A Note Regarding the 'Historical Socrates'

I personally have little interest in a supposed 'historical' Socrates, whatever meaning such an idea may even really have. The Socrates of the dialogs is just, to my mind, an allegorical symbol, in accordance with the overall nature of the dialogs as a whole. You will note that in the Enneads, although Plotinus quotes Plato a number of times, the only times he ever refers to Socrates is when he uses the name 'Socrates' as a generic example name for an arbitrary person, i.e., as "John Smith" or "John Doe"! I know that most people look to the dialogs as historical documents or records to whatever extent and, in accordance with their (exclusive) preoccupation with the sense world try to understand them as realist historical documents, but I take them just as spiritual documents. The purpose of great true spiritual texts like the dialogs and Enneads is not to provide sensory/sense world information relating to alleged past occurrences in some supposed realist past physical world, but to remind our souls of the spiritual truths they have forgotten (the Platonist teaching of learning as recollection solves a multitude of difficulties) and to practice them and leave and renounce this least real sense world and return to their true home. They are teaching us how to get out of the cave and reminding us what things look like in the light, not giving us information about shadows on the cave wall that are the exclusive concern of worldlings. Ultimately, all spiritual texts that we perceive are, like everything else, just experiences according to our karma with no philosophically realist referent--in this case, experiences of our karma lightening up so that the Absolute is beginning to shine through the sense world and leading us to remember and helping us to practice to get free. All that is real is the higher hypostases, their darkened trace manifesting as this world and the world soul, the underlying spiritual structure of Reality, and the movement of individual souls closer to or farther from the One in their long journey and revolution through countless births in samsara/genesis. Though we must, in our circumstances, of course, deal extensively and honestly with 'history', ultimately all so-called historical records and artifacts are just present manifestations and appearances and experiences in our sense fields with no actually realistic existing physical past referents. Almost no one seems to understand what I am talking about when I say such things, but perhaps even a little glimpse of the One Itself and regular contemplative experience of Nous may show one that this whole sense world of becoming is just a shadow or projection of the higher hypostases, with the least reality, and that all manner of possible combinations of projections or traces of the Forms form all sorts of different relative realities of experience of souls according to their karma.

A Note on the Crito

I had only read the Crito once long ago and had, except for one particular passage, not paid much further attention to it since I couldn't understand what relation it had to spiritual practice and metaphysics, am not interested in social/political/societal concerns and can't believe that the divine Plato really was also, have no interest in a 'historical' Socrates disqualified as being of interest as being a grhastha and etc. However, I was encouraged to put it in the queue for reading in Greek. I finished reading it in Greek and now have a whole different take on it. Suffering as I do from hypertrophy of the allegorical faculty and seeing everything in terms of contemplative asceticism and renunciation, I now see it as having a clear renunciant undermeaning and not being actually at all about the literal surface meaning and actually being a very good ascetic text.

Very briefly, Socrates, as usual, represents the higher divine part of the soul in touch with the higher hypostases. Crito represents the lower deluded soul or self enmeshed in the body and the sense world and attentive to the opinions and inclinations and desires of the world, the many and society. The prison, as usual, is the prison of the body and life in this world. The polis/city is this All, this world, the lowest level of existence comprehended by the World Soul, and its Laws are the law of karma and necessity and justice. Deluded souls and the many and the world (Crito) want to evade the law of karma and extend existence in this world and gain worldly benefit by acting unrighteously and against the law of karma and in a worldly unascetic unspiritual way (to try to escape from Athens by illegal means), and think that this is to their benefit, and try to persuade the soul as a whole, even the soul properly governed by the higher true part of the soul (Socrates), to do so. The true higher soul (Socrates) responds at length, using also a personification of the laws of karma (the Laws of the polis), that it is not and never is proper and to the true benefit of the soul to pursue worldly gain or what the world considers gain or desirable by going against the law of karma and righteousness and that such never works. Thus, it is not a political, but actually a very ascetic text clearly indicating the necessity of following the Way and being in accord with the Law of Karma and necessity and righteousness regardless or in spite of apparent short term worldly gain and the ways and desires of the world.

One can see countless examples of this in the world around us and how the many behave all the time. Over the years, I have often had worldlings try to tell me that I should act contrary to spiritual and ascetic principles and righteousness for some immediate short term worldly gain and have had to respond either to them or at least internally think of responding as 'Socrates', the higher soul with true considerations, does to 'Crito', the views of the many and the lower samsaric self. No doubt any other renunciants left in this world have also often been in this position. It is nice to have further the ascetic text of the Crito behind us also.

Maximus of Tyre on Homer and Plato

But those ancient things, in which the song of Homer has still been being powerful, have educated and brought up noble and true and genuine nurslings of philosophy. A nursling of that song was Plato: for even if he would forswear a teacher, I see the tokens and I perceive the seeds:

Of him indeed were feet of such a sort and hands of such a sort,
and glances of the eyes and head and loose flowing hair above

so that I myself would dare stand firm to say that Plato is more similar to Homer rather than to Socrates, even if he should flee Homer and pursue Socrates. ...

(Maximus of Tyre, Dissertation 26, draft translation from Ancient Greek by ESF)

Note: The divine Plato does not actually forswear or flee Homer, or chase Socrates. He just protects the proper interpretation or undermeaning of Homer from profanation (though desecration of Homer's sacred text is almost all that is done now by professor-types who claim to study and teach it!), and uses the literary symbol of Socrates as nous or the divine part of the soul or self to indicate the self-contained-ness and independence of the true contemplative ascetic and renunciant from human concerns and socially constructed reality.