Socrates once said (in Plato’s Phaedrus) that there are two kinds of people:
“…if their compositions are based on knowledge of the truth, and they can defend or prove them, when they are put to the test, by spoken arguments, which leave their writings poor in comparison of them, then they are...worthy of a higher name, befitting the serious pursuit of their life… Wise, I may not call them; for that is a great name which belongs to God alone; lovers of wisdom or philosophers is their modest and befitting title… And he who cannot rise above his own compilations and compositions, which he has been long patching, and piecing, adding some and taking away some, may be justly called poet or speech-maker or law-maker.”
In other words, to the true lover of wisdom, it’s more important to understand what is true than to produce great things–because only in that understanding can one produce the greatest things.
During the last couple months, I haven’t been especially productive at “piecing together my compositions”–I haven’t produced anything particularly beautiful or noteworthy. But I have been learning, living, exploring, and experiencing as much as possible, and if Socrates is right, then the good character that I’m trying to get is much more valuable than any physical thing I ever compose. After all, very few people are ever remembered for making great literature, music, or art. What people are remembered for is being a good parent, or spouse, or teacher, or friend.
Tl;dr: I’ll always be working on some composition or another. But it’s the person you become, not what you leave behind, that really means something. ∎
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Den 3. nov. 2021 kl. 07.19 skrev Eric Christensen :
ericlchristensen posted: ” Socrates once said (in Plato’s Phaedrus) that there are two kinds of people: “…if their compositions are based on knowledge of the truth, and they can defend or prove them, when they are put to the test, by spoken arguments, which leave their writing”
I was thinking this morning about the wisdom of God, and his mindfulness of his children through miracles, great and small. We know good people like Keven Clemens who have shared about their life-prolonging miracles. Other miracles are more subtle but life-changing nevertheless. I recall a bishop who, through his station as God’s representative and his righteous desires to help his flock, received inspiration certainly not in the handbook of instructions, and invited the young men to learn to play a hymn on the piano. One of the priests, through obedience and faith, heeded that invitation and taught himself to play a hymn on the piano, which became the seed that increased his musical confidence and inspired further exploration, which became a great source of joy in his life. Just a little miracle, but to those involved, a life-changing one.