The core thesis of the series took about 9 posts to get to, but, well, better late than never. In my opinion, there was no other way to prepare readers for this advanced material. Put simply, Plato’s entire project is built around his fear of actual mysticism and all that this entailed for his social engineering projects. Over the course of the series, I’ve built up to this argument from many different angles.
Most recently, I’ve explained that the Philosophers were part of an organized political movement involved in various intrigues and schemes that all revolved around destroying the traditional identity of the Greek city states. On destroying their myths, and creating an experimental new ideological state ethos in their stead.
On a more conceptual level I’ve also explained how replacing real pagan metaphysics with abstract concepts and linguistic tricks is a shell game, essentially. I went into great detail explaining how Socrates’ “Clouds” become Plato’s Forms and how these concepts all rely on something called nous. This is where the psychological and linguistic trickery come in. Again: there is no such thing as nous — Plato just made it up to justify his baseless political, social and metaphysical claims through the use of a self-referencing tautology. See here:
A system based on Philosophy is, quite simply, a system in which the Philosophers rule. And anyone who wants to participate in such a system has to accept, on faith, the baseless philosophical claims that these social engineers have advanced. It is entirely a man-made system then, with absolutely no recourse to the metaphysical, really. It may claim to be based on metaphysical principles, sure, but it never provides any proof, only self-serving tautologies i.e., appeals based entirely on faith.
To be specific: faith in the core set of Noble Lies put forward by the Philosophers.
Christianity, which was a Platonic social engineering project, is also built on these self-serving circular Philosopher “logic” loops. The core claims cannot be proven and have to be accepted on faith. Like, that Abraham or Moses existed and that they did all those acts of Hebrew sorcery and were Chosen by Yahweh to conquer the earth. Or that Yahweh is the one true God for that matter. Finally, we are supposed to believe that He had a son that He sacrificed to Himself as part of an elaborate blood appeasement ritual to forgive the gentiles of their tens of thousands of years of having the temerity to draw breath and sinning against Hebrewism. Faith is then, of course, held up as a great moral quality and not treated as credulousness, gullibility or outright buffoonery, which is what faith actually is.
I get into these claims in greater depth here:
But if you DON’T just have blind faith in what either homosexual Philosophers with fancy hats in positions of authority tell you to believe or you DON’T have blind faith in what homosexual Priests with fancy hats in positions of authority tell you to believe, and you DON’T think that blind faith in Noble Lies is the ideal way to organize a society … well, what can you then propose as an alternative?
Without a foundation of lies that we all believe in, society would fall apart, no!?
To answer that question, I first started conceptualizing an anti-Philosopher/Priest society entirely in the negative. Essentially, I said that we ought to simply do the complete opposite of what these people want us to do, at least as a starting frame. And I decided to call it The Primordial Truth, to juxtapose it with the core foundational concept of Platonic civilization — the Noble Lie.
There is no foundational text or Constitution of a pre-Ideology society that I can point to and say, “let’s just do this instead”. That alternative has to be constructed and fleshed out. I want to even go beyond simply knee-jerking against our current systems with their foundational hoaxes, inverted morality and warped metaphysics.
One of the best places to start explaining alternatives is with gaining an understanding of the topic of today’s post, the Manias.
Plato’s Maniacal Deception Agenda
Put simply: the manias are the means by which all mysticism works. To interact with the metaphysical, you have to enter an altered state (i.e., a mania, these are synonyms) and go from there. Altered states are the core technique or technology or secret sauce that underpins all genuine mysticism.
Entering these manias allows one to engage in the following practices:
Spirit possession/channeling/manipulation
Astral journeying/projecting to literally see higher realities
Various techniques related to willful manipulation of normally autonomous bodily functions translating into advanced human body bio-chemical and bio-electrical state control which are so extreme/impressive/unusual that they might as well be “magic”
… and real, actual, rules-of-reality defying magic, I suppose … maybe, IDK.
Plato discussed the concept of mania (divine madness or frenzy) in several dialogues, most notably Phaedrus and Ion, where he describes mania as a state of divine inspiration that transcends rational thought. In Plato’s view, mania is a gift from the gods, enabling humans to access higher truths, creativity, or spiritual insights that surpass ordinary cognition. But he categorizes four types of mania, each associated with a specific deity and function, and demonstrates clear preferences and distastes in his characterization scheme. Each of the four are linked to a deity and a specific human experience … sort of. More importantly, Plato like two of them and dislikes the other two.
Pardon the AI generated info-dump:
Prophetic Mania (Inspired by Apollo)
Description: This is the madness of prophecy or divination, where individuals receive visions or oracles from Apollo, the god of prophecy, poetry, and truth. It manifests in seers or oracles (e.g., the Pythia at Delphi), who enter ecstatic states to deliver divine messages about the future or hidden truths. In Plato’s view, this state allows access to divine knowledge unattainable through rational inquiry.
Plato’s Tone/Attitude: Plato regards prophetic mania with reverence, viewing it as a superior form of knowledge. He contrasts it favorably with human reasoning, suggesting that “the greatest of blessings come to us through madness” when it is divinely inspired (Phaedrus 244a). His tone is one of awe, emphasizing its divine origin and its ability to reveal truths beyond mortal understanding.
