they are about as good as you can get for the modern stuff.

if you have any more questions feel free to send another ask or just dm me. this is just a starting point.

oh also one more thing: avoid kabbalah. one of my biggest issues with modern pop occultism is how enmeshed it is with kabbalah. but kabbalah is itself a pretty late development and it also suffers from what the other modern pop occultists suffer from in the sense that it is basically an inferior reinterpretation of ancient greek/roman philosophy/theology. i think the "spiritual information war" (in the west) roughly started with the emergence of kabbalah.

at least it in my opinion.

[hermitslibrary]

mnemosyne in oral literature

"the importance of memory in pythagoreanism is to be connected with the orphic religious background of its thought. the orphics... pre- served the secrets and doctrines of the sect orally. the cardinal doctrine of orphism and pythagoreanism, the transmigration of souls, was intimately bound up with memory which was the link between this world and the life after death...

on the thin gold plates which were discovered at thurii were found orphic verses which though of late date refer back to the fifth century or earlier. (cites: w.c.k. guthrie, orpheus and greek Rrligion.) In these verses we get a picture of the halls of hades wherein is a divine fountain of memory from which any one may drink who says he is the child of heaven and earth. (cites: kern, orphicorium fragmenta) In the oracle of trophonius in lebadeia, (cites: pausinias) mnemosyne was the name of one of the two springs in the cavern of trophonius, the other being called lethe. the symbolic significance of the fountain of lethe of which one drank in order to forget all other matters, and the fountain of mnemosyne of which one drank in order to remember what was revealed by the oracle, shows the extent to which the oral tradition with its stress on memory survived not only in philosophy but in religion as well.

oral literature persisted in both pythagoreanism and orphism, and in their doctrines memory was enshrined as a goddess of great importance. the emphasis on the spoken word and the vitality of memory in these systems show that there is no distinct break in the fortleben of oral literature in greece. the oral tradition though overshadowed by written literature in the sixth and fifth centuries continues to be a vital force in orphism and pythagoreanism."

from: mnemosyne in oral literature by james a. notopoulos

all hail mnemosyne, the creative and the retentive primal force

[traeuthaeou]

IKKI KITA COMPLEX

A Profession Diagnosis of A State of Mind and Being ! This state is very serious state of harmful self inflicted injury upon that of others with reason and purpose and well it comes in forms. Hostility Anger Mania noted association in active identification of the Ikki Kita Complex. Ikki Kita was a Japanese author, intellectual and political philosopher who was active in early Shōwa period Japan. Organization founded: Yūzonsha The Yūzonsha (猶存社, Society of Those Who Yet Remain) was a radical Japanese nationalist pan-Asianist organization founded in August 1919. The group arose from a pre-existing debate society, the Rōsōkai (Old and Young Society), which was founded in October 1918 by Mitsukawa Kametarō. With Significant dates as 1918 and One A Nine I Ai is love eight is letter H and well 1919 as to LoveLove year and to like extremely is serious in this age of century sure letter S as 1919 is SS. The Ikki Kita Complex is A Counter Targeting element to the target all alike but focus predominately upon Black and White and sure an S letter 19 signifies reason for an S more then or black or more then one white , hence A person not so much the Black and White America and Be life not black or white as people alike, sure of the color of milk or fresh snow, due to the reflection of most wavelengths of visible light; the opposite of Black,of the very darkest color owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light; the opposite of White. Spelling and Letters and Rules to spelling along with Anagrams Palindrome words like word and words and sword. Sure Kyoto or Tokyo maybe God or Dog just the same. The A letter One in Black ..... ! The E letter Five in White. The A letter One in Black and Read or not ..... ! The E letter Five in White and Write but added Wite and wager for hr by hr ! Reason for and has to be hours and more then one hour. Horus ? , Shour ? Based upon A Live and Living Active Blade and Live Steel sure Lee Street or not but Live Evil Vile Veil , Levi ? , Lab 1 4 5 ? .... Lab 3 11 ? . Lab CK ? Sure as to Central Kinetics and all operations secured. Well past words and speak or peaks and well yes to words and sword , maybe like SW or D .. , Maybe Pythagorean Numerology sure myself practice loves and modernly proper time entertainment. The Black is wrong in so many ways to seem helpful and harmless and grown aggravation progress of spoken word and or written word. I find i prefer text A lot sex of gender text , Phone to Telecommunication and letter one. Sure Phonetic maybe improper response and pronunciation. The Black has the gift of Gab The "gift of gab" refers to the ability to speak easily, confidently, and persuasively, often making people want to listen and believe you. It's essentially a natural talent for verbal communication and persuasion. And Well Many In A time line of pastology whom take up the blade and practice and preserve the practice or sword and words. sep·pu·ku !!!!!!! , Seppuku ! another term for hara-kiri Seppuku is a Japanese ritual self fleshly departing where a samurai impales & skill himself by cutting into his belly. After one had done so, a second person would cut off his head. Aimed at the non sword and words of discipline of black and white people as criminal not societies as the White Lotus or Black Dragon sure White Dragon or Black Lotus. All it takes is one male or female on the Island of such to insight the right to in act A massacre of Black Seppuku before the White for the most part as to reason why., Wyman or Woman The prestigious and sprawling Johns Hopkins University campus in Homewood is home to tree-lined paths, traditional redbrick architecture, and a landmark clock tower. The campus features the Shriver Hall Concert Series and the Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as popular Wyman Park, Wyman Park Dell, and Stony Run Trail. The surrounding area has many taverns and casual eateries popular with students. ― Google .. Is or is Not A Factor.

