Welcome to The Golden Scarab!
Today we're going to talk about reincarnation.
But to talk about reincarnation,
we will choose a very old myth.
We will try to answer to the following questions 
with this short video today:
Did the ancient Greek philosophers knew some hidden and mysterious Knowledge,
which is not is not available for us today, 
as it was in that time?
Does that knowledge reappears today
 in the 20th and 21st Century?
With certain influences coming to West?
And where does those influences come from?
Well, these are the issues
we'll be addressing.
Who were this Greek Philosophers?
We generally consider that modern films are not faithful to how this Philosophers really were.
practically I think there is no film that describes them exactly how they really were.
Moreover, many academics,
maliciously or not, distort
many of the stories of how their life was,
 what life was like in Greece.
We will tell you a little bit, and we invite you
 to investigate, because
you can find it the Greek books. In the teachings of Plato we can already find it.
We are going to mention Plato today, because he is the most well known.
He is the most well known...
and partly the most misunderstood also. Because as he was better known he was more exposed.
Other philosophers are hardly adressed.
Such as Heraclitus, Parmenides, Democritus. 
There were more than 250 philosophers in Greece.
Let's talk about Plato, because he is within reach. 
You can download
his books in PDF, some of his books.
And we are going to take from Plato,
 who was who spoke to us about...
a civilization, 
Plato speaks of this in the "Timaeus",
which submerged, which was called "The Atlantis".
Where all this occult or esoteric knowledge come from that now at this moment we are going to you give you.
And that they returned to West in 1875 thanks to someone who we already spoke about  in other videos,
who was Madame Elena Petrovna Blavatsky.
And in 1500, some Renaissance philosophers
wanted to make known,
and they lost their life because of this.
Because it was the time of the persecution of the heretics and sorcerers.
Anyone who thought differently, was considered a sorcerer and an heretic, and was killed.
Today, these esoteric and occult knowledge
 about reincarnation
and what happens after life
 ​​can be learned on Youtube!
We live in truly extraordinary times, 
that allows us to do this.
Speaking about the Greeks,
 as Plato says in the Timaeus,
a great civilization existed that was called Atlantis, and Greek philosophers
educated themselves in Egypt and India.
Keep in mind that the
great philosopher Pythagoras,
which Plato is a follower. 
Because Pythagoras comes, then Socrates and the Plato,
and many other philosophers 
who followed his work. And then Aristotle
had studied with a Siddhārtha Gautama "The Buddha". This is little known
for the West, but in Buddhism this is very well known. Buddhists, contrary to us,
fundamentally Tibetan Buddhists today, have kept the historical records...
of the lives of great men and women
 throughout history.
All this has been kept in their library and in older books which also talk about The Atlantis.
In the mysterious book of "Dzyan", to which we will dedicate a video later.
Greeks went to study, their parents recognized special aptitudes in their children,
and they sent them to study to Egypt or India.
So Greek culture has huge Egyptian and Hindu influences.
This many already know it. 
There are Books for those who want to investigate.
You can download them in PDF
 and do your own research.
All these cultures and civilizations considered
 a continent existed,
where the Atlantic Sea currently is,
that after a cataclysm...
The last cataclysm was 12.500 years ago approximately.
Almost 13.000 years, which is half of a whole Cycle of the Precession of the Equinoxes.
Or platonic year, as Plato called it.
Came a great cataclysm that transformed
 the geography of the earth.
But there are reports that there were 
many others before.
This ideas come up again because we are in a very special moment in history.
In times of great transformations. 
All the cataclysms, and recent events...
that are happening on a global scale.
We can recognize it 
as something quite current.
Tandem earthquakes, tandem hurricanes, we are now also in a time of geological transformation,
and therefore also psychological,
because in the ancient vision that Greek philosophers had, Greek Wiseman,
Earth and Human beings
 were one Unity.
And they considered, in this great 
Platonic year cycle of 26.000 years,
We reincarnated, we were born again. 
Maybe reincarnation is not the best word, but Samsara.
We made another video talking about "The Eternal Return", that is complementary to his one.
