QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

nothing more than unreal manifestations of the spirit that operates in them. The spirit could be
better approached using our rational powers or in ecstatic contemplation. According to his pupil
Porphury, Plotinus appeared to be ashamed of having a body, and this resulted in an antiempirical
orientation as well as a fascination with the occult. The Neo-Platonists were apparently
convinced that for every division or distinction that the human mind can make, there is a
corresponding real division or distinction in the structure of the universe. This mystical and
magical trend obstructed scientific thinking because it encouraged a reliance on magic and
theurgic practices rather than learning to understand nature through one’s own study and
reflection: to control it by one’s own actions. 135
The Neo-Platonists’ doctrine of different levels of reality, of a divine logos, unity, soul and love,
was well suited to the Christian faith, which had been influenced by both Platonism and
Gnosticism since the first century AD. 136 From the very beginning, the Christian gospels and the
world of the early church did not have many points of contact with Greek philosophy, the
Christian religion rather drew its power from Judaism. 137 When God’s kingdom on earth was
revealed as something whose coming had to be waited for, consolidation of the church as an
institution required the defining of a position towards Greek and Roman culture as well. In part,
this was also a question of the need to strengthen arguments against different Gnostic trends
which were gaining an ever-increasing foothold. 138
Through the influence of the early church fathers, the Jews’ active, dynamic and willing God
gradually replaced the Hellenic concept of an abstract intelligence working in the background
that could only be accessed in an analytical manner. Plato’s logos became flesh and joined the
ranks of men. It was not just an impersonal mind, it was also the divine word, and belief in it
meant salvation. It was believed that this one superior being had a historical plan to save
mankind. The Greeks’ cyclical concept of history was replaced by a linear development in which
God’s plan was gradually realised. At the same time, human history acquired some spiritual
significance. The personal God of Christian teaching was interested in human activities and the
135 Dijksteerhuis 1986, 47-49.
136 The first record in Christian religion appears around 100 A.D. when Emperor Nero accused Christians of
causing the Great Fire of Rome. Around 250 A.D., some of Rome’s noblest citizens were already Christians and in
392 A.D. when Christanity become a state religion, one tenth of the population were Christians. Thesleff ja Sihvola
1994, 365-366.
137 The Hebrew conception of the fundamental nature of universe was quite different to that of the Greeks. Whereas
the Greeks were interested in nature and human beings, the life of the Hebrews was more closely connected to
supernatural powers. They were conscious of an almighty God whose laws could not be ignored. Ketonen 1989, 66-
67.
138 Thesleff and Sihvola 1994, 427-428.
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