Madness: a form of love

"One of the main aims of philosophy - if not THE aim -, as I understand it, is to correctly and adequately grasp one's own identity, inter-relationship and ultimately one's best policy/ 'God-given mission' in relation towards the concentrically outward stacked domains of self, family, friends and locale, country, planet, and Universe, with an emphasize on and understanding that it is the first and the penultimate categories of this series which are most definitive and most important. It is only by doing this that one comes into one's full humanity, since it is only by this way one realizes one's destiny as a valuable, meaningful and conscious agent of that great brotherhood. Though this, as I say, is the aim, very, very few fully attain it. Fortunately, there is a shorter and easier interim method. Though very few of us can consciously grasp the Whole in all its infinite complexity, we each have an instinctive emotional attitude towards it, together ...

Why Study Philosophy? There are many reasons to study philosophy, from moral, to practical, to hedonistic/Epicurean (the philosophy of pleasure associated with 3rd century B.C. garden philosopher, Epicurus), to scientific, to even religious. Once we recognize that we don't know the ultimate answers to the most ultimate questions about how we should live, and the nature of the Divine and reality in general, the remaining desire to live a morally good life, a pious life, a happy life, of even simply an honest life, seems to compel us, as the great philosopher, Socrates, (who said 'All I know is I know nothing') famously maintained, to devote ourselves to this quest. In fact, as Plato famously argued, our ordinary, pre-philosophic beliefs are similar to living in a dark cave never having once glimpsed the light; we simply grow up acquiring beliefs much like an uncleaned shelf acquires dust over the years, never inquiring into the their ultimate basis. We are like a tree al...

Globalist puppet supreme,  Coldly, rationally, calculatingly steering us towards ruin And disaster, for the sake of narrow, immediate gain.  Waging phony wars to keep up the charade, It must be so funny being in his shoes.  Such charming and utter cynicism.  They themselves are the biggest, the grandest of illusions, And yet they live with none. It sure beats some creepy circus show, These world-historical mannequins.  Perfect nihilists. World rotating around his empty core. What energy and gusto they have to carry on the act. That's true heroism. No wonder they are not unpartial to a round of applause.  One genuine, naive social activist, a modern day  Martin Luther King came before the secret court: 'The Patriot Act' had him on terrorist conspiracy: "Gee, what do you expect, man?" thinks Barack.  "Hey, I was raised with nothin'." "Am I my brother's keeper?" "I came from dirt, man."  "Don't expect me to tidy up after...

This  essay is a rendition, mostly word for word, of Leo Strauss' (a Jewish emigre American scholar-philosopher influenced by Nietzsche) own writings on the subject. It is primarily intended to make his thought, which I believe to be largely true and important, available to a new or wider audience; occasionally though, I have made additions or alterations  at certain points in order to offer some of my own reflections, which appear in bold. PLATO 427-347 B. C. Thirty-five dialogues and thirteen letters have come down to us as Platonic writings, not all of which are now regarded as genuine. Some scholars go so far as to doubt that any of the letters is genuine. It seems then Plato never speaks to us in his own name, for in his dialogues only his characters pseak. Why Plato proceeded in this manner is not easy to say. Perhaps he doubted there can be a philosophic teaching proper, and, too, thought like his master Socrates that philosophy is in the last analysis knowl...