The Greek Elements and the Passion of Philosophers

The Greek elements are called the classical elements and they consist Earth, Air, Water, Fire.

These four classical elements are the passion of philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers, and other scholars. The general population who look at the thinkers and sages of the time is strongly influenced by the concepts that are taught by such people and an entire social order and religious order is based on the four classical elements and how the pantheon of gods delivers substance through the manipulation of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire.

However the thinkers and geniuses who are mainly of the elite class are always considering the possibility of a fifth element playing a role in the fabric of life. This fifth essence, or quintessence, comes to be known as Aether. It is mentioned in Greece as early on as the writings of Homer who some claim was living as early as the time of the Trojan Wars or 1100 BC. When Homer the poet was born is highly disputed and some even suggest that the entire Homeric culture was nothing but a segment of poets and teacher/philosophers who's works, mostly passed down through word of mouth, were a combined work.

No one will ever truly know. In any case even in those days and the days following when Hesiod came along with and defined the classical elements and the geneology of the Gods within the Greek pantheon the mention of a fifth element called Aether was mentioned.

It wasn't until several centuries later, when the infamous Plato and his student Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander the Great, came along that the word Aether and the fifth element truly became a concern and a challenger to the nature of the original classical elements.

It's presence had such potential that Plato himself was concerned for what it could do to the entire socio-political system. In order to preserve the present paradigm he and those selected colleagues who studied in his Academy where sworn to secrecy when it came to indulging in philosophical discussion on the subject of a single source of creation that they discussed as none other that the fifth essence.

Aristotle was the one who actually termed the fifth element, Aether.

Long story short....It wasn't deemed wise to mess with the pantheon and the human lords who presented themselves publicly as the beneficiaries of selected Gods.

So the study of the quintessence went underground and remained a secret society influence for centuries. The rest of humanity could well fantasize about a single entity or source of spiritual energy that superseded the original classical elements but to go public with such knowledge was a method of opening up  pandora's box and unleashing the wrath of the elect elitists.





 

See how similar elements of life figure into theHindu Ayurvedic medical philosophy of India civilization and can be found back to some 5000 years in history.