bacht

This is Cynic teaching, it's not original

No Robots

Reference, please.

bacht

• Diogenes maintained that all the artificial growths of society were incompatible with happiness and that morality implies a return to the simplicity of nature. So great was his austerity and simplicity that the Stoics would later claim him to be a wise man or "sophos". In his words, "Humans have complicated every simple gift of the gods." Although Socrates had previously identified himself as belonging to the world, rather than a city, Diogenes is credited with the first known use of the word "cosmopolitan". When he was asked where he came from, he replied, "I am a citizen of the world (cosmopolites)". This was a radical claim in a world where a man's identity was intimately tied to his citizenship in a particular city state. An exile and an outcast, a man with no social identity, Diogenes made a mark on his contemporaries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope

Most of the classic Hebrew prophets seem to have been inspired loners, as were the Qumran group. I would guess the Zealots placed apocalyptic nationalism above family ties.

No Robots

Neither Diogenes nor Socrates demanded exclusive devotion to themselves from their disciples.

Look, what is originality? Originality is the ability to synthesize one's culture milieu, derive its essence, and express it in a way that is redolent of one's own individual genius. This is Christ's achievement, and it is manifest in every aspect of his thought and speech.

Yellum Notnef

The words of a genius.:huh:

No Robots

What is genius but love? And what is love but all-consuming devotion?

bacht

Yes because they weren't megalomaniac cult leaders. Socrates had no official followers, just fans like Plato. Cynics had no teachings or writings, they were the ultimate individualists (or thought they were).

What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
and there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
"See, this is new"?
It has been already,
in the ages before us.

Eccl 1

It might be argued that the New Testament as a whole embodies some kind of essence or truth about Greco-Roman culture; that would be a subjective judgment. We don't know if there was a Christ or what he said.

Yellum Notnef

So (by your definition) your love and all-consuming devotion to Jesus makes you a genius as well. As well as Pat Robertson and Kirk Cameron.

Must be a real trip living in your world.

Yellum Notnef

And when and where did Socrates and Plato tell people that believing in them or some crazy shit they said gets you a ticket to an everlasting life in a galactic fantasy world?

In todays world you could compare them to Steven Hawking and a homeless guy who stands in front of 7/11 ranting about how aliens are stealing his brain. One is a genius and the other is clearly crazy.

No Robots

A genius is someone who completely subordinates his own individual existence to the upholding of the ideal of love. Few among us are capable of such commitment. The words of the geniuses can help us approach the ideal, but they alone perfectly embody that ideal.

The thought of the genius is easily distorted and misunderstood by others.

It's great to view the world in the context of the work of the great geniuses, yes.