[charaunofficial]

the void is painfully uneventful. (at least you're not alone there.) asking questions about pre-void things feels like it's prying. (i don't want to ask questions that one might feel like one needs to dodge.) what else is left? (abstract concepts, maybe? have we asked what your thoughts are on pythagorean cups, the kind with a siphon that triggers when filled up too much?)

* Indeed it is.

* I don't believe anyone has. My opinion is that, were one to use it on me, they'd have a bit more to worry about than just the glass draining.

[13thpythagoras]

favorite ancient Greek philosopher after Pythagoras? Just curious

-@new-hampshire-real

I'm gonna have to go with Heraclitus, given that Socrates was Plato's sea lioning sock puppet and Plato was highly problematic. I actually need to learn more about Heraclitus, but he was a fave of one of my favorite modern philosophers, Nietzche, via this relevant write up:

""Nietzsche's Archetypal Philosophers: Pythagoras (the Religious Reformer), Heraclitus (the Solitary Searcher), and Socrates (the Eternal Investigator)

In the summer of 1872, Nietzsche taught a seminar under the curious and defiant title of “Pre-Platonic Philosophers with Interpretations of Selected Fragments”. The central thesis of the course was deliberately unorthodox, as it defied the traditional historiographic division between presocratic and postsocratic philosophers. Nietzsche, in contrast, believed that Socrates was the last philosopher of a tradition that ended (ironically) with Plato. This paragraph expounds the main argument of Nietzsche's lectures:

Now it remains to be explained why I am considering “pre-Platonic” philosophers as a group and not pre-Socratics. Plato is the first grand mixed character both in his philosophy and in his philosophical typology. Socratic, Pythagorean, and Heraclitean elements unite in his theory of the Ideas: it should not, without further qualification, be called an original conception. Also, as a human being he possesses the traits of a regally proud Heraclitus; of the melancholy, secretive, and legislative Pythagoras; and of the reflective dialectician Socrates. All subsequent philosophers are of this sort of mixed philosophical type. In contrast, this series of pre-Platonics presents the pure and unmixed types, in terms of philosopheme [sic] as well as of character. Socrates is the last in this series. Whoever wishes to do so may call them all “one sided.” In any case, they are genuine “discoverers.” For all those afterward, it became infinitely easier to philosophize. They [the pre-Platonics] had to find the path from myth to laws of nature, from image to concept, from religion to science. (p. 5)

By the summer of 1872, Nietzsche had already published The Birth of Tragedy (January 1872) and had therefore become a problematic figure in classical studies:

I am lecturing on the Libation Bearers to 6 students at the University, to 10 students on the pre-Platonic philosophers. It’s pathetic! Our worthy colleagues are still silent about mv writing; they don't make so much as a sound. (letter to Edwin Rhode)

This testimony from a student is very revealing:

