Wisdom 6

4 December 2023

Wisdom 6

“’. . . as to the natures of philosophers, let us agree that they are constantly devoted to that learning, which makes clear to them that part of existence which is eternal and does not wander round between growth and decay.’

“Yes, let’s agree on that.’

“’And their devotion is to the whole of it,’ I said, ‘and they do not willingly pass over anything that is insignificant, or larger, or of greater or less value, just like those we discussed earlier who are ambitious and lovers.’

“’You’re right,’ he said.

“’Now consider the next point, whether those who are to be the sort of people we were discussing must have something in their nature in addition to this.’

“’Such as?’

“’Not lying and under no circumstances be willing to accept falsehood, but rather detest it and be devoted to truth.’

"'That's fair enough,' he said.

“’Not only is it fair enough, my friend, but one who is by nature a lover of something is under total obligation to love everything that belongs to and is akin to the objects of his love.’

“’You’re right,’ he said.

“’Could you find anything closer to wisdom than truth?’

“’How could I?’ he said.

(Plato, Republic, translated by Christ Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy, Plato Republic Books 6-10, Loeb Classical Library, Harvad University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2013, pages 7-15, 485A-485C, ISBN: 9780674995619)

1.  I like to say that philosophy, understood as a spiritual path, is grounded on ‘distinguishing eternity’ from that which is not eternal.  Making the distinction between the eternal and that which is not eternal is the active application of wisdom; it is the primary meaning of wisdom.

This passage from the Republic, which was brought to my attention by a friend and reader of this blog, makes that point.  It is the ‘nature of philosophers’ that they pursue that which is eternal and withdraw from that which is not eternal, that which wanders between growth and decay, what I like to call becoming and begoning.

2.  It is helpful that the philosopher in his pursuit of understanding eternity is compared to a lover.  I think it is a good comparison.  A lover is constantly focused on their object of desire and cannot remain for very long uninterested in their love.  In a similar way, the philosopher is highly motivated to comprehend eternity, to understand eternity, to be consciously in the presence of eternity.

3.  The connection between eternity and truth is that from a Platonic perspective, views of that which is becoming and begoning are, by their very nature and the nature of the ephemera of material existence, are only opinions and can never be more than that.  In contrast, understanding the nature of eternity means understanding that which is true because truth is inherently stable, unlike opinion.

This is the connection between truth, wisdom, and eternity.  Wisdom is the understanding of, and awakening to, the presence of eternity, and truth is what emerges when that awakening occurs.