230 / You Are Not
change for the better any vice or bad habit. Plato, a student of Socrates, followed this up with his concept of forms. Forms were prototypes, which, simply stated, were the “real” of which this world was merely an imitation or copy. Hence, for Plato, focusing on these forms and becoming them (even after death) was IT. Plato, and later his student Aristotle, furthered this concept by looking for “virtues” or states of consciousness as midpoints between extremes, which he called the Golden Mean or Middle Path. Very simply stated,the “state between two extremes.” Several famous ones are listed on the following page (the seven deadly sins, and their opposites), from which could arise, a Golden Mean—a “virtue,” which was always was the “right” action, thought, behavior, feeling, etc., and was permanently IT. In other words, a standard, a reference point, by which actions could be both measured against and strived for. In this way, for Aristotle, reaching for and developing midpoints that represent qualities or states of consciousness, or virtues that are permanent and “changeless,” act as a reference point for changing vices (which were labeled as bad) into virtues (these ideal, changeless, reference point states). For example, overcoming passion with compassion, hate with love etc.1 Unfortunately, these reference points or standard states then got fused with, and became, not only a determinant of behavior and spirituality, but also conceptual references point that the “I” could use to make judgments, measurements, inferences about, and comparisons with, to determine what should be done, experienced, or “the space you should come from” in life. Now, these “idealistic” states, most people would agree, are kind of a wonderful thing to go for. However, will it help you discover who you are? NO. Why? Because they are idealistic 1
Here we are focusing on “Western” Philosophical traps.