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A Discussion With Pythagoras - Part 3

© Suzi Goode

Pythagoras' teachings often foreshadow those of Buddha (and later Shankara) as well as Christ. He taught that in quietude, or stillness of the soul, there was a receptiveness of the heart towards vital truths. Pythagoras was revered as Pitar Guru or Father and Teacher, as well as Yavanacharya, the Ionian philosopher in India. He was known by other names in Ancient Egypt where he had lived, gaining knowledge, for twenty years. He founded a movement with political, religious and political aims.

His teachings are generally lost to us, and only survive through the work of his disciples. Pythagoras believed in transmigration (as discussed in a previous article) and in immortality. He claimed to have knowledge of previous lives, claiming to have been Euphorbus, a warrior during the Trojan War.

Pythagoras was the head of the Pythagorean Society. There was an inner circle of men and women called mathematikoi and an outer circle called akousmatics. The inner circle lived permanently with the Society, were taught by Pythagoras, ate no meat and owned no personal possessions. The outer circle enjoyed the Society by day but lived at home, owned personal possessions and were not required to be vegetarians.

Pythagoras held that:

• philosophy could be used to spiritually purify oneself; • all people in the order had to observe strict loyalty and secrecy; • reality is mathematical in nature and its deepest level; • certain symbols had mystical significance; • the soul could unite with the divine.

He sought four hundred people who sought wisdom and to be in harmony with all mankind. It was well known but little understood that psychological discipline was joined to the study of math. There was a strict admission policy, a five year probation period and the need for absolute silence when an older member of the order was present. Quiet attention was the beginning of all wisdom in the Pythagorean order.

"If individuals sought admission into the School, having already found inspiration in daily life from the ethical teaching of the GOLDEN VERSES, then they were invited to put themselves through a preliminary set of freely chosen and strictly administered tests. One of these required that the candidate be conducted to some secluded place and left with bread and water. He was requested to remain there for a night and to think intently upon a single symbol such as the triangle. Having prepared properly and taken whatever steps were needed to gain calmness, the candidate then set down ideas on the subject in relation to the whole of life. The following morning, the candidate was invited to the assembly of those who had already passed through these stages and asked by Pythagoras, who presided, to convey his observations to the entire group. A common practice during those days was that various members of the assembly were instructed to make it difficult for the candidate to say what he had to say by ridiculing his ideas. Naturally, a candidate was liable to be nervous though the assembly was really on his side, yet nonetheless no concessions were made to his limitations, ambiguities and mixtures of motive. This was for his own good. Unless one could maintain one's composure under these circumstances, it was clear that life in the School would prove too much for a candidate who was unduly sensitive to criticism." (quoted from Pythagoras and His School).