Nietzsche was giving a sort of introduction to Platonic philosophy. He let the so-called pre-Platonic philosophers pass before my inner eve in a series of fascinating personalities. Since he also quoted them directly, he read slowly and let the deep thoughts in their statements penetrate all the more into my spirit. They moved along grandly and majestically, like a shining cloud… But one of those lofty forms detached itself with clearer profile from that dissolving flow. Here the lecturer's voice also was overcome by a gentle trembling, expressing a most intimate interest in his subject matter: Heraclitus!!! I will never forget how Nietzsche characterized him. If not that lecture, at least what he had to say about the sage of Ephesus will be found among his posthumous papers. I always feel a shudder of reverence when I think of the moving end of that lecture. Words of Heraclitus! According to Nietzsche they summed up the innermost motive of the Ionian philosopher's thought and intention (and his own?). He drew a breath in order to pronounce the sentence. It resounded then fully in the harmonious tones of the Greek original text. More tonelessly yet understandably in German. Nietzsche folded the pages of his manuscript together as he said: “I sought myself!” (p. XLI)

The young Nietzsche found a great predecessor in Heraclitus. Nevertheless, I suspect Nietzsche would later find himself in the other two. But let us first read what he meant by this “philosophical typology”:

We must designate these three as the purest paradigms: Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Socrates — the wise man as religious reformer; the wise man as proud, solitary searcher after truth; and the wise man as the eternal investigator of all things. (p. 58)

PYTHAGORAS: THE RELIGIOUS REFORMER

We detect in him the religious reformer; it is absolutely certain that he shared the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul and certain religious observances with the Orphics, [although] Aristotle and Aristoxenus know of no physical and ethical doctrines. He seeks spirituality in the more profound significance of the long worshiped chthonic gods. He teaches to conceive earthly existence as punishment for a prior transgression. According to one account, a human being is reborn eternally in ever-new bodies. Piety, practiced in secret ceremonies, to which his entire life complies by holy customs, is able to extract one from the circle of eternal Becoming. (p. 47)

HERACLITUS: THE PROUD SOLITARY SEARCHER OF TRUTH

What we have seen from his political behavior shows us every characteristic of his life: the highest form of pride, from a certainty of belief in the truth as grasped by himself alone. He brings this form, by its excessive development, into a sublime pathos by involuntary identification of himself with his truth. Concerning such human beings, it is important to understand that we are hardly able even to imagine them; in itself, all striving after knowledge of his essence is unsatisfactory, and for this reason his regal air of certainty [Überzeugheit] and magnificence is something nearly unbelievable. We observe the entirely different form of a superhuman [übermenschlich] self-glorification with Pythagoras and Heraclitus: the former certainly considered himself an incarnation of Apollo and acted with religious dignity, as Empedocles records. The self-glorification of Heraclitus contains nothing religious; he sees outside himself only error, illusion, an absence of knowledge — but no bridge leads him to his fellow man, no overpowering [übermachtig] feeling of sympathetic stirring binds them to him. We can only with difficulty imagine the feelings of loneliness that tore through him: perhaps his style makes this most obvious, since he himself [uses language that] resembles the oracular proverbs and the language of the Sibyls. (p. 55)

SOCRATES: THE ETERNAL INVESTIGATOR OF ALL THINGS

He is a self-taught ethicist; from him proceeds a moral flood, an incredible force of will [Willenskraft] directed toward an ethical reform. That is his single interest: “Whatso'er is good or evil in an house.” What is most remarkable about this moral reform, however […], is the means. The means, knowledge (ἐπιστῆμη), distinguishes him! Knowledge as the path to virtue differentiates his philosophical character: dialectic as the single path, induction (ἐπαγωγικοὶ λὀγοι) and definition (ὁρἰζεσθαι). The struggle against desire, drives, anger, and so on directs itself against a deep-lying ignorance (ἀμαθἰα). He is the first philosopher of life (Lebensphilosoph, and all schools deriving from him are first of all philosophies of life (Lebensphilosophien). A life ruled by thought! Thinking serves life, while among all previous philosophers life had served thought and knowledge: here the proper life appears as a purpose; there proper knowledge [is seen as] the highest. (p. 144-5)

I wrote this post because I suspect Nietzsche later realised that he, like Plato, had also become a “grand mix character”. (This might explain the powerful ambivalence Nietzsche felt towards the Athenian). Like Pythagoras, Nietzsche sought "spirituality in the more profound significance of the long worshiped chthonic gods" — not in vain is Zarathustra's main commandment "Remain faithful to the Earth". Like Pythagoras, Nietzsche would postulate a "circle of eternal Becoming" (yet a very different one). Nietzsche's rebellion against any form of metaphysics does contain undertones and fervors that seem "religious" (in the rhetoric of Zarathustra) and the fiery ambition of a "Reformation", his "campaign against morality". (Ecce Homo)

