All Our Yesterdays
"To the last
syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays. . ." (Macbeth V.v.)
A series of brief articles
dealing with Human Pre-existence
by Arthur & Rosalind Eedle.
25. Plato's writings (1)
The last story in Plato's Republic, which the
author relates to his friend Glaucon,
concerns a certain hero from the wars, one Er, son
of Armenius, a Pamphylian by birth. He was slain in battle,
and ten days afterwards, when the bodies of the dead were taken up already in a
state of corruption, his body was found unaffected by decay, and carried away
home to be buried. On the twelfth day as he was lying on the funeral pile, he
returned to life and told them what he had seen in the other world. His account
was lengthy, and cannot all be retold here, but what concerns us most is what
he saw happening to the spirits (or souls) of men BEFORE
THEY CAME TO EARTH.
A
certain angelic figure by the name of Lachesis, daughter of Necessity, said to them,
"Your genius will not be
allotted to you, but you will choose your genius, and let him who draws the
first lot have the first choice, and the life which he chooses shall be his
destiny. Virtue is free, and as a man honours or dishonours her he will have
more or less of her; the responsibility is with the chooser."
The
souls were encouraged to take great care how they chose their destinies, and
were shown a goodly number of lives as examples of what might happen. All
qualities were shown, whether wealth or poverty, disease or health, and so on,
but the goal of virtue was always emphasised. Finally they were brought to
the River of
Forgetfulness, where they were obliged to drink, and as each one
drank, so they became unmindful of their past and were
"driven upwards in all manner of ways to their birth, like shooting
stars."
It was
after this that Er awoke and found himself on the funeral pyre. Plato
concludes,
"Wherefore my counsel is, that
we hold fast ever to the heavenly way and follow after justice and virtue
always, considering that the soul is immortal and able to endure every sort of
good and every sort of evil. Thus shall we live dear to one another and to the
gods, both while remaining here and when we receive our reward. And it shall be
well with us both in this life and in the pilgrimage of a thousand years which
we have been describing."
PLATO. 427 -
347 B.C. His original name was ARISTOCLES. He was surnamed PLATO because of his
broad shoulders. Greek philosopher, and disciple of SOCRATES, and teacher
of ARISTOTLE. He studied
under Socrates until his master's trial, conviction, and death in 399 B.C.
After much travelling, he returned to
SOCRATES. 470
- 399 B.C. Greek philospher, born in