Today we are going to talk about 
the "Myth of Er".
To talk a little more about reincarnation, and what happens to the soul after death.
From the Greek point of view. We are not going to speak about it today from a Buddhism point of view.
Later we will dedicate a video to talk about reincarnation from the Buddhist point of view.
That is the same as the Greek,
 but they have their mythology.
They have their descriptions
 about what happens after death.
Their psychological and
 philosophical explanations.
They are completely complementary, and are practically the same as those described by Plato.
In reference to this,
 we will be talking about the "Myth of Er".
Er of Pamphylia. Pamphylia was an area south of Turkey, which was part the Greek Empire.
Which was called Pamphylia. 
It exists today, it has another name.
I've been looking for it, now I don't remember, but it's placed south of Turkey.
It was called "Pamphylia", because "Er", the character that Plato will use in his dialogue with Glaucon,
to teach him about the theory of reincarnation.
He is going to refer him to this character Er, a hero who had died in battle.
Er of Pamphylia, who was Armenian.
An Armenian who lived in Pamphylia.
It turns out that Er dies in battle.
This is where we are going to find Hindu and Buddhist ideas intermingled.
I think that mainly Buddhist, to refer to something more current
that you can investigate already because this, the Buddhists, fundamentally the Tibetans
are teaching quite a lot about this, and there is a lot of bibliography on it, and also videos.
It turns out that they are going to collect the corpses of the heroes after war.
the corpses are removed and something very striking happens with the corpse of Er
After twelve days what happens to a corpse? This any doctor or person can verify it.
It begins to rotten.
But something very strange happens with Er's corpse. After twelve days it does not rot!
it stays in shape, it does not rot at all. 
This is very weird.
Today, Yogis of Tibet and other teachings, tell us that Great souls have the ability to...
after physical death, preserve.
This is also explained by His Holiness the "Dalai Lama".
In a video that I saw out there on the internet, and it is also in their sacred books,
great souls can keep their bodies intact
 for one or two months.
They have even measured the energy 
of the vital body...
that nests in the physical body, 
and they have registered activity.
Something quite mysterious for what is a dead person in the Western sense, or any of us dying.
These souls have a special power.
But the case of Er is particular, because now we are going to see how the tale unfolds.
It turns out that, as a way of testimony, the Gods...
Because they believed that there were superior forces, they called them the Gods, the ancient Greek.
They use Er as a Witness of 
what happens in the afterlife.
Er goes to the the Other World, to the metaphysical world, to the non-physical world.
Buddhists call this "The Bardo". And he experiences, he appears as a witness, as if he was a kind of "Dante"
in the Divine Comedy.
a Witness of Hell's and Heaven's, of what happens to Souls,
to our psychological being, speaking in psychological terms, with all we are at the mind level:
Thoughts, emotions.
 What happens to souls after death.
Er is this witness, and after going and verifying this, he comes back to life.
This is really very interesting, because we believe that this idea, Plato takes it...
from an ancient Egyptian initiations.
Which was called "the Initiation of Thor's Hammer". In which the Teacher,
had the ability to make the disciple
 leave the body, "the Double".
What was called the Astral Body.
This could not be done by any regular person.
It was a person with a long training
 of several decades.
He made his disciple leave
 in the astral body...
and the Teacher led him and showed him the reality that is beyond physical life.
The reality of the metaphysical world. 
Once the disciple verified this. Before dying,
he left his body in a suspended state, joined by the Silver cord, as it is called.
He verified the reality of the metaphysical world, came back to life and could become a Teacher,
because he had already verified
 life after physical life.
So obviously, someone who already verifies there is something beyond...
the physical, so specifically, he will have another conviction when guiding other human beings.
As a Hermes Psychopomp, a guide to other humans to the afterlife, to another state of consciousness.
Because he had already experienced it. So advanced disciples who were to become Teachers,
went through this Initiation.
This is telling Plato with Er, 
evidently Er was a very special hero.
And it is his turn to be a witness, 
in this kind of Initiation.
So, how is this? 
what happens next?
Er says that in the afterlife,
 he meets with four circles.