Telestic or Ritual Mania (Inspired by Dionysus)
Description: This mania is associated with Dionysus, the god of wine, ecstasy, and ritual. It occurs during ecstatic religious rites, such as those of the Bacchae (Dionysian worshippers), where participants enter frenzied states through dance, music, or intoxication, achieving purification (katharsis) or communion with the divine. The Bacchic rites, for example, involved wild dancing and sometimes intoxication, leading to a state of divine possession.
Plato’s Tone/Attitude: Plato’s tone is positive but cautious. He values this mania for its therapeutic and spiritual benefits, seeing it as a divine gift that restores balance to the soul. However, his rationalist bias (evident in his broader philosophy) suggests a slight ambivalence, as the chaotic, communal nature of Dionysian rites contrasts with the controlled introspection he often champions.
Poetic Mania (Inspired by the Muses)
Description: This is the madness of artistic inspiration, bestowed by the Muses, goddesses of poetry, music, and the arts. It enables poets, musicians, or artists to create works of profound beauty and truth, transcending their ordinary abilities.
Plato’s Tone/Attitude: Plato’s tone is admiring but tinged with irony. He elevates poetic mania as a divine gift that produces beauty and insight, but in the Ion, he also critiques poets for lacking true knowledge, as their inspiration is not grounded in reason. His attitude reflects a tension: he reveres the divine spark but questions the poet’s intellectual authority, suggesting mania surpasses mere human craft.
Erotic Mania (Inspired by Eros/Aphrodite)
Description: This is the madness of love, inspired by Eros (or Aphrodite in some contexts), the god of love and desire. It is a passionate, obsessive state that drives the lover to seek the beloved, ultimately leading the soul toward divine beauty and truth.
Details: In the Phaedrus (249d–257b), Plato describes erotic mania as the highest form of madness, where the lover’s soul, stirred by the beauty of the beloved, recalls the eternal Forms (e.g., Beauty itself) from its pre-incarnate existence. This love elevates the soul toward philosophical wisdom, as the lover contemplates divine ideals. The lover experiences intense longing, even pain, but this madness is a path to transcendence.
Plato’s Tone/Attitude: Plato’s tone is deeply reverential and passionate. He sees erotic mania as the most noble form of madness, capable of leading the soul to the divine realm of the Forms. His language in the Phaedrus is lyrical, celebrating love as a transformative force that bridges human and divine. Unlike the other manias, erotic mania aligns closely with his philosophical ideal of ascending to truth through contemplation, making it his most exalted form.
Plato is, as usual, pulling the wool over our eyes again with his descriptions, characterizations and value judgements of the manias. Let’s start with the easiest and simplest trick that he pulls.
Apollonian Mania and the Oracle of Delphi Racket
What is the defining characteristic of the Apollonian approach tp mysticism? If you read my previous entry on the Solar/Tyrric/Apollonian/Right-Hand-Path connection, you’d immediately notice and understand why Plato thinks its great. First and foremost, Apollonian is Plato-approved because it is elitist and hierarchical. Furthermore, it is only accessible to other elites, who dole it out to the rest of us as they see fit.
But to understand that, we need some background information on the pinnacle of Apollonian worship in Ancient Greece: the Oracle of/at Delphi.
The Oracle of Delphi was one of the most revered religious institutions of the classical world, dedicated to Apollo and operated from around the 8th century BCE until the late 4th century CE, until the Christian-Antifa-Bolsheviks destroyed it. At its heart was the Pythia, the high priestess who served as the oracle, delivering prophecies in a trance-like state believed to be induced by divine inspiration (or, as modern theories suggest, possibly by ethylene vapors emitted from geological fissures beneath the temple). This doesn’t really change much either way as there are infinite means by which someone can get themselves into an altered state.
Anyway, the institution was managed by a priesthood of male priests known as hosioi or prophetai who handled the rituals of theurgy, and interpreted the Pythia's utterances. These were often cryptic or ecstatic ravings or just animal-like growls and hoots and squeals. This was all dutifully transcribed into hexameter verse, per the priests’ discretion and then passed on for consultation to the kings, or politicians, and occasionally the wealthy common folk.
So, basically, the priests are an elite institution, drawn from wealthy, aristocratic Delphic families, that interpret the prophecies of low-born women who get high on volcanic fumes and then tell kings and politicians and wealthy commoners what to do. Can you … can you “divinely see” how such a system would be easy to manipulate and control by a small cabal of priests of questionable intent and sexual orientation?
That being said, the actual prophecies of the oracles of Delphi could have been legit.
Or, as I believe, they were probably just a form of elite manipulation and social engineering. I believe this because I understand how altered states are both trivially easy to attain and democratically accessible to ordinary people.
Thus: the Oracle herself, and her function, is largely superfluous to my mind, and therefore a form of clever misdirection and showmanship, nothing more. See, the real “magic” comes from the elite-educated priests who are heavily involved in the politics of the real world and composing Iambic hexameter prophecies for their wealthy patrons without any oversight.
Meanwhile, even today, you can literally get anyone high and babbling cryptically or cooing and clucking and barking. Have you ever gotten extremely drunk and had your friends record you? Trust me, its usually not a pleasant video to watch the following morning. But most of us just don’t have a council of priests trying to decode the will of Apollo out of our aggressive, slurred threats followed by tearful declarations of everlasting fealty and friendship to our drinking partners.
*shudder*
