Conversations with Socrates and Plato

When I was studying education in Cambridge, I was lucky enough to be taught by Sir Desmond Lee, who was the editor of the Penguin edition of Plato’s Republic, which I remember reading by the river in front of Trinity. In this dialogue, and in his Laws, Plato discusses the necessary attributes for the governing Guardians. His approach was criticised by Sir Karl Popper as totalitarian in the first volume of his The Open Society and its Enemies. What was missing for me – and I think Popper - is explained by Neal in this remarkable philosophical dialogue between himself and not only Socrates and Plato, but also Spinoza and William James. I am referring to the fact that the Guardians had to have personal experience of the Form of Good, which meant the experience of gnosis or union with the divine, with the accompanying realisation of the oneness of being, of which we are all individual microcosmic expressions.

Nine individual chapters, with multiple subheadings, are devoted to social justice and a new social contract, linguistic consciousness, emotional intelligence, love and sexuality, reason and different types of thinking, beauty and inspiration, partnership and leadership, and finally old age, dying and death. Neal’s perspective is informed by the full range of issues covered by the Galileo Commission Report, including research into NDEs and survival, with an understanding of the profound moral implications of the life review. As readers know only too well, mainstream science is based on reductive materialism and the primacy of matter, a view that excludes much of the research discussed here and highlighted in the foreword by Eben Alexander, who himself espouses an idealist philosophy and is critical of ‘the false sense of separation inherent in physicalist thought’ when the reality seems to be that we all share in One Mind, as also argued by Larry Dossey: we have forgotten our essential nature and have created oligarchic systems based on greed and exploitation.

‘Plato’ explains that ‘the interconnectedness of all minds is the basis of the Moral Law’ (p. 140) and is therefore an essential element of education. For mystics and many near death experiencers, this is an experienced reality of the Golden Rule. Hence, the crucial importance of the New Society ‘being guided by individuals who have experienced this Knowledge directly.’ This would represent a post-materialist social order referred to in the subtitle, and which the author regards as an essential precondition for human survival. The overall thesis is expressed as follows: ‘if there is ever to be peace upon the Earth, and humanity be saved from self-destruction, then spiritual wisdom and worldly power must coalesce in the same individuals. That is, those individuals who have achieved spiritual wisdom must be the same individuals who hold temporal authority.’ (p. 458) This has rarely ever been the case, and certainly not today where we find too many examples of toxic patriarchies perpetuating the pursuit of power and domination through violence and warfare. Moreover, ‘William James’ points out that linguistic consciousness (left hemisphere) ‘has usurped almost the whole of human consciousness’ (see my review of Iain McGilchrist, also in this issue).

William James quoted in real life a passage from Richard Bucke’s experience of cosmic consciousness when he realised that the foundational principle is love and that all things work together for the good of each and all, at least ultimately. Politics becomes ‘the art and science of caring for the well-being of the people as a whole’ guided by a wise World Council of enlightened beings who have transcended egotistical concerns, a process that also comes with maturity. Nor should we fear death, as the testament of multiple experiences frames it as a release and transition, even a return home. This is all summed up in six principles of a post-materialist social order: the universe as living presence; humans possess eternal life; the universe is a cooperative affair; divine love is the foundational principle of all creation; the ultimate happiness of every human being is assured; and everything that happens has a purpose and meaning. The conclusion is that the transition to a new social order will have to occur, or humans will destroy themselves. The only question, also anticipated by Peter Deunov, is ‘how much suffering do humans wish to create for themselves during the transition [from me to we]?’ (p. 761) The lively dialogue format makes the content engaging, while the overall subject matter could not be more important in terms of the necessity of transitioning to a new worldview and a corresponding enlightened social order.