Page 59 - Wisdom Unfurled

Concept of Philosophy
General
Introduction
The Master makes an opening statement defining His concept of philosophy categorically that it is a subject not based on reason but intuition and does not start from ‘doubt’ as most of the western philosophers hold, but from ‘wonder’.
The word philosophy is derived from a Greek word meaning ‘love of wisdom’ the coining of the word being attributed to the famous mathematician, geometer and philosopher Pythogoras of ancient Greece who described himself as only a lover of wisdom. Philosophical enquiries have a hoary past and have originated and matured to varying degrees of excellence in different parts of the civilized world, amongst them ancient India and Greece playing a very significant role in shaping the subsequent developments in mystic and rational philosophic thought. The mystic intuits Reality in his heart whereas the philosopher tries to determine nature of Reality through reason. It is not always the case that philosophy pursues an independent line of enquiry for its own sake but more often it serves the cause of the mystical Vision and helps to construct a philosophical system for it using rational thought on the foundations provided by the intuitional insight. In the process it even supplies new linguistic terminology appropriate to the vision if necessary or fresh interpretations to the older terms in use appropriate to the field to enable a fair degree of intelligibility of the fundamental Vision. This is the case of Intuitional insight illuminating ordinary reason and enabling it to communicate the Vision with as little distortion as possible. It is normally held that Reality is basically ineffable hence neither words nor discursive dialectical thought can hope to grasp It much less convey It as It is in itself. But a rational account of the unfolded Vision is necessary for communicating at the mental intellectual level to the seekers at large at least for the purpose of stimulating a deeper quest for the replication of the imperience of the Reality in the seeker’s heart as had by the Originator himself.
Philosophers in the real sense have always been seeking earnestly solutions to the really fundamental questions regarding the nature of ultimate reality, origin of the universe and its evolution, space, time, causality, existence as such, man, his position, function and destiny in the cosmos, the ethical dimensions and goal of human life, speaking only of the principal concerns of