Primordial Wisdom Form---The Two Discourses of Greek Theology

Author: Li Yongyin
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Publication Date: 1999-12-01
Features: Under such ideological trends, Greek rational theology surpassed mythological theology, opening up a new direction for Greek theology. The evolution of Greek rational theology, viewed from a historical perspective, reveals four revolutionary transformations: (1) a shift from mythological belief to natural questions. (2) a shift from natural questions to existential questions. (3) a shift from existential questions to moral questions. (4) a shift from moral questions to the question of the Creator. These four revolutionary transformations were not linear developments but involved oscillations and reversals. However, overall, there was a historical trend from negative theology to constructive theology. Greek thinkers attempted to negate mythological theology but were always faced with the issue of theological reconstruction. Declaring atheism was a significant progress, but at the time, this idea was still considered an extreme concept, difficult to accept. Negating theology and declaring atheism could never resolve the problems of the immortality of the soul and moral restraint. Therefore, in the realm of the soul and morality, Greek thinkers were consistently confronted with a theological dilemma. Although Plato and Aristotle foresaw the question of the Creator, establishing a new belief system was still very difficult. At this time, the rise of Christianity undoubtedly provided a way out for Greek theology. Initially, rational theology centered on the exploration of the primordial elements of nature, focusing on the fundamental nature of the natural world, replacing mythological concepts with natural ones. They strove to break free from the discourse of mythological theology, using scientific concepts to explain nature, emphasizing empirical observation, and valuing human experiential knowledge. During this period, the rational theological ideas of the Milesian school laid the foundation for Greek rational theology. We can regard the theological views of early Greek philosophers as a form of natural theology. Here, we consider natural theology as a type of rational theology. Natural theology is centered on natural questions but is fundamentally a naive cosmology. Thales of Miletus believed that the primordial element of all things was water, while Anaximenes believed it was air. Later, Heraclitus believed that the primordial element was fire, and Pythagoras believed that the number was the primordial element. This naive natural concept deconstructed mythological theology from a scientific empirical perspective. During this period, Greek rational theology could not entirely avoid the influence of mythological discourse. Although the gods they understood were different from the gods in mythology, they believed that the god was water, the god was fire, and the god was air, which inevitably led to some unavoidable misunderstandings. Therefore, while rational theology, centered on natural inquiry, pioneered the critique of Greek mythological theology, it lacked force. As a result, in their natural explorations, they still used the names of the gods from mythological theology. Later, although Pythagoras made significant contributions to science, he was not radical in theology. He oscillated between science and theology, even using science to accommodate theology and theology to dominate science. The depth of Heraclitus's thought is astonishing. He boldly broke free from the constraints of mythology, grasped the essence of life with a perceptive gaze, and made a major push forward in theology. The theological exploration of the Eleatic school holds a very special significance. The Eleatic Xenophanes and Parmenides were among the earliest to explore theological questions from the perspective of existence. This existentialist exploration was a key development in the evolution of Greek rational theology. Starting from the concept of existence, Xenophanes thoroughly critiqued mythological theology and proposed new theological concepts. In Xenophanes's view, rational gods could not be the gods of mythology. The true god could not possess human weaknesses and must have superhuman qualities. Existence is one, and the god is one. Parmenides's theory of existence had great significance for the construction of Greek rational theology. Protagoras of the Sophist school pointed out that neither could we sense the gods nor know what they are, and we express doubt about the concept of the gods. Socrates, starting from this point, linked the soul and moral questions, opening up a new path for Greek theological inquiry. Socrates used anthropomorphic methods, borrowing metaphors from mythology, claiming to be a "fly" sent by the gods to Greece. This god was not in nature, nor was it outside of humans; it was the highest rationality that humans adhered to. This rational god was like the highest law, commanding and influencing human free will, ordering people to pursue the highest good. This highest rationality, in Socrates's view, was the god. Socrates did not explore how this highest rationality was established but believed that humans must accept it. This highest rationality was set by humans and was what humans should set. It was not a god created by ordinary people but one created by philosophers through rational thinking. It was not a god set by imagination but one set through logical reasoning. The purpose of this rational god was the highest good. Plato inherited the tradition of Socrates, created many mythological stories, and further demonstrated that the god is the embodiment of the ideal of the highest good. The rational theological problem left unresolved in Socrates's philosophy was deeply explained in Plato's theory of Forms. Plato skillfully transitioned from the teleology of the Forms to the teleology of the god. Plato's rational theological view had inherent contradictions. Starting from the perspective of the highest good, he believed that the highest good was the god. However, from the perspective of creation, the supreme god was not good, nor was it rational but Demiurge. This "Demiurge" was a material entity or a spiritual entity? Plato did not provide an in-depth explanation. Plato believed that the Demiurge created the world. Plato's theological teleology and creation system had certain contradictions. To overcome this contradiction, Aristotle approached theological questions from the concept of motion. He believed that the supreme god must be unmoved. This unmoved mover also possessed the property of motion. As the mover, it itself was unmoved and at rest but could move all things. Aristotle's mover, as a form of theology, had quite ambiguous connotations and did not provide a clear understanding of the god. Did the mover refer to the god? Was it a material god or a spiritual god? There was much ambiguity in this. This ambiguity was essentially related to Aristotle's intentional avoidance of theology. He attempted to reveal the mysteries of cosmic motion from nature itself. Therefore, the several revolutionary turns experienced by Greek rational theology marked the difficult reflections of Greek philosophers on rational