Channeling the Greats

My name is Aristotle. I was born in 384 BC in the mountains of Macedonia. My father was surgeon to King Amyntas whenever he came to hunt in our mountains. When my father died in an avalanche of stones, I was taken to the home of a relative, Proxenus. I became a good friend of the King's son, Philip, and his father treated us as equals.

In time, the king asked me to return to the capital and be a companion to his son. I declined because I wanted to go to Athens and study with the great teacher, Plato.

King Amyntas was kind and generous. When I was 17 he agreed to send me to Athens where I studied with the great master for twenty years. I found Plato to be elderly,
over sixty but like Socrates, his own teacher, he looked younger than his years.

It was a wonderful place of learning. We spent much of our time in the garden where we read or talked and listened to lectures by our Master. We became friends.
Mostly he thought of me as a son, which he did not have.

I became a teacher at the Garden School, and over the years became quite successful. I owned a large library and I studied natural history, plants, animals, nature in
general, and I was most interested in economics.

When my beloved teacher died, I encountered great resistance of the people because I was considered a foreigner. I moved away, took a wife and in time was
summoned by King Philip to come to Macedonia and be a teacher to his thirteen year old son, Alexander.

At that time, I was forty two, filled with health and vitality. I often rode into the desert and slept under the stars. I loved animals and had what you today would call a zoo. Alexander and I trained many animals and we kept a menagerie of all kinds of species. We
studied horses and once we made a skeleton of the bones. We were laughed at by people who believed we were trying to make a living animal.

Alexander became a great military leader in his time. He fought to defend Greece from the Persians. He went on to conquer many lands and we corresponded until his
death. When that happened, I was again assailed because I was a foreigner. I retreated to my county home where I lived and taught until I died at the age of 62.

I believe that I am best known as a student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander. I do not feel that my wisdom was greater than another, or that I excelled at any study. I have always believed that people should liven in gentleness, moderation, and helpfulness. We are all part of the nature of life and should live accordingly. Trust yourself, know that wisdom lies within you, and be guided by your intuition.

Happiness itself is sufficient excuse. Beautiful things are right and true; so beautiful actions are those pleasing to the gods. Wise men have an inward sense of what
is beautiful and the highest wisdom is to trust this intuition and be guided by it. The answer to the last appeal of what is right lies within a man's own breast. Trust thyself.

"What say you Socrates of these scribblings of Aristotle?"

"I think his modesty is exceeded only by his greatness. Did he not discern that all truth is relative? His contention was that things are perceived according to the view. You taught him well, Plato."

"I well recall when he arrived at the Academy. His zeal for learning esoteric principles was over shadowed by his desire to understand physical anatomy. He was a
man of science, imbued with the need to understand the physical as well as mental."

"Yes, Plato, he has left future generations much to think of. Perhaps, had he preceded us, we might have clamored to be his students."

"I believe we would have, Socrates. I also believe that the legacy left by Aristotle has been our legacy as well."

"Teacher or student, Plato, who shall say which is greater?"

"None. Each has made his own worthwhile contribution. Aristotle personified the best of both. I commend his modesty, I extol his virtue, and I admire his genuine ideals."

"Shall we go and confer our accolades upon him?"

"He would be embarrassed, Socrates, let us merely add this commentary to that
which he has humbly written."

I speak of my daughter, Hypatia with great love. Her mother and I, Theon, were blessed with her arrival in 355. From her first sounds I was touched by a wisdom I perceived in her. As a teacher of mathematics and astronomy, I was determined she would be well educated. Her rare beauty was evident when she was still a mere child. Her mother and I admired her beauty and took great pride in her skill at learning.

I cautioned her to refrain from the common belief that a woman should be less than a man. My admonishment to her was to continually utilize her power to think and be able to contrive through her own mentality that which was right for her.

