> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.withrealityinmind.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # "Western thought has produced some monsters" - Dr Athena Potari on reviving the non-duality of ancient Greece - URL: https://www.withrealityinmind.com/the-hidden-non-duality-of-ancient-greece/ - Published: 2026-02-25T12:39:25.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-20T15:26:05.000Z - Description: Dialogue with Bernardo Kastrup - Author: Amir Giles - Tags: meeting, recording Recording details Date: 24 February 2026 Duration: 2h 4m Free preview Chapters 0:00:00 Opening 0:06:00 Athena introduction 0:08:00 The heart of the Platonic academy 0:09:00 Academic vs living philosophy as a path of love 0:13:00 Athena's heart opening, daimon & new role 0:17:00 The colonization & revival of Hellenic culture 0:18:00 **Spirituality engaged with life** 0:26:00 Apollo & Dionysus 0:30:00 Living an awakened life 0:33:00 Traditional vs academic etymology 0:37:00 Names as sacred signifiers 0:44:00 Hercules in Denmark 0:46:00 On **Peter Kingsley** 0:55:00 Nous & Logos; Awareness gives birth to logic 0:59:00 Parmenides & the role of reason 1:06:00 Defending **Plato's nonduality** & rebirth in Greece 1:10:00 Esoteric information storage for future generations 1:17:00 Analytic philosophy a bridge to intuitive wisdom 1:24:00 **Plato on eyes**: receiving and emitting light 1:35:00 Kastrup = castle 1:36:00 Parallels with **Advaita Vedanta** 1:44:00 The **daimon** is an internal inspiring fire 1:50:00 Reconciling deception, spontaneity and purpose in nature 1:58:00 Plato & Aristotle on **telos & spontaneity** 1:59:00 The ineffable beyond consciousness Bernardo & Athena agree: the root of Western culture is a spirituality fully engaged with life. If nature is an illusion, it is nevertheless a *sacred* one. 2000 years before Shakespeare, Democritus observed, "The world is a stage, life a passage: you came, you saw, you departed." Reality is thus acknowledged as ephemeral play. But this play is divine, and realisation is not to be postponed for another realm. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to discover who you *really* are and to play your role with gusto. To become permeable enough to hear the creative urge "that manifests through each one of us as specific divine tasks in the world." To be lit up by the inner fire which is your daimon. If Apollo signifies transcendent unity and Dionysus the multiplicity, depictions of them shaking hands carry deep significance. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c5/20/c520bbe6-927b-460d-bf38-d4f48d5dc338/content/images/2026/02/image.png) ### Western thought has produced some monsters Bernardo & Athena both admire **Peter Kingsley** for correcting so many misunderstandings and mistranslations of Hellenic philosophy. But they take his diagnosis of Western culture having irrevocably failed as a personal challenge. "Perhaps Western thought has produced some monsters" says Athena, like those we see in mythology. But she believes thesemonsters are doomed to fail because they "don't tap into what is eternal, to what can never die." In contrast, there are aspects of Western culture rooted in a timeless source. If we clear away the delusions of materialism and reductionism, we'll find the fertile ground "to give birth to something even more luminous than before." After a sojourn through Eastern traditions, an impressive academic career (2020 Academy of Athens Award of Philosophy, Oxford PhD, roles at Harvard), Athena awoke to this luminosity in her indigenous philosophy. She is now part of a broader movement in modern Greece that is reviving Ancient Hellenic culture. Her school, [Athenoa](https://athenoa.com/?ref=withrealityinmind.com), is a place where Hellenism can be approached as a ***living wisdom tradition.*** I'm convinced you'll find this talk as inspiring as I did, and be warmed by Athena's exchange with Bernardo. It's totally updating my understanding of stories and terms I thought I knew... You can see my earlier discussion with Athena, some other thoughts I shared in the linked substack article, and of course, the full dialogue with Bernardo all linked below. ***We also discussed:*** - Plato on **seeing without eyes** - The colonisation & revival of Hellenic culture - Many **forms of logic** and their role in realisation - **Direct vs gradual paths** in Hellenic philosophy - The **daimon** is your inner fire As always, I look forward to your thoughts and reflections, Amir [A Western Path to Non-Duality?Ancient Greek philosophy as a path of love - discussion with Dr Athena Potari![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c5/20/c520bbe6-927b-460d-bf38-d4f48d5dc338/content/images/icon/icon-1.svg)Amir GilesSubstack![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c5/20/c520bbe6-927b-460d-bf38-d4f48d5dc338/content/images/thumbnail/N_efNKcE1Bc-1)](https://substack.com/home/post/p-187881012?ref=withrealityinmind.com) ### Also recommended: Speakers ![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c5/20/c520bbe6-927b-460d-bf38-d4f48d5dc338/content/images/2026/02/athena.jpg) Dr Athena Potari **Dr Athena Potari** founded Athenoa in 2019, a School of Hellenic Philosophy based in Greece where Hellenism is approached as a living wisdom tradition whose core consists in the inextricable synthesis of scientific reason and spirituality. She was previously Fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies at Harvard University, where she explored possibilities for an expanded practice of Philosophy by re-integrating elements and histories of the feminine. She received her PhD from the University of Oxford specializing in Political Philosophy, and her MA in Political Theory with Distinction from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She is recipient of the Academy of Athens Award of Philosophy (2020), author of “A Call for a Renaissance of the Spirit in the Humanities” published by the Galileo Commission, and Member of the Galileo Commission Steering Committee. Her work aims to revive the deeper spiritual and experiential dimensions of Hellenic Philosophy as a living spiritual lineage, combining discursive rigor and embodied meditative practices, with the aim of awakening to the ever-present mystery of being – our true Self. Speakers ![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c5/20/c520bbe6-927b-460d-bf38-d4f48d5dc338/content/images/2026/09/Bernardo-Kastrup-profile.jpg) Bernardo Kastrup Analytic idealism Bernardo Kastrup is the Executive Director of Essentia Foundation and Founder/CEO at AI systems company Euclyd BV. His work has set off the modern renaissance of metaphysical idealism. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy (ontology, philosophy of mind) and another in computer engineering (reconfigurable computing, artificial intelligence). As a scientist, he has worked for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Philips Research Laboratories (where the ‘Casimir Effect’ of Quantum Field Theory was discovered). He has also been creatively active in the high-tech industry for almost 30 years, having founded parallel processor company Silicon Hive (acquired by Intel in 2011) and worked as a technology strategist for the geopolitically significant company ASML. Most recently, he has founded AI company Euclyd BV. Formulated in detail in many academic papers and books, his ideas have been featured in *Scientific American*, the magazine of *The Institute of Art and Ideas*, the *Blog of the American Philosophical Association* and *Big Think*, among others. His most defining book is *Analytic Idealism in a Nutshell: A straightforward summary of the 21st-century’s only plausible metaphysics.* [Explore Bernardo’s work →](https://www.bernardokastrup.com/?ref=withrealityinmind.com)