theology after their critique of mythology. Greek rational theology was not concerned with the genealogy of the gods but with theological teleology. Greek rational theology was not concerned with the naming of gods but with their definition and understanding. Understanding the god was one of the goals of Greek rational theological exploration. Greek rational theology was a theme derived from the Greek thinkers' exploration of natural and social ethical issues. Compared to the achievements of natural philosophers in natural and social issues, rational theology often held a secondary position. They were not exploring natural and social issues under the dominance of rational theology but rather encountered rational theological issues while conducting natural and social explorations. Therefore, when explaining rational theological issues, scientific and ethical issues were often involved. The exploration of ethical issues by Greek rational theology had great significance. Emphasizing ethical issues was a high level of concern for human beings. In mythological theology, humans were the subjects of the gods, while in an ethical sense, humans were those who cared about the immortality of the soul, the cycle of life, and the pursuit of the highest good. From the perspective of theologians, humans should strive to overcome their own sins and follow the laws of the highest good. Thus, the question of whether virtue is teachable became an important issue. Socrates's ethical view foreshadowed that theological exploration must be combined with ethical issues. Socrates's ethical view was not only a religious ethics but also a practical ethics. In Socrates, there was a similarity between the two. Theological teleology was essentially a pursuit of moral ethics and the highest good. This rational theological view was fundamentally opposed to mythological theological views. In Greek tragedies, the conflict between rational theology and mythological theology was quite evident. The moral free will and the unchangeable fate created a violent conflict, leading to the generation of tragedy. In tragedies, it was not the victory of reason but the victory of fate. People seemed to foresee the inevitable dilemma of reason. Therefore, even when rational theology triumphed, some artists still advocated the revival of mythology. Nietzsche's fierce critique of Socrates was essentially a critique of the supremacy of reason. In Nietzsche's view, humans could not transcend fate and divine will; they could not completely dominate themselves with reason. In Nietzsche's view, dominating oneself with reason was not an transcendence of the self but a damage to the self. The soul concept explored by Greek theological poets was mainly the soul of heroes. In the Iliad, this soul concept is reflected. For ancient Greeks, dreams had a very close relationship with the soul. The world of gods was actually an image similar to a dream. For example, when Achilles lay by the turbulent sea, a dream that alleviated his soul's worries came to him, and the soul of his friend Patroclus immediately appeared before him. In this state of soul perception through dreams, the mouth, beautiful eyes, familiar voice, and even the clothes he usually wore all formed vivid dream scenes. Out of deep longing for his friend, this dream state brought infinite joy to Achilles. Achilles reached out his loving hands to his friend, but failed to grasp them, and his soul vanished like air into the underworld. The hero awoke at this moment. The souls that appeared in the poetry of theological poets were not meant to explain the facts of soul belief but to express deep longing. The description of this dream state by theological poets also reflected their soul concept: that the soul could perceive through dreams. For theological poets, they believed in the existence of the soul. Their contemplation of the soul was mainly not the contemplation of the living soul but the contemplation of the deceased. That is, after death, would a person's soul still appear? How would it appear? They were primarily concerned with the deceased. The living person's exploration of the origin of the soul was not through a physical journey to the underworld but through the meeting, dialogue, and exchange of souls. This belief in the deceased gave the epic poets a special significance in remembering fallen heroes or deceased heroes. In this expression, the poet could imagine the structural schema of the underworld, imagine its terror and romance. The exploration of the deceased by Greek theological poets was generally imbued with a romantic tone. Theological poets could not answer what the soul was. In their experience, the image of the deceased was similar to the experiential schema of dreams. Therefore, in the end, the existence or non-existence of the soul was essentially a judgmental way for living humans to assess their various experiences. The living person achieved a psychological explanation through soul experience. In the representation of theological poets, there were few instances of the deceased visiting the living, but rather the living visiting the deceased, or the image of the deceased appearing in the dreams of the living. The world of the deceased could only be presented through the dream psychology of the living, especially through the deceased revealing the truth, discussing the world of the deceased, pleading for grievances, and asking the living to fulfill a wish or keep a promise. This method of soul communication frequently appeared in Western poetry and drama, such as Hamlet and Faust. This mode of soul communication gave soul experience a special life significance. Theological poets were not trying to let us understand the deceased but to express profound life ethics through the dialogue and exchange between humans and the deceased. Nietzsche believed that, in the Dionysian Greek view, the role of the Dionysian impulse was also "Titanic" and "wild." At the same time, he could not help but admit that he had an inherent blood relationship with the heroic Titans who had been overthrown. He even felt that his entire existence and all his beauty and moderation were based on some hidden suffering and knowledge, and the Dionysian impulse revealed this foundation to him. "Look, the Dionysian cannot exist without the Dionysian!" At the same time, Nietzsche also saw: "Dionysus, this original stage hero and center of illusion, according to the above views and traditions, was not really present in the earliest period of tragedy but was only imagined to be present. Tragedy was originally only a chorus, not a drama. It was only later that this deity was attempted to be made manifest as a real person, so that this illusion and its brilliant halo could be seen with the naked eye." Nietzsche discussed the Dionysian spirit in conjunction with tragedy, but in fact, the true essence of the Dionysian spirit was not fully revealed. In subsequent thought, he regarded the Dionysian spirit as the very essence of his life philosophy. In The Twilight of the Idols, he wrote: "I am a person, to seriously take up the wonderful phenomenon named Dionysus in order to understand the ancient, still abundant, and even overflowing life instincts, it can only be said to be derived from the excess of power."