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Then, I said, the business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already shown to be the greatest of all -- they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good; but when they have ascended and seen enough we must not allow them to do as they do now.

What do you mean?

I mean that they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labours and honours, whether they are worth having or not.

But is not this unjust? he said; ought we to give them a worse life, when they might have a better?
You have again forgotten, my friend, I said, the intention of the legislator, who did not aim at making any one class in the State happy above the rest; the happiness was to be in the whole State, and he held the citizens together by persuasion and necessity, making them benefactors of the State, and therefore benefactors of one another; to this end he created them, not to please themselves, but to be his instruments in binding up the State.

Now we come to the second crucial turn in the Western spiritual tradition, with which Gnosticism, alchemy and depth psychology are properly obsessed: the inclusion of the Scapegoat, the prodigal Fourth, the dark matter and dark energy at our human and cosmic center, into the arms of the psycho-social order, into everyday consciousness and political life.

With so much invested in ascent experiences and techniques, knowledge of the Upper Worlds, and integration with the Father, the Philosopher Kings or Guardians � and the Western spiritual tradition -- are susceptible to becoming �stuck� in solar consciousness. The Philosopher King, having hard-won his spiritual haven, is in no hurry to descend again into the �den� of earthly matter and yet again be rent by the elements, devoured by the mob.

Christ, I need a vacation, he said.

Plato�s Republic long ago left behind political rhetoric and the Judases of ancient Athens. The stakes are much bigger now. Plato�s �State� means not polis but instead humanity in its material and spiritual collectivity, and indeed all Creation.

Plato�s �legislator� is a synonym for divine power, and the dialogue makes clear that, alas, heaven is a group project, and humanity is in this mess together (the happiness was to be in the whole State).

Earth Angel

The earth-born angel -- the filius macrocosmi -- having finally ascended, is not allowed to rest in heaven, but instead arcs back down �among the prisoners in the den.� Necessity and higher wisdom compel the descent (he created them, not to please themselves, but to be his instruments in binding up the State). In the East, it is assumed that incarnation is largely mandatory. The West, alternately, evolved ego-personality and the cult of individual autonomy � largely illusory, but indispensable. Note also that the compelling spiritual entities carry the political moniker "legislators."

Sometimes what appears as deficit of free will is merely service to more inclusive responsibility.

The return descent from the Upper Worlds is the completion of the quaternio advanced by Jung and his fellow alchemists, psychologists and inner astronauts. It is the bringing of the Logos, of the Holy Spirit, back into matter, by those born in matter and risen from it.

The quaternary descent is the production of the Philosopher�s Stone, the finding and filling of the Grail. It is the inclusion of the Outcast, of the scapegoated Fourth, and completes and makes whole (holy) all matter, whether in Earth or in being, whether living or dead.

Thus, even to the deepest cage of the Pit, the news is proclaimed: We have quit of bonds and tyrants! Henceforth let us not be led by foxes, but by princes of our own kind, who have passed both the forge and the needle�s eye, and guard the flock with love.

Observe, Glaucon, that there will be no injustice in compelling our philosophers to have a care and providence of others; we shall explain to them that in other States, men of their class are not obliged to share in the toils of politics � but we have brought you into the world to be rulers of the hive, kings of yourselves and of the other citizens, and have educated you far better and more perfectly than they have been educated, and you are better able to share in the double duty.

Here the �education� of the Philosopher Kings, the Guardians, refers to what Gnostic sects would later term �gnosis.� The �elevated� status of the Kings, rather than conferring personal benefit or glory, instead merely warrants �double duty.� No more Ron and Nancy Royalty. No more Bush Dynasties. Kingship is service � not an ego promenade, nor a feeding frenzy at the public trough. As Dylan notes, in the world reborn, "sacrifice is the code of the Road."