I was imagining it and
 I drew it like this.
Four circles, and here earth level.
These four circles are united, 
we make them like this.
These circles are the sky.
And here they call it Tartars, which is, 
 something that is beyond...
...Hades world. From Pluto.
It would be like a hell.
Here Plato tells, in Republic's tenth book,
 that it is something...
which is below Hades World. 
The world of suffering. And it says that souls...
We are going to draw bodies, 
but they are souls, these are not bodies.
they ascend this way,
 from the right.
And they descend this way.
Or they descend this way, and ascend this way. 
Yes?
Who? which souls? 
They all descend this way and go this other way?
No. Here is the implicit idea that life 
is a school, and in this cycle...
of 26.000 years, that in another video we relate
to the Eternal Return,
that we refer you to watch it 
so that you can broaden this idea.
Souls are doing this circuit
 according to their actions.
According to their actions.
It says, he speaks of a tyrant, 
for example, who was very evil...
who killed his father, his family.
 A tyrant from ancient times.
And it says that Er finds him, 
and he sees him here.
But he sees that he can't get 
out of here.
He can't get out because the punishment is already too great. It says that the punishment...
is one to the 10th of the evil inflicted in life.
The suffering that he suffers 
on the mental plane.
And also, the virtue that he performed
 on the mental plane is...
is one to the 10th the rejoicing of that good that we did. Positive karma,
and Negative karma. He is talking about Karma, that Hindus talk about. He just does not use that word.
But he is talking about actions. Actions and reaction. 
The law of cause and effect.
Of what we do right, or we do wrong.
It says souls that have 
produced much evil...
...pass to the other plane, temporarily.
Now, this is not catholic hell nor catholic heaven.
This is temporary. 
It is not eternal, it is a temporary process.
So to later return to physical life and continue learning, until we need a new body.
Now we will get there, 
but we want to explain this idea.
Between one life and the next one,
the soul, consciousness...
To explain it in a modern way: everything we think, we feel and we do in this life.
After death, 
the Moirai, the goddesses of destiny for The Greek.
The grim reapers in the Romans, 
we are going to draw it here.
The Moirai,
that are: Clotho, the past, Lachesis, 
the present and Atropos, the future.
The three Moirai.
They weave, 
they spin the destiny of human beings.
What will happen? After death,
The Daemon of the person. 
Here they talk about the Daemon.
I ask you not to get lost with all this. 
I believe you can see, right?
The Daemon of the person, which is the deepest being of the person, judges the individual.
Plato clarifies Glaucon. 
Actually Er relates,
you must not believe that there are judges. 
It is ones deepest consciousness who judges.
According to Universal Laws. 
Because deep in our minds is The Spirit.
The Hindu call it Atman.
Here we speak about Daemon, is the judge!
We ourselves, our deepest being is the supreme judge of our actions, of our thoughts and feelings.
That formerly was known as 
the voice of Consciousness.
This Daemon, let's say in collaboration 
with the Moirai,
will execute all this process of the judgement
 of the soul after death.
So, we are our own judges.
Today it is said, in transpersonal psychology, 
or in new psychologies,
with a metaphysical connotation, in quantum physics, that we are our own judge.
that we have to forgive ourselves.
That the worst enemy of us is ourselves. Is an idea that follows from this.
From what happens after our life.
It turns out that this tyrant 
is punished here...
It is his own consciousness that does the process, so keep in mind, it is not an external agent.
It is his own deep mind, it is what Carl G. Jung
 called The Collective Unconscious.
The No-Mind in Zen Buddhism, 
that executes the trial.
It will judge this Soul, 
and will make it suffer ten times...
the evil inflicted.
We have Karma of speech, action and thoughts. What he thought, felt and acted.
All this will produce, that some Souls which are very evil, psychopaths...
There were also in ancient times 
great Tyrants, psychopaths and criminals.
Today we have lots of them, because today...
How many people give orders to drop atomic bombs? to destroy humanity?
to murder people? Great world leaders, right?
That eat in expensive restaurants, they drive expensive cars, but in the end,
sometimes they are very wicked. 