As she grew in wisdom and beauty, she desired to travel and learn from great teachers. Her capacity to question had outdistanced my simple education, thus I allowed her and gave her the means to go. First to Athens, then to Rome. Her letters were filled with the news of the day. She was entertained in the homes of the leading citizens in each city.

In Alexandria, she taught Neo-Platonism. I was not in agreement with this new philosophical thought form and I wished for her to be with me as I aged. How blessed it might have been for both of us. Unrest in Alexandria between the church and state brought about her eventual demise. This came long after I had passed on. My grief that she was so far distant went with me to my grave.

Hypatia's mind was set against formal religion. She taught freedom of spirit and freedom of thought. This did not sit well with the ruling church. She was accused of
trying to start her own religion. In spite of threats, Hypatia stood her ground and taught her philosophy as her followers grew in great numbers. People came from great distances to hear her speak. They were captivated by her beauty, her eloquence, and her thought provoking rhetoric.

She believed, as did Plato, that the soul of all of mankind is united. She believed in the oneness of all and the universal force of life existing in all that is. She made no individual god or gods, no graven images. Her thought was that all should think with divine mind, allowing the truth of what is within their nature to be the truth in their lives.

To know oneself, and to trust their intuition was a main facet of her teachings. For this my daughter suffered great threats and ridicule. In the end, people were told that Hypatia had gone to Athens. Rumors were rampant. That she had been set upon by a frenzied mob, murdered and her remains set afire to hide the evidence, was the prevalent story.

I have no desire to change what has been said. That my daughter lived, learned, and taught is of most importance to me, not how she died. Suffice to say, Hypatia did that which she was born to do. Her beauty and intellect, and her philosophy helped others in far reaching ways.

"Swedenborg, you're crazy!" they said when I told them I was designing a boat that could navigate under water. I was nearly laughed out of town when I made a treadmill chariot where the horse rode on board. The horse bolted one day and caused damage in the town. I had to give up my invention. However, I did visualize that some day guns would be able to shoot dozens of cartridges in a moment and I knew there would be flying machines. Alas, my work was not to be the inventor of these futuristic things. My work was to write and work as an assayer for the King Sweden, which is where I was born.

My parents welcomed me in 1688. My father was a Bishop of the Lutheran church. He was interested in the spiritual world, believing that he was receiving messages
from those who had passed beyond. This subject greatly interested me when I grew older. I wrote about it, but unfortunately, most of the people of those times did not understand what I was writing. Oh yes, I was praised highly but the praise was from people who could not understand the words, therefore they thought the writing was of a great intellectual nature.

How I wish I could live in these wonderful, modern times of yours. I would say to my countrymen, "see, see, it is possible to have all the things I told you about, the
submarines, the Gatling gun, and the motorcar." I would be the one to laugh then, but never at someone else's' expense. I would laugh with joy that these things had come to be.

"Emanuel! Emanuel! You are a dreamer," I would hear my family say again and again. My father believed in my dreams and made it possible for me to travel to Germany, France, Italy and England, where I was able to meet with heads of state and brilliant men. I learned the language of each country and prided myself in my ability to converse with the people in their native tongue.

I had been an excellent scholar. I loved to study and learn, especially things of nature. When I returned from my tour of the foreign countries, I wrote in detail of my travels. The King took me on to give scientific advice about the mineral properties of ores. I was happy to do this work since I loved all that had to do with the earth. I also designed canals for the sate and was considered to be quite good at my work.
Modesty was never one of my characteristics. I believed that if we are given gifts by the Almighty, then we should use them to the maximum limit. For my work in
transporting ships overland, by using a roller railway, I was knighted by the King. It was a just reward.

I wrote a book of prophecies and regret that although I lived into my eighties, I never saw my visions materialize. It pleases me now that most of the things I wrote about have come into being. Your generation is lucky and you too might have dreams of things to come in the future.

Consider these:

Planets being connected by a universal highway system, but rather than roads, highways would be built on laser beams of light.

