To move away from emotions so that they do not have power over us – such a path to finding happiness and peace of mind offers Buddhism. But few people know that similar ideas were formulated in Western culture – by the great ancient Greek philosopher Plato of Athens.
Plato of Athens (427–347 BC), ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates, one of the founders of the idealistic trend in world philosophy. A significant part of his works is written in the form of dialogues, which are devoted, for example, to the immortality of the soul (“Phaedo”), justice (“The State”), the theory of ideas (“Phaedrus”), love (“Feast”) and many other topics.
The Buddha taught that the basis of our whole life is attachment to the pleasant (desire) and the rejection of the unpleasant (unwilling). When we do not get what we like and cannot get rid of what causes discomfort, we begin to get angry, offended, annoyed … And the actions that these emotional reactions push us to give rise to even greater suffering both in ourselves and and around us. There is only one way to break out of this vicious circle: to separate yourself from your emotions. Realize that everything that happens to us in itself is neither good nor bad. And that we ourselves are free to interpret events and actions as joyful or sad.
But few people know that similar ideas were also formulated in Western culture, by the great ancient Greek philosopher Plato of Athens. It is curious that not only negative, but also positive emotions (stormy delight or joy), according to Plato, bind our soul to the body (or to the “wheel of life”, as the Buddhists would say). Just like sadness or anger, a sharp, addictive joy throws us off balance, makes it hard to think, provokes rash actions, and ultimately causes suffering.
“The soul of a true philosopher flees from joys, desires, sorrows and fears, as far as it can, realizing that if anyone is very happy, or sad, or frightened, or seized with strong desire, he suffers not only ordinary evil, which he could to expect – for example, falls ill or squanders, indulging his passions – but the greatest, the most extreme of all evils, and does not even realize this.
What is this evil, Socrates? Kebet asked.
– And here’s what: there is no person whose soul, experiencing great joy or great sadness, would not consider what caused her such a state to be extremely clear and extremely genuine, although this is not so. I think you will agree with me that this primarily applies to visible things.
– I readily agree.
– And would you agree that it is in this state that the body binds the soul especially tightly?
– That is, as?
– And here’s how: any joy or sadness has, as it were, a nail with which it nails the soul to the body, pierces it and makes it as if bodily, forcing it to accept everything that the body says as truth. And sharing the ideas and tastes of the body, the soul, it seems to me, inevitably adopts its rules and habits, and it will never again come to Hades clean – it always departs, burdened with the body, and therefore soon again falls into another body and, like a sown grain, sprouts. Thus she loses her share in communion with the divine, pure and uniform.
“True, Socrates, absolutely true,” said Cebet.
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Fragment from the dialogue “Phaedo” (see Plato “Dialogues”, ABC Classics, 2011).