Course Seven: Lore 333
Lao Tzu (c.600-300 BCE)
The year of Lao Tzu’s
birth is unknown. Legends
vary, but scholars place his
birth anywhere between 600
and 300 BCE. Lao Tzu is attrib-
uted with the writing of the
Tao-Te Ching, (tao meaning
“the way of all life,” te mean-
ing “the fit use of life by men,”
and ching meaning “text” or
“classic”). Lao Tzu was not his
real name but an honorific title meaning “Old Master.”
Lao Tzu believed that human life, like everything else
in the Universe, is constantly influenced by outside
forces. He believed “simplicity” to be the key to truth
and freedom. Lao Tzu encouraged his followers to
observe and seek understanding in the laws of Na-
ture, to develop intuition and build up personal power,
and to use that power to lead life with love, without
force. Lao Tzu’s wise counsel attracted followers, but
he refused to set his ideas down in writing. He be-
lieved that written words might solidify into formal
dogma. Lao Tzu wanted his philosophy to remain a
natural way to live life with goodness, serenity, and
respect. Lao Tzu laid down no rigid code of behavior.
He believed a person’s conduct should be governed
by instinct and conscience.
Legend says that Lao Tzu, saddened in the end
by the evil of men, set off into the desert on a water
buffalo and left civilization behind. When he arrived
at the final gate at the great wall protecting the king-
dom, the gatekeeper finally persuaded him to record
the principles of his philosophy for posterity. The re-
sult was the eighty-one sayings of the Tao-Te Ching—
the world’s most widely translated classic after the Bible.Zarathustra (628-551 BCE)
Called Zoroaster in Greek, Zarathustra was born
in Iran and became a great prophet, teacher, priest,
and Wizard. He founded the religion named after him,
which survives today primarily among the Parsis of
India. Freddy Mercury of Queen was a Zoroastrian.
According to legend, he was trained by a sorcerer
named Agonaces. Zarathustra taught that there are
two main deities: Ahura-Mazda, representing Light and
Good (symbolized by fire) and Ahriman, representing
and Darkness and Evil. These two forces are in per-
petual conflict—both in the Universe and within the
human soul. But humans have free choice, and there-
fore good will ultimately triumph. Zarathustra pro-
claimed a universal message of equality for of all re-
gardless of race, gender, class, or nationality. He in-
sisted that leaders must be “chosen,” thereby sowing
the seeds of democracy. His simple message is con-
tained in a small book of 17 songs or hymns called The
Gathas of Zarathustra.Zarathustra’s cosmic teachings were held and prac-
ticed by priests called the Magi, from whence we get
our words “magic” and “magician.” Famed as astrolo-
gers and Wizards, the Magi were persecuted during
the Persian Empire, around 500 BCE. Today, 70% of the
world’s 40,000 Parsis live in Bombay, India.Pythagoras (580-500 BCE)
A Greek philosopher
and mathemagician, Pytha-
goras was one of the most
influential Wizards of ancient
times. It is believed he was
trained by a Scythian Wizard
named Abaris.
Born on the Greek island
of Samos, Pythagoras mi-
grated to the Greek city-state
of Croton in southern Italy about 530 BCE. There he
established a commune and school of mystics who
sought to discover through math the mysteries of the
Universe—just as physicists do today. Pythagoras
worked out the rotation of the Earth on its axis as the
cause of day and night, and postulated that the plan-
ets are spaced apart according to musical intervals.
His teachings were not only scientific, however,
but also ethical, religious, and mystical. He believed in
an evolutionary form of reincarnation called
metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls, in which
souls progress upwards or downwards among ani-
mals and people according to the lessons they learn
and their behavior during each lifetime. Because of
this concept, Pythagoreans were vegetarians and did
rituals of purification to gain better incarnations in their
next lives. Pythagoras had great charisma, and legends
attributed him with superhuman abilities and feats.Archimedes (287-211 BCE)
Archimedes was an inventive genius similar to
Leonardo da Vinci. He was born and lived in Syracuse,
Sicily. He probably studied in Alexandria, Egypt, un-
der the followers of Euclid. He worked out the prin-
ciples of all basic machines, especially levers. He said:
“Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand,
and I will move the world.” Archimedes invented com-
pound pulleys, the water screw, the planetarium, and
even the water organ. Regarded as the greatest scien-
tist of antiquity and one of the greatest mathemati-
cians of all time, he has been called the “father of
integral calculus.”
Archimedes
discovered the mea-
surement of volume
by water displace-
ment in a famous
story: Asked by the
king to determineCorrected pages 3rd printing.2.p65 65 6/10/2004, 4:04 PM