39
Hesiod ’ s writing and that of Pherecydes , both in style and content , claiming that Hesiod ’ s ‘ mode of thought is mythical and his rationality primitive ’, whereas he saw ‘ the divinity of the Physiologoi [ in Pherecydes ’ work ] is independent of the cult-gods .’ 76
In his major work , the Heptamychos ( also known as the Theogonia and the Theocrasia ), Pherecydes set forth a number of principles . Firstly , he asserted the ‘ everlastingness ’ of time , which he termed ‘ Chronos ’, describing it as a ‘ self-creating principle of the universe .’ Secondly , he taught that there exists a duality of heavenly and earthly elements in the soul . These , he claimed , connect with the ‘ original dualism ’ of two other basic principles , which he termed ‘ Zeus ’ ( or ‘ Zas ’) and ‘ Chthonie ’ 77 . It is the obscure and symbolic nature of these terms which has contributed to history failing to recognise Pherecydes ’ true significance until now 78 .
Pythagoras also maintained a belief in the transmigration of souls and in a dualistic concept of the universe . Given that Pherecydes is almost universally acknowledged as having been Pythagoras ’ teacher , it is difficult to argue against Pherecydes being his source for this idea .
Despite his notoriety , the information we have regarding Pythagoras is unreliable , and what little there is has a distinctly peculiar character . For example , Pythagoras held that everything is ‘ made of numbers ’, condemned anyone who ate beans and founded a religious sect . Pherecydes , therefore , emerges as better documented , more rational and , above all , more focussed than those who immediately followed him .
Moving forward briefly to the Nineteenth Century , Mary Baker Eddy ’ s creation , the religion known as Christian Science , is based upon the fundamental principle that if God is wholly good and God is infinite in the sense that he / she is unlimited , then everything , without exception , must be good . Illness , pain and death must therefore be illusions . In researching this idea , the Presocratic philosophers Parmenides and Zeno emerged as of great significance .
Parmenides is famous for his argument that all we believe we see must be illusory . Beginning with the idea that a vacuum logically cannot exist on the logical and etymological basis that it is ‘ no thing ’, it follows that there are no gaps in the physical universe . The importance of this seemingly prosaic fact is very great indeed , as if an object – any object – is to move , the physical location of the place into which it is to move must first be vacated of the
76
Vlastos 1952 , p . 110,111
77
Stamatellos 1997-2006
78
Ibid . p . 121,122