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Usually, for beginners the best places to gather information about this re-emerging and mysterious topic, is at local lectures or workshops. Other resources may be the library or people who are interested in "new age" concepts, perhaps including yoga instructors, massage therapists, homeopathists, reverands, astrologers, and mediums/channelers or anyone who works with energy and healing.
Augustine seems to have practically plagiarized Plato. Substitute "god" for "the good" and "the divine" for "the forms" and there you have it: Augustine's philosophy. He even adopts the technique of argument by analogy from Plato. It is interesting to note the inconsistencies in Augustine's own comparison to Platonic theory. Plato considered the forms to be the greater knowledge attainable only by philosophers and those with a truly rational soul. Thus, understanding of forms is a rational process which Plato attributes to the power of human intelligence, counterpoising it to the "inspiration" of poets. In fact, this is the basis for Plato's entire assertion that philosophers not only should be rulers, but are the only people fit to be rulers if the aim of a society is justice.
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