Like Heraclitus, Nietzsche would find that "no bridge leads him to his fellow man, no overpowering feeling of sympathetic stirring binds them to him." In other words, he would also find a great (but painful) solitude in his renunciation of pity. What Nietzsche wrote about Heraclitus would also be written about him: "We can only with difficulty imagine the feelings of loneliness that tore through him". Like Heraclitus, Nietzsche would indulge in a rhetoric that "resembles the oracular proverbs and the language of the Sibyls" in his Zarathustra. Nietzsche's prophet and his eagle would also convey "the highest form of pride, from a certainty of belief in the truth as grasped by himself alone."

Finally, like Socrates, Nietzsche's works from Human, All Too Human and Daybreak onwards would strive after a "philosophy of life" driven by "an incredible force of will directed toward an ethical reform. That is his single interest". In hindsight, Nietzsche's Pre-Platonic lectures were the programatic blueprint of an ambitious philosophical project that would occupy him for the rest of his life.""

[haggishlyhagging]

Earlier we noted how Goddess worship was both polytheistic and monotheistic. The Goddess was worshiped in many forms, but these various deities had certain commonalities—notably that the Goddess as the Mother and Giver of All was everywhere seen as the source of all nature and life. So in this respect the pre-Socratic idea of an orderly and coherent world order is far closer to the older vision of the Goddess as a supreme all-giving and all-encompassing superhuman power than to the view symbolized by the later Olympian pantheon, from which a group of quarrelsome, competitive, and generally unpredictable deities ruled the world.

The Pythagorean idea of the cosmos as a vast musical harmony (the famous "harmony of the spheres") also seems more congruent with the old religious cosmology than with the strife-torn Olympian pantheon. In the cosmology of the pre-Socratics, instead of the Goddess we now find more impersonal forces, with occasional references to an all-encompassing and presumably male divinity. But their world is still a far cry from the chaotic and purely random universe envisioned by some androcratic thinkers.

One of the principles governing the pre-Socratic view of the universe is that the world order behaves with observable regularity, “the principal changes repeating themselves in daily and yearly cycles.” This view is strikingly reminiscent of what we may call the Old Religion, in which the cycles of nature—and of woman—are recurrent themes. Thales, who according to Aristotle was the pioneer of "natural" philosophy, is reported by Aristotle to have held that water was the origin of all things. This view is again strikingly reminiscent of the earlier idea that the Goddess, and with her the earth, originally emerged from the primeval waters.

-Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future

[articlesforchristians]

Understanding Algebra I: Key Concepts and Skills

Algebra I is the math course that is typically covered in ninth grade, although some students may complete pre-algebra or geometry.  Algebra 1 students will cover topics such as: real numbers rational and irrational numbers integers variables exponents and powers scientific notation lines slopes the Pythagorean Theorem graphing using equations to solve problems. They will also gain experience…

[literaturereviewhelp]

