How Plato and Pythagoras Can Save Your Life

February 28, 2011
A former New York City nightclub owner and drug abuser, Kardaras is a psychology professor who turned his life around through immersion in ancient Greek philosophy. He introduces readers to some key ideas of the "rational mystics" Pythagoras and Plato, to show how to achieve a more holistic sense of well-being. Many readers will be familiar with Plato's theory of ideal forms, but Kardaras does readers a service by delving into the thought of Pythagoras: a "healthy mind, body, and spirit" through exercise, strict diet, and contemplating "math, music, cosmology, and philosophy." In this vein Kardaras offers meditative exercises leading to expanded consciousness. But some are a stretch ("try and conceptualize the time of the Big Bang"). Clear and friendly, if at times meandering, the book explores such concepts as Aquinas's five proofs for God's existence, and how modern society has killed the notion of a "soul." Kardaras's attempt toward the book's end to articulate a belief in cosmic monism—"we are part of the universal consciousness"—will be welcome to those spiritually and mystically inclined, though it may be too rarefied for others.

January 1, 2011

After a near-death experience, licensed psychotherapist and former nightclub owner Kardaras transformed his life through the practices of Greek philosophy, and he wants to share his insights. To be in harmony with the universe, our consciousness and bodies have to be tuned with a healthy lifestyle and consciousness-expanding meditations. He provides exercises and readings to do just that, plus a substantial amount of researched information on philosophy in general, Greek philosophy in particular, and the concept of the transcendent realm. For college-educated readers with an affinity for philosophical and holistic approaches to life, this book is exceptional.

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