Thursday, February 6, 2014

Plato / Socrates / Jesus/ 3

I don't know why I am reading Plato, after all.  I've got to page 40 and he is wearing me.

What was purportedly shown, so far, was that the "just" man is happy and good, and the "unjust" is immoral and unhappy.  But then, Socrates said: -- fun that it was, this debate, nothing was explained because we still have not defined "justice." -- Goodness gracious.

So, I jumped ahead to Wikipedia, and found out in the end that the whole solution to the problem is that the state ought to be run by philosophers and that women and children should be held as a common good.

Wow.  Sounds like the first hippie commune.  Maybe they got rid of Socrates for good reason, after all.   Here my heart was bleeding the last time I read the account of his Hemlock death.  I nearly cried.

Contrast this with Judeo-Christianity:  "Walk humbly with your God and look after widows and orphans".   And be faithful to your own spouse, valuing each person as a brother and sister in Christ, imbued with eternal value.  All the same.

This is what the early Christians did and this is how they distinguished themselves from Pagan society.  People did not all like it.  Some where put to death, like our poor and dear St. Valentine, whom we honor this month.

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