How did Greek philosophy influence today’s culture? Why is Ancient Greek philosophy important for modern literature? Here, you’ll find answers to these and other questions. Keep reading to get some ideas and inspiration for your essay! Table of Contents Introduction Ancient Greek philosophy has arguably played the greatest role in shaping modern thought, particularly Western culture. It emerged in the 6th century BC and was largely explored in Ancient Greece and the rest of the Roman Empire. It tackled several areas, including ethics, politics, rhetoric, mathematics, metaphysics, logic, astronomy, and biology. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are the most influential classical philosophers with the most significant impact on modern thought. Their contributions to advancing art, politics, and science were immense. They pioneered the art of exploring nature rationally and developing theories explaining the universe’s existence. Greek philosophers combined ideas from science, philosophy, art, and politics to form a holistic worldview that moved them away from the then-popular mythological perspective. The application of logic, reason, and inquiry is why ancient Greek philosophy (pre-Socratic, Classical Greek, and Hellenistic philosophy) has shaped modern thought, both in the East and West. Contribution of Ancient Greek Philosophy on Modern Thought There is undeniable evidence that parallels exist between ancient Greek philosophy and modern thought in several fields. However, the Greeks adopted a holistic view of the world, which was developed through the combination of various disciplines, including science, religion, philosophy, and art (Adamson 34). This worldview is different today, even though ancient philosophers continue to influence modern thought in immense ways. For example, deductive science originated from Thales’ propositions about right angles (Adamson 54). The philosopher argued that the inscription of a triangle in a semicircle formed a right angle. This concept might seem simple and overrated. However, it is used in contemporary society by mathematicians in the field of geometry (Rooney 36). Moreover, deductive reasoning is widely applied as a tool for generating propositions. The idea that all forms of a substance can be broken down into constituent elements was more deeply explored during the Thales era than in any other period. Ancient Greek Philosophy Impact on Education The influence of Aristotle’s work can be seen in various areas of modern thought. The thinker formulated the concept of true knowledge acquisition. In that regard, he taught that it is only when a thoughtful soul disregards world events that it acquires true understanding (Adamson 65). He argued that the information received through the senses is usually polluted and confusing to people. He believed that any form of education aims to attain a specific human ideal. Aristotle argued that education is the best way for human beings to achieve their fundamental concerns and develop themselves wholly (Heinaman 52). These ideas are applied in today’s education system, where learning is aimed at developing character, helping students discover who they are, and unraveling the possibilities of human potential. The philosopher also taught that only education can enable people to become truly human despite possessing natural abilities (Adamson 72). Aristotle’s education theory is widely used in many countries as the foundation for educational policies and practice. Pythagoras popularized the Pythagorean Theorem, still widely used today in mathematics. Many historians argue that it is the originator of the discipline of mathematics in the West (Rooney 43). It is taught as a foundational concept in mathematics in schools worldwide. In addition, the theory has been utilized by many researchers in the formulation of other hypotheses that aid in understanding and solving various challenges in the modern world. Aristotle founded a school in 385 B.C.E, heralding the creation of higher learning institutions. Several fundamental concepts that Greek philosophers developed are taught in today’s educational institutions. Examples include materialism, rationalism, metaphysics, idealism, empiricism, and ethics (Rooney 46). These ideologies continue to influence modern thought in the social and political fields. The metaphysical question regarding the origin of the universe and the existence of God had its roots in ancient Greek philosophy (Heinaman 78). However, modern philosophers and thinkers continue to grapple with it in search of an answer. Epistemological queries of good and evil, right and wrong, as well as true and false, were formulated by Greek philosophers in an attempt to understand the world (Adamson 58). These concepts greatly influence modern thought, particularly in the fields of religion, politics, and sociology. They are incorporated into the curricula of many secondary and tertiary institutions to help students comprehend and resolve complex issues. The concept of atoms was formulated by Democritus of Abdera and Leucippus of Miletus, who postulated that the soul was made up of spherical atoms that could move (Rooney 57). They proposed that all matter comprises tiny particles that are inseparable. This idea formed the basis for most of today’s research and advancements in atomic science. The two philosophers are regarded as the fathers of the modern atomic theory. Other philosophers believed atoms were tiny particles that could not be seen or destroyed and were entirely solid (Rooney 58). They existed in various shapes and sizes and lacked an internal structure. These ideas were corrected and developed further by scientists and researchers in the modern world. However, Greek philosophers were a source of life-changing ideas and theories that continue to influence several fields in present-day society. Socrates is credited for making philosophy a key discipline people use to define ethics and question societal morality. His philosophy was primarily founded on the art of asking questions. Human thoughts and opinions were crucial to his teachings. His method of inquiry involved asking a series of questions that led to unearthing people’s beliefs and values (Rooney 59). Socrates’ most vivid influence on modern thought can be seen in teaching.   