"Nor, again, is it all strange that one who comes from the contemplation of divine things to the miseries of human life should appear awkward and ridiculous when, with eyes still dazed and not yet accustomed to the darkness, he is compelled, in a law-court or elsewhere, to dispute about the shadows of justice of the images that cast those shadows, and to wrangle over the notions of what is right in the minds of men who have never beheld Justice itself"
Monday, September 08, 2008
RTS and the awkward man
I'm taking a class starting this weekend at RTS here in Atlanta. It's a history of philosophy class that I'm pretty excited about. I've already begun some of the reading, and I just read the following in Plato's Republic, chapter 7, as he's discussing the famous "cave". I think there is some truth here for me as a Christian. What do you think?
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I think that Platonic thought can sometimes be very compatible with Christianity. This quote you've posted is great. I always focus on the character in the cave who has always existed in the dark with the shadows. The pain and suffering of Truman (on the Truman show) due to his ignorance and not the grief of the old girlfriend who could see the whole operation clearly.
ReplyDelete"Allegory of the cave" heavily influenced my work a few years ago.
"The visible realm should be likened to the prison dwelling, and the light of the fire inside it to the power of the sun. And if you interpret the upward journey and the study of things above as the upward journey of the soul to the intelligible realm, you’ll grasp what I hope to convey. The form of the good is the last thing to be seen, and it is reached only with difficulty. Once one has seen it, however, one must conclude that it is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything, that it produces both light and its source in the visible realm, and that in the intelligible realm it controls and provides truth and understanding, so that anyone who is to act sensibly in private or public must see it.
Come, then, share with me this thought also: It isn’t surprising that the ones who get to this point are unwilling to occupy themselves with human affairs and that their souls are always pressing upwards, eager to spend their time above."
-from Plato's AOTC
glad you are liking it again......
ReplyDeletethat chapter is also where the word glaucoma came from.
Since you've read "Passion of the Western Mind," you could probably TEACH this class.
ReplyDeleteWhitney
ReplyDeleteOnce again, thanks for sharing your thoughts and amazing quotes. I would like to see what kind of work you did during that time.
Roy
I'm glad too. Are you making that last part up?
Arnold
I'd have to read it at least 5 more times to do that. And that would put me at about the age of 48, so I guess I might be ready by then.