The Sphinx and the Chimaera by Michael Aquino

In this episode, we descend from the marble halls of the Academy into the shadowy chambers of the soul, where philosophy is no longer the careful dissection of logic but the fierce confrontation with the limits of reason itself. We explore how Plato—the initiate of Egyptian mysteries, the student of Pythagoras, the most mystical thinker of the ancient world—constructed a philosophical system that was never meant to be understood by logic alone, but by the soul's recollection of eternal truths glimpsed before birth.From the deconstruction of The Sophist as a political hit job disguised as philosophy to the revelation of the Meno as the true key to understanding Plato, from the logical collapse of The Statesman to the devastating critique of Plato's "absolute standards," from the mystical teachings of the Pythagoreans to the Egyptian priesthoods that secretly shaped them both—we trace the monumental, deeply contested, and astonishingly influential legacy of Platonic thought and ask: In a world that still seeks certainty, still fears the Sophist's relativism, and still yearns for the eternal, do we have the courage to admit that reason alone cannot save us, or will we retreat into the comfortable illusion that logic can solve everything?🎧 ABOUT THE RUBY TABLETThe Ruby Tablet Podcast is a philosophical and spiritual journey through the essays of the Temple of Set, exploring the great traditions of human thought—from ancient Egypt to the present day. Each episode is a deep dive into the ideas that help shape the Self and fan the Black Flame.🔗 SOURCES & READING LIST:Essay #184.RI.1: The Sphinx and the ChimaeraAuthor: Michael A. Aquino V° Date of Working: May 30, X First Distribution: November 6, X Transcribed: August 31, XXIV (Robert Menschel, IV°) HTML Conversion: September 10, 1998 CE Subject: Platonic Philosophy Reading List: 12C📚 RECOMMENDED READING:Plato, The Collected Dialogues of Plato (Hamilton & Cairns, Ed., Princeton University Press, 1961)Plato, The Sophist Plato, The Statesman Plato, The Meno Plato, The Republic Plato, The TimaeusThomas Stanley, The History of Philosophy (1687, especially Part IX on the Pythagoreans)G.J. Whitrow, The Nature of TimeBertrand Russell, A History of Western PhilosophyAlban D. Winspear, The Genesis of Plato's ThoughtHeinrich Brugsch-Bey, Egypt Under the PharaohsSir E.A. Wallis Budge, Egyptian LanguageLeonard Cottrell, Life Under the PharaohsLionel Casson, Ancient EgyptPeter Tompkins, Secrets of the Great PyramidHenry Frankfort, Ancient Egyptian ReligionAlexandre Piankoff (Ed.), The Tomb of Ramesses VIPaul Christian, Histoire de la Magie, du Monde Surnaturel et de la Fatalité à travers les Temps et les PeuplesProclus, Commentary on PlatoSt. Jerome, Prologus Galeatus to the Bible (1590 edition)🏷️ HASHTAGS#Plato #Philosophy #Sophist #Statesman #Meno #TheoryOfForms #Recollection #Pythagoras #EgyptianMysteries #Maat #Sphinx #Chimaera #Gryphon #AncientPhilosophy #GreekPhilosophy #EgyptianWisdom #Mysticism #Rationalism #Relativity #Einstein #Time #Immortality #Soul #Dialectic #Sophistry #Academy #Athens #Khem #TempleOfSet #LeftHandPath #TheRubyTablet #PhilosophyPodcast #WisdomTraditions #ClassicalPhilosophy #Initiation #MysteryTraditions #Set #Xeper #AncientWisdom #PlatonicPhilosophy #Forms #EternalTruths #RecollectionOfKnowledge #CrossExamination #Dialectics