Is it not true?
They have done great evil throughout the 20th century. We have many of those great Tyrants...
in the 20th century that surely respond to the explanation that gives Plato in Er of Pamphylia.
Great tyrants are going to have to suffer great suffering, like these examples he gives,
and they will get stuck in this Tartarus that he mentions. In this process of psychic suffering after death.
Obviously this kind of process is not eternal, until that soul makes an apprenticeship or not.
This is interesting, 
because none of this process is eternal.
It is a process, and likewise, 
great noble souls, great heroes,
go to heaven. Ascending here in the right side, they make the whole process and reach here.
All this is also explained in Buddhism, but today we are explaining Plato's simplified version,
that he teaches in the 
last book of "The Republic".
I'm going to make a parenthesis.
It's very interesting that Plato's book, which people associate with politics,
does not end with anything political.
Actually, "The Republic" is not 
a book about politics.
For those who have circumscribed it to this subject. It's a philosophy book, that,
gives a world-view. The world-view that ancient civilizations had, that the Greek had.
Quite complete, which Plato raises in...
these ten chapters of "The Republic" in a formidable way. Which covers, from social life,
but ends with the metaphysical idea, and begins also with the metaphysical idea of Justice and Good.
Notice how different the treatment 
of problems in the ancient world,
to how we treat them today,
that we talk about money.
He, in "The Republic", little speaks about it, more than in terms of exchange of goods.
Which has to do with the nobility of character, the position each human being will occupy,
and this is reflected in the final synthesis.
In the Epilogue, which is the tenth book. 
What happens with the Soul? The whole Republic implies...
an education for the human being. 
The Republic, the citizen, the Polis.
So that the human being 
can happily carry out this round trip...
of human life, until reaching total wisdom,
like great heroes, recounted here in the Myth of Er. 
Something happens, coming to the end of this video,
that when they arrive to this plane, they are already choosing according to their...
own acts, the next life. And it says
 there is,
the Lethe, which is a very dry plain...
Sorry! the Moirai have to do with the need. 
They talk about the need.
This is very important, because we return to the learning life out of necessity.
Which it is not the same as wishes. One thing is what I need, and another thing...
is what I wish. So the Moirai have to do
with the need...
One has to continue learning as a human, 
what we need to finish...
learning as a human, is what makes us
be born again.
That we go and come from
one life to another.
This life drive, this will to power,
this deep will,
like the Will of Schopenhauer,
is the life drive to continue and complete...
our learning as a human,
this is the mystery of life.
It is the Daemon which drives
 this whole process.
We do this process, and when
we reach here, at this plane where the Soul, our consciousness, has already chosen what next...
life will have, according to what he did before, and to the judgement he made to himself,
of what it had to accomplish
 as a human being.
It goes to this plain, with lot's of dryness, 
this is a metaphor.
The soul gets very thirsty, and goes and drinks a lot of water from the lagoon, and that water...
makes him forget everything he did before. So he comes back to life with no memory,
of what he did. 
But it says there are smarter souls who hardly drink,
and, the final closing of the book of "The Republic", is Plato telling to Glaucon,
How important for us, who are practicing...
this knowledge, and that have this knowledge not to drink from that lagoon,
so as not to forget, and not to repeat 
the same mistakes, or the same
learnings. 
In synthesis, how important in your life, in my life,
not to repeat the same mistakes. To cultivate attention, develop memory, and Plato...
closes with this idea: 
One of the most special qualities that we have,
human beings, is cultivating full attention.
Gurdjieff calls this "self-observation",
 that will lead us to remind...
ourselves. To realize that we are much more than just the physical body, and...
perhaps, with a directed and special practice, 
like the one we offer you...
in our school, you may verify that you have something more than a physical body.
That you have a Soul, that you have a Spirit, a "Double", a true consciousness...
waiting to be aware. And maybe we can also 
transform ourselves into...
Er of Pamphylia. In this case it would be, of Buenos Aires, Argentina!
Here we say goodbye from The Golden Scarab. Goodbye, until next time!