The earth would become a contained object surrounded by a Plexiglas like substance. Openings would work for space travel but the shield would protect the environment. The sun's life giving energy would be filtered through a web like opening during certain periods of the day.

This environmental protection system would enable other planets to be inhabited.

The atmosphere would come through a filter system much like the reservoirs of today.

The human body will have learned to sustain itself on chemical foods. This is all part of our natural evolution.

These things may seem outlandish to you but then so did my predictions of a submarine, machine gun and automobile.

It amuses me that I am often remembered more for my enjoyment of the fairer sex than for my inventions, writing, and statesmanship. Yes, I did enjoy the ladies and I was often surprised that they, even the very young ones, returned my advances.

I wonder how many people know that I was born in Boston, not Philadelphia. As the youngest of fifteen children, I was quite spoiled by my mother. To bring some discipline into my life, I was apprenticed to my older brother and I learned the trade of a printer.

Not too infrequently, I wrote things and slipped them under the door of his office. He, thinking they had been written by someone more erudite than I, printed them. When he learned they were my musing, he was most unpleasant. I discerned it a good idea to leave, and thus I sailed on a schooner to Philadelphia.

Ahh, the city of brotherly love. How I enjoyed the environs, especially after I made the acquaintance of Deborah Reed, whom I eventually married.

In most areas I led a charmed and happy life. I followed my trade as a printer and did quite well. My life was most pleasant. I was a writer, a fair politician, and I invented useful items. Today people refer to the reading glasses I made, as 'Franklin Glasses'. That too amuses me. As you can tell, I have always been a rather jovial person, even more so when I was able to retire at the rather young age of 42.

I suppose that is what afforded me the opportunity to begin my career as a statesman. I started an organization called the Junto Club. Here, some of the learned and interesting men of Philadelphia gathered to discuss the events of the times, and how we could benefit ourselves and others from them. This was the foundation for the Public Library. I suppose one could say I started the library in order for more people to have access to my writings, but that was not quite my intent.

My little experiment with the kite and key may have seemed like folly to the people of my day, but you know what has become of it. I will admit, it was a bit scary, standing out there in the flashing storm, but so worthwhile. I proved a point, did I not?

I enjoyed several years of experimenting, but I knew the unrest that was occurring in our colonies. The people were not happy with the way they were being treated by the Crown, and in 1754,I wrote a piece determining that it would be wise for the colonies to unite. I expounded on this thesis for a time and finally, in 1757, I was sent to England as an agent to plead the cause of our fledgling country.

It was a most enjoyable five year experience. William, the young lad I had brought back from England and adpted as my son, and I were entertained by most of the socially known and hospitable gentry. While I was considered quite a social gad-about, I was quietly making the feelings of my countrymen known. Unfortunately, those in power were not listening. They paid no heed. Most of them thought the colonists were indolent little muckrakers.

I returned to my home for a short two years. The Stamp Act was most likely the crowning blow, no pun intended. Back I went to merry old England, but again, to no
avail. Only a handful of the elite heard what I was telling them over the next ten years. Finally, knowing I could make no changes in what was happening, I sailed home and became one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

When war broke out, our little bands of men prepared to do battle with the great might of England. I went to France and entreated them to help our cause. They responded quite heartily, I'm happy to say, and my years in that allied country was joyfully spent. Ahh, France, how lively she was and most beautiful. But I must not remain in nostalgia, I am here to share with you my life and times. Some of course are not to be written in detail. Suffice to say, "Oh France, how I enjoyed my sojourn there."

I believe my life was one of great delight. I enjoyed the things I did as writer, statesman, inventor, and bon vivant. I was given the opportunity to travel, to meet many great people in different countries, to be a founding father of a great nation, and to tinker with ideas that turned into successful inventions.

I always attempted to live within the dictates of my conscience. to harm no one, to be of usefulness to others, and to enjoy my life. By Jove, I think I did it.