Plato’s Recollection

Plato’s Doctrine of Recollection is a core concept of Philosophy because it is the key to innate wisdom, which is the gateway to empowered love.

Plato’s doctrine states that knowledge is a wisdom that is innate, which is not learned but recollected. Knowledge that we recollect is an intuitive knowing, in contrast to knowledge that is learned from physical experience.

Plato argued that whatever we already know, we have knowledge of and if we have no knowledge of something, then how can it be learned?

Plato has a clear distinction between what is someone else’s relatively true opinion and what is one’s own absolute knowledge.

Our personal experience tells us that someone else’s true opinion is based on their relative perspective & experience of physical reality, whereas absolute knowledge is the intuitive wisdom of the Soul.

Plato believed that whatever the physical Self did not know was because of a relative disconnection in their ability to recollect the inherent source of all knowledge that is their Soul.

The Soul is the source of all knowledge that the Individual Self requires on its journey through life. In its disconnection from the Soul, the Self forgets its spiritual origins and starts life from birth with a clean slate & a blank memory.

In its disconnection from its Source, the Individual Self acquires memories based on the true opinions of others. It makes choices that are influenced by the experiences & opinions of others as there is no recollection of any absolute knowledge of the purpose, reason or meaning for one’s life.

In a relatively disconnected state of being, we make choices based on our memories of past experiences that we learned from other people’s true opinions. We act on knowledge, information or intelligence that is given to us by our teachers. Our own opinions are based on a set of personal standards that we adopted from other people’s principles, morals & ethics.

Plato’s doctrines are based on his belief & his opinion that everything that he needs to know, on his personal journey through life, he already has knowledge of at the super-conscious level of the Soul. At the level of conscious physical experience, all the Self is required to do is recollect it.

It is Plato’s doctrine that whatever knowledge is required on a moment to moment basis is always available for his recollection. On his journey through life, he collects the knowledge required in each & every present moment through his connection to his omniscient Soul.

Omniscient means all knowing or having all knowledge of. For Plato, his Soul has all knowledge of his individual, exclusive & unique path through life.

The philosophical question that this presents is whether Plato’s Doctrine is based on innate divine intuitive knowledge of just his true opinion.

History tells us from experience that Individuals who follow a unique & exclusive path, in alignment with their Soul’s higher vision, mission & purpose for life, tend to be remembered as significant Historical Figures.