Nicholas Kardaras PhD - How Plato and Pythagoras can save your life : the ancient Greek prescription for health and happiness

Nicholas Kardaras's book recounts one of the greatest, most dramatic shifts that anyone could ever have experiencednot only from life at the top of the pyramid in New York's big city nightlife to rejection, failure, and poverty, but from a life brimming with vitality and energy to the very portals of physical demise. This dramatic shift had an equally dramatic conclusion: he came out of it a bigger and better man, through the unusual and prima facie implausible stratagem of turning to philosophy for guidanceto classic Greek philosophy, to be exact. And guidance he received; a whole new sense of life, existence, and purpose. His is an amazing story that's more than a personal tale: it's a story with vast and direct application to everyone. To you and to me, who also need to experience a shift. I recommend reading this book both for the mind-boggling and highly entertaining story of someone who made it through the biggest rollercoaster ride anyone could imagine, but also for the pointers it gives for shifting, for being, in Gandhi's celebrated words,' the change we want to see in the world.'

Ervin Laszlo, author of Science and the Akashic Field and Chaos Point 2012

Nicholas Kardaras has undergone a perilous, life-and-death journey and has emerged with a story that must be told. This riveting account reveals the timelessness of authentic wisdom, as well as the majestic, infinite reaches of the mind.

Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words and The Power of Premonitions

With wisdom and wit, this is an accessible account of Greek philosophy not as a dry academic discipline, but as a lived practice of purification and enhanced awareness, with rich transformative potential for all of us. Readers will enjoy the balanced blend of science, philosophy, and practical and spiritual wisdom; and carrying out the experiential exercises can help improve bodily, mental, and spiritual health and well-being, allow greater access to a deeper and more meaningful life and worldview, and foster a fuller realization of our true human potential.

William Braud, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology; co-author of Transforming Self and Others through Research and author of Distant Mental Influence

A masterful integration of mystical Greek philosophy and contemporary, cutting-edge science. Kardaras's lucid and engaging work brings to life the distilled wisdom of the ancient Greek sages and suggests practical ways for a saner and more fulfilled life.

Kyriacos C. Markides, Ph.D., author of Fire in the Heart: Healers, Sages, and Mystics

Emerging phoenix-like from the glamorous, seductiveand destructiveworld of the New York club scene where he mingled with the likes of JFK Jr. and New York's rich and powerful, Dr. Kardaras discovers a powerful and transformative method towards wholeness based on the wisdom of his ancient ancestors. You'll never look at realityor yourselfin quite the same way after reading this book.

R. Couri Hay, former editor, Interview magazine; society editor and columnist, Hamptons magazine, LA Confidential, and Gotham magazine

First published in 2011 by Conari Press

An imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

665 Third Street, Suite 400

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2011 by Nicholas Kardaras, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Permission to reprint lyrics from The Magnificent Seven by The Clash has been granted by the music publisher.

(p. 43) based on the book Miracles of Mind. Copyright 1998, 1999 by Russell

Targ and Jane Katra, Ph.D. Reprinted with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA.

www.newworldlibrary.com.

reprinted with permission from Walt Anthony.

ISBN: 978-1-57324-475-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kardaras, Nicholas, 1964

How Plato and Pythagoras can save your life : the ancient Greek prescription for health and happiness / Nicholas Kardaras.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-57324-475-6 (alk. paper)

1. Conduct of life. 2. Self-consciousness (Awareness)

3. Philosophy, Ancient. I. Title.

BJ1581.2.K335 2011

180--dc22 2010045333

Interior design by Kathryn Sky-Peck

Typeset in Adobe Jenson Pro

Cover design by Jim Warner

Printed in the United States of America

MV

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

Philosophy begins in wonder.

Plato

Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin,
who's more famous to the Billion Millions?

The Magnificent Seven, The Clash

Part I
My Personal Odyssey

Part II
The Being Human

Part III
Reality Bites

Part IV
Pythagoras, the Big Beat, and Cosmic Consciousness

Part V
Escaping Plato's Cave

Part VI
Yes, But.. What Does It All Mean?

Greece and its colonies, circa 550 BCE.

I owe my eternal gratitude to the Greek philosophers of antiquity, whose wisdom gave my life texture, meaning, and a sense of purpose. It is my sincere hope that this book may do the same for others.

Yet this book exists only because of the love and support given to me by my wonderful wife, Lucy. Without that love, neither I nor this book would be here. I would also like to thank my parents, who continued to love me and believe in me even when things seemed to be at their darkest. I was not an easy son, so I thank them for their resilient love.

I owe the most thanks for much of the content of this book to my friend and mentor, Dr. William Braud; he was researching and exploring the parameters of consciousness and human potential while I was still a kid watching Star Trek. Our frequent and oftentimes mind-expanding conversations led to many of the insights contained within this book.

Critically instrumental in getting such a different type of book published was my ceaselessly resourceful literary agent, Adam Chromy. He too believed in me and in the importance of this project and was able to sell my vision in a dauntingly challenging publishing climate. Many thanks also go to my editor, Caroline Pincus, who is an extremely good egg and got what I was trying to accomplish. I am truly very grateful to her, as this book has benefitted immensely from her wisdom and experience.

Finally, I would like to thank my twin infant sons, Ari and Alexi. They teach me each and every day how to maintain my sense of wonder at the world; they remind me of the importance of looking up at the night sky and asking, Why? If I had a dollar for every time their eyes sparkle as they ask me Yiati? (why? in Greek), I'd be a very rich man today. But then again, thanks to everyone that I've mentioned here, I already am.

Human alchemythat's what this book is all about