Collected within the works of Plato are often the so-called epistles, or fancy talk for "letters." These are highly disputed as to whether they are or are not of the Master's hand, but there are a few turns of phrases that have continued to turn many heads over the centuries and millennia. Although I am not a stylistic expert, I will say that the "Plato" of the dialogs and spokesman of Socrates sounds much different than the one of the "Epistles," I am also very aware of the difference I afford to writing a letter than I do say a post, or piece of fiction, or academic work. Different audiences, difference in language. If one reads the fully collected letters of James Joyce, that one person would be shocked to see the seemingly incongruent shifts between letters to creditors or to his matron, Harriet Shaw Weaver, or contemporaries such as Beckett, and then to his institutionalized daughter Lucia during the writing of Finnegans Wake. Taken separately, there is NO way that they are from the same hand, but they are.
With Plato, this will remain a mystery. We will not one day uncover his old files and hard drives like we can with modern writers and their archives. There will be things lost to Time, like it or not, despite all of the good and selfish intentions of scholars trying to make names for him- or herself with revealing the "truth."
That said, one of the most controversial string of words from Plato comes from what has traditionally come down as the "Seventh Letter," which details his interactions with the Soprano's type tyrant of Dionysos, a failed philosopher king, and his role in trying to groom the cosa nostra leader into some sort of educated and enlightened monarch, much to the absolute distress of all involved.
The lines, however, read, concerning the education, or the leading of a philosophical grounding, via a teacher as something completely illusive and elusive. Plato, or his pretender, writes:
oukoun emon ge peri auton esti sungramma oude mepote gegnethai: rheton gar oudamos estin os alla mathemata, all' ek polles sunousias gignomenes peri to pragma auto kai tou suzein exaiphnes, oion apo puros pedesantos exaphthen phos, en tei psychei genomenon auto heauto ede trephei.
Or, (translation mine, feel free to adapt/critique)
There neither is, nor ever will be, such a treatise by me about this, for there is no rhetorical expression of it, unlike other fields of knowledge, but from a continued presence with the subject (a philosophical life) itself, and a veritable communion with it, it is engendered as like a spark of light, kindled by its leap and is then nourished in the Soul.
In other words, to pursue a life of true philosophical inquiry, to Know Thyself, it cannot be taught. This is a blow to education, which, by definition, means to lead one from ... X. But what is X? Ignorance? Darkness? Or, does leading to the so-called "truth" cause the same result, being that it cannot be but transmitted like a spark plug arcing?
I have had amazing teachers. I have tried to be one. But, these few words do haunt me as I do believe them.
I have known far too many "intelligent" people who could not tie their emotional EQ shoelaces together to save their lives.
On the flip side, I have known highly "uneducated" people who could not recite a simple fact of "knowledge," yet had great insight into the human condition.
And, all types in between, including both students and teachers in my life.
I, by default, believe in trying to ignite the Spark, the arc light that bridges knowing and not-knowing, specifically with the concept of Know-ing One's Self, but that comes at a cost. Sparks cost energy, physical energy and need to be nourished, whether in the Soul or in the snow, like a Jack London novel.
As such, it is truly an on-going process, and in the absence of a perpetually motioning machine that re-generates power, it is exhausting, and yields exhaust and exhaustion.
But, can we afford not to fuel this particular fire?
I think not.
With Plato, this will remain a mystery. We will not one day uncover his old files and hard drives like we can with modern writers and their archives. There will be things lost to Time, like it or not, despite all of the good and selfish intentions of scholars trying to make names for him- or herself with revealing the "truth."
That said, one of the most controversial string of words from Plato comes from what has traditionally come down as the "Seventh Letter," which details his interactions with the Soprano's type tyrant of Dionysos, a failed philosopher king, and his role in trying to groom the cosa nostra leader into some sort of educated and enlightened monarch, much to the absolute distress of all involved.
The lines, however, read, concerning the education, or the leading of a philosophical grounding, via a teacher as something completely illusive and elusive. Plato, or his pretender, writes:
oukoun emon ge peri auton esti sungramma oude mepote gegnethai: rheton gar oudamos estin os alla mathemata, all' ek polles sunousias gignomenes peri to pragma auto kai tou suzein exaiphnes, oion apo puros pedesantos exaphthen phos, en tei psychei genomenon auto heauto ede trephei.
Or, (translation mine, feel free to adapt/critique)
There neither is, nor ever will be, such a treatise by me about this, for there is no rhetorical expression of it, unlike other fields of knowledge, but from a continued presence with the subject (a philosophical life) itself, and a veritable communion with it, it is engendered as like a spark of light, kindled by its leap and is then nourished in the Soul.
In other words, to pursue a life of true philosophical inquiry, to Know Thyself, it cannot be taught. This is a blow to education, which, by definition, means to lead one from ... X. But what is X? Ignorance? Darkness? Or, does leading to the so-called "truth" cause the same result, being that it cannot be but transmitted like a spark plug arcing?
I have had amazing teachers. I have tried to be one. But, these few words do haunt me as I do believe them.
I have known far too many "intelligent" people who could not tie their emotional EQ shoelaces together to save their lives.
On the flip side, I have known highly "uneducated" people who could not recite a simple fact of "knowledge," yet had great insight into the human condition.
And, all types in between, including both students and teachers in my life.
I, by default, believe in trying to ignite the Spark, the arc light that bridges knowing and not-knowing, specifically with the concept of Know-ing One's Self, but that comes at a cost. Sparks cost energy, physical energy and need to be nourished, whether in the Soul or in the snow, like a Jack London novel.
As such, it is truly an on-going process, and in the absence of a perpetually motioning machine that re-generates power, it is exhausting, and yields exhaust and exhaustion.
But, can we afford not to fuel this particular fire?
I think not.
