Plato; Or, The Philosopher

Plato; Or, The Philosopher
By Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have Emerson on the night stand, along with Frost and Wilford Owen. I got on to Emerson’s essay on Plato. Talk about a double dip in density. E/P=D2

Emerson: This is [Plato's] defining philosophy. Philosophy is the account which the human mind gives to itself of the constitution of the world. Two cardinal facts lie forever at the base; the one, and the two. 1. Unity, or Identity; and, 2. Variety. We unite all things by perceiving the law which pervades them; by perceiving the superficial differences and the profound resemblances. But every mental act - thus very perception of identity or oneness, recognizes the difference of things. Oneness and otherness. It is possible to speak or to think without embracing both.

Says Emerson, Every great artist has been such by synthesis. Our strength is transitional, alternating or shall I say a thread of two strands. The sea-shore, sea seen from shore, shore seen from sea; the taste of two metals in contact; and our enlarged powers at the approach and at the departure of a friend; the experience of poetic creativeness which is not found in staying at home, nor yet traveling, but in transitions from one to another, which must therefore be adroitly managed to present as much transition surface as possible; this command of two elements must explain the power and charm of Plato.

Simply said: All things ineffable or illimitable are knowable! They are knowable, because being from One, things correspond.

Of each other Emerson interprets Socrates' response to Theages as thus "as if he had said", 'I have no system. I cannot be answerable for you. You will be what you must. If there is love between us, inconceivably delicious and profitable will our intercourse be; if not, your time is lost and you will be only annoy me. I shall se to you stupid, and the reputation I have, false. Quite above us, beyond the will of you or me, is this secret affinity or repulse laid.`

My shallow thoughts: Expanding on that thought Emerson distills a sense of all knowing that comes from the soul as the seed of truth. To paraphrase Emerson; "By us it is asserted that God invented and bestowed sight on us for this purpose [the classic subjects of university] - that on surveying the circles of intelligence in the heavens, we might properly employ those of our own minds, which, though disturbed when compared with others that are uniform, are still allied to their circulations; and that having thus learned, and being naturally possessed of correct reasoning faculty, we might by imitating the uniform revolutions of divinity, set right own wonderings and blunders." And in the Republic - " By each of these disciplines a certain organ of soul is both buried and reanimated which is blinded by and buried by studies of another kind; an organ better worth saving that ten thousand eyes, since truth is previewed by this alone." I say to this being knowable is only valuable in the Republic when that of which is known is expressible; expressed in a manner for learning a common understanding of one another.

It seems to me Socrates says we come together in love and therefore need no institutions. Plato says blah we come together in common understanding through reason. Emerson says, spinning the two together there is one reality found in love, and in a practical sense with in the limitations of our humanness, that feeling of love requires the semantics and syntax of communication. Apparently we cannot simply gaze into each others eyes, see the love and leave it at that. Which brings me to my favorite song by John Lennon; Imagine.

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one



Examples of a person’s ‘Being’ transitioning his life:
Plato
Socrates
Homer
Christ
Mohammad
Budha
Bach
Bethoven
Handel
Vivaldi
The Founding Fathers
Abraham Lincoln
Gandhi
Pushkin
Emerson