Instructors widely use the Socratic Method to help students arrive at conclusions by themselves without telling directly the message that is being conveyed (Adamson 87). This teaching method allows individuals to explore and think on their own. This method fosters greater understanding and encourages necessary logical thought, especially in research. Ancient Greek Philosophy Impact on Religion Historians maintain that Greek philosophy was not a direct source of spiritual beliefs in the development of Christianity. However, its influence is evident from the systems used in Christian teaching and discussion, as well as the understanding of biblical truth. For instance, early Christians such as Paul and John used certain philosophical methods to teach their faith. Christian theology is better understood by the application of philosophical methods that have their origin in ancient Greece. The influence of Greek philosophy on modern thought is widely observed in religion. The contemporary understanding, interpretation, and meaning of the human soul would have been impossible without the insights developed by Greek philosophers (Gibson 43). Thales of Miletus was the foremost thinker to propose the concept of the human soul, which was later further developed by Plato. Plato believed that the human soul had three parts: the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive (Gibson 48). He argued that the appetitive part was why people had desires they wished to fulfill (Heinaman 86). These arguments had several weaknesses. However, the attempts made by ancient philosophers to understand the universe and explain its phenomena facilitated the proposition of better concepts. Aristotle argued that the soul was the most critical part of a human being because of its superiority to the body (Gibson 51). This argument shaped the ideologies of numerous contemporary Christian theologians who believe that the soul is an individual’s most important part. The development of Christianity was dominated by the incorporation of ideologies from Stoicism and Platonism into its ethics and theology. The fusion of Platonic and Aristotelian teachings with Christianity led to the birth of beliefs such as omnipotence, omniscience, and benevolence of God, which are the foundations of modern religion (Gibson 60). The religious view of God as an Infinite being has its roots in the Platonic Theory of Forms. This theory postulated that every physical thing in the world was a shadow of a perfect form, which later became theorized as God (Gibson 63). The modern concept of God was borrowed from Hellenic Christians who had adopted it from ancient Greek philosophy that attributed infinite qualities such as power, knowledge, goodness, and love to God (Rooney 98). His infinite nature meant that He was changeless and immutable. Modern religion is founded on the belief that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient and that He is a perfect and infinite being (Gibson 65). Tenets of Greek philosophy led to the development of the various creeds and theologies that churches teach in the modern Christian world. Ancient Greek Philosophy Influence on Politics The history of political philosophy dates back to the Plato era. The Greeks’ political structure involved city-states that implemented various forms of political organization that Plato classified as monarchy, oligarchy, democracy, tyranny, and timocracy (Rooney 101). The development of democratic states in modern-day society can be attributed to the insights of ancient thinkers. Political ideologies used today can be found in the works of Plato (Republic) and Aristotle (Politics and Nicomachean Ethics). Ancient Greek philosophers deeply explored the concepts of politics, justice, and equality. Concepts from Plato’s three dialogues, namely, the Republic, the Laws, and The Statesman, are used to clarify political concepts in modern-day politics. Issues such as justice, order, proper governance, and equality dominate discussions in both social and political contexts in the same way they did in ancient Greece (Rooney 112). Plato argued that a prosperous society is distinguished by three main aspects: courage, justice, moderation, and wisdom. Plato suggested that the soul must refrain from degrading vices such as lust and greed for an individual’s leadership to be effective (Rooney 75). Corruption is rampant because of people’s involvement in corruption, founded on greed for power and wealth. Leaders are admonished to shun corruption because it degrades societies and compromises effective leadership and development. It is essential to propagate fairness to serve justice for all. Freedom, justice, and equity are three main ideas that inform political thought in today’s society (Rooney 85). Civilizations throughout the world aim to create governments and communities that foster these values. Modern liberal democracies are founded on fundamental principles, including freedom, the rule of law, and equality. Today’s Western democracy resembles the governance system proposed by Plato, whose success depends on promoting virtue. The thinker believed that acquiring a specific body of knowledge would enable societies to deal with rampant issues such as corruption, immorality, and factionalism. Plato’s concepts used in political affairs today include fairness, the mixed constitution, practical wisdom necessary for good leadership, the rule of law, and the promotion of fairness and justice. Conclusion A thorough study of modern thought shows that ancient Greek philosophy played a crucial role in its development, both in people’s lifestyles and the advancement of specific disciplines. Ancient philosophers combined knowledge in arts, science, ethics, and logic to explain the universe’s origin and its various phenomena. Several modern civilizations owe their progress to ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, Thales, and Aristotle. Ancient philosophical concepts are used in education, politics, sociology, and religion. A departure from mythological beliefs to reason and inquiry characterized the development of philosophy in ancient Greece. Thinkers like Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato played a monumental role in shaping modern thought. The modern political theory and the creation of institutions of higher learning are attributed to the works of Aristotle. Plato advocated for creating a good political society ruled by wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. These ideals are the fundamental principles that guide the prosperity of governments, nations, communities, and societies. Read the full article