With PARMENIDES began what is called, in more specific terms, true Philosophy. The Eleatic, and his Poem, constitute a "beacon" whose light illumined Plato and even Aristotle, and consequently all the philosophers that followed. Parmenides laid down several fundamental philosophical principles: 1. The Being as foundation of all the existent 2. The principle of identity, Being is identical to itself 3. The principle of non-contradiction 4. The principle of a-temporality or eternal present 5. An initiatory philosophical vision of an experimental order This vision was taken up by Plato and others down to Plotinus and beyond, while staying in the Classical Greek tradition. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction The Way that leads to Being Being Introduction to the Proem ON THE ORDER OF NATURE Fragment 1, Proem Fragments 2 to 7 Preamble to Fragment 8 Fragment 8 Introduction to the world of appearances Fragments 8(contd.) to 19 Notes to the Fragments Bibliographic Reference Glossary Raphael: Unity of Tradition --From the Book Editor's Biography RAPHAEL is author and Master in the Western Metaphysical Tradition as well as the Vedanta. For over 35 years, he has written several books on the pathway of Non-duality (Advaita). He has also translated and commented a number of key Vedanta texts from the original Sanskrit. His entire work a conscious reunification of Western and Eastern Traditions into Unity of Tradition. Founder of the Ashram Vidya Order, Raphael is now dedicating himself entirely to the spiritual practice. He lives in a hermitage connected to the ashram and devotes himself completely to a vow of silence. --From the Book Editor's Biography RAPHAEL is author and Master in the Western Metaphysical Tradition as well as the Vedanta. For over 35 years, he has written several books on the pathway of Non-duality (Advaita). He has also translated and commented a number of key Vedanta texts from the original Sanskrit. His entire work a conscious reunification of Western and Eastern Traditions into Unity of Tradition. Founder of the Ashram Vidya Order, Raphael is now dedicating himself entirely to the spiritual practice. He lives in a hermitage connected to the ashram and devotes himself completely to a vow of silence. --From the Book The date of Parmenides' birth is uncertain but, according to the indications of Apollodoros, it can be placed between the sixth and the fifth centuries B.C. Parmenides was born in Magna Graecia, in Elea (today's Velia) located on the coast of Campania south of Paestum, into a family of noble lineage and quite well off. It is known that he governed and gave very good laws to his city (in those days, as it happened, cities were governed by Philosophers), and every year the Eleans pledged their loyalty to those laws. Raphael having attained a synthesis of Knowledge (with which eclecticism or syncretism are not to be confused) aims at 'presenting' the Universal Tradition in its many Eastern and Western expressions. He has spent a substantial number of years writing and publishing books on spiritual experience, and his works include commentaries on the Qabbalah, Hermeticism and Alchemy. He has also commented on and compared the Orphic Tradition with the works of Plato, Parmenides and Plotinus. Furthermore, Raphael is the author of several books on the pathway of non-duality (Advaita), which he has translated from the original Sanskrit, offering commentaries on a number of key Vedantic texts. After more than sixty years of teaching, both oral and written, Raphael has withdrawn into mahasamadhi. Used Book in Good Condition