"The souls of people, on their way to Earth-life, pass through a room full of lights; each takes a taper - often only a spark - to guide it in the dim country of this world. But some souls, by rare fortune, are detained longer - have time to grasp a handful of tapers, which they weave into a torch. These are the torch-bearers of humanity - its poets, seers and saints, who lead and lift the race out of darkness, toward the light. They are the law-givers and saviors, the light-bringers, way-showers and truth-tellers, and without them, humanity would lose its way in the dark." Source: Plato
You wouldn't think such a profound quote from Plato would take me down the path of 'what is freedom', but it did.
As with most breadcrumbs that I've found along my path, not always do I know where they will lead me.
The quote in and of itself is profound because I have always wondered about these individuals that seem to pop up out of nowhere within humanity's history with a message that diverts our path in some shape or form and moves us toward something greater or unrealized before. What I didn't know and what I wondered about was the conditions that led to these changes. "Was it actually the 'messenger' or the 'message'? Was it just 'time' to receive it as a whole in order for the message to be heard and realized within each person?" I've come to realize that you can't change other people, that either a particular truth already lives inside a person or it doesn't.
The thought of something so profound was written thousands of years ago, boggled my mind...and yet here we are STILL cycling from light to dark, dark to light.........
I actually contemplated this quote for days wanting some kind of discussion about it with others to gain added perspective:
Where are all these torch-bearers, light-bringers NOW?!!!
The world seemed hardly enlightened to me and by day drowning in its own suffering or too distracted to care. At some point, I couldn't take the suspense any longer and decided to throw it out there on facebook as if to tempt what I expected would be a fruitless pursuit.
Days passed without a single like or comment. Hmmm...Are puppy and kitten videos really the only topics people cared about? Or are people just too saturated in their lives that they are not interested or capable of having deep conversations anymore?!
Plato's quote sat largely ignored with its spark now dwindling into obscurity and silence. I watched it descend into the bowels of social media hell and wondered how he would have been received today. Would he be a penniless vagabond traveling from town to town, projecting his wise mumblings into the madness of distracted passers by? Would he be considered 'insane'?
THEN.... FINALLY, after a week had passed....a response!
"You do realize that Plato had slaves, right? He wasn't so enlightened and wise."
Having had my excitement replaced by pointless dribble, I thought, Isn't that so typical? I post something profound, invite deep dialogue and there is always that 'one' person that has to come in and piss all over it, diverting the topic. I was so disappointed but then realized that this comment was coming from a friend that seldom commented on facebook. A friend that I highly respected for his intelligence and wisdom, for his commitment to community and alternative building practices - a free thinker, visionary and 'doer'. Why would he take the time to make such a statement unless true? And if true, what does that say about Plato's words and body of work?
Down the rabbit hole we go.......
Yes, it was certainly true. Not only did Plato have slaves but he himself was a slave for a period of time.
Throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the politics of the city of Syracuse. According to Diogenes Laertius, Plato initially visited Syracuse while it was under the rule of Dionysius.[36] During this first trip Dionysius's brother-in-law, Dion of Syracuse, became one of Plato's disciples, but the tyrant himself turned against Plato. Plato was sold into slavery and almost faced death in Cyrene, a city at war with Athens, before an admirer bought Plato's freedom and sent him home.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato
So what exactly was a slave in Plato's time?
The most important of these is a simile in the Laws where Plato contrasts the free physician in attendance upon freemen with the slave healer of slaves. The free medical man "investigates the origin and the nature of disease; he enters into community with the patient and with the friends." He is essentially a 'teacher', but a teacher who also learns from the sick. He gives no autocratic orders, but educates the patient into health. Slaves, on the other hand, are incapable of such reasonable intercourse. The slave doctor's visit is hurried. He "neither gives a servant any rational account of his complaint, nor asks him for any; he gives an order based on empirical belief with the air of exact knowledge, in the insolent manner of a tyrant, then jumps off to the next ailing servant.....(slave) He can have true belief, but cannot know the truth of his belief. He can learn by experience (empeiria) and external prescription. But he can neither give nor follow a rational account. He is therefore susceptible to persuasion. Source:http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2180538?uid=3739256
I was dumbfounded by the similarities to our current society defined by Plato as slavery. Slave meaning a person serving a craft or purpose (teacher, doctor, painter, muscisian, etc.). Plato himself was enslaved later in his life by a city that had been in conflict with Athens... not what we envision as 'slavery' but to work as a teacher.
It would seem that most people during this time were slaves as they worked for someone else. Is that different from today?
The distinction Plato makes is that a slave is someone that works to feed and care for his/her family....non-slaves are those that rule over them. Apparently this is an ongoing debate of what Plato meant in his "Utopia" and other references he made. We the readers can only speculate but clearly there is little difference in today's society. This particular statement, I find quite relevant regarding slaves: "He can have true belief, but cannot know the truth of his belief. He can learn by experience (empeiria) and external prescription. But he can neither give nor follow a rational account. He is therefore susceptible to persuasion." - Are we not all slaves to the system that we live in now and how many of us are privy to the inner workings of these systems and the decisions that are made?
This ultimately begs the question, "Are we free? Do we even know what that means? Have we ever been free?
Upon further evaluation of this most depressing question, I realized that historically speaking, we have made very little diversion from this truth. For the most part, it has been a replaying theme of humanity, as if a fixed story-line. One could easily come to the conclusion that we will always be doomed to repeat what appears to be part of human nature/instinct. However, I would not discount the possibility that the human condition has somehow experienced an error in its survival mechanisms (science has taught us that behavior can be inherited through genes and that DNA holds memory from past generations)...and certainly one could even introduce a lack of empathy and connection as we move further down the science and technology path.
WHAT IF....the world was handed its freedom completely? What would that world look like?
As old as our world is, it seems that it is still in its infancy. Having never ventured beyond our current cycles of light to dark, dark to light. We have yet to understand why we are here, who we are or what motivates our actions/beliefs.
Largely, who we perceive ourselves to be is anchored in our environment and generational dogmas that seem destined to polarize - who is more worthy/non-worthy; right/wrong; important/non-important. The list is long!
Is freedom even possible? Especially if we have no idea what true freedom is, let alone share the experience with others?
Maybe just maybe.....freedom is something we develop on the inside...it's personal. Otherwise, you will always have those who want to rule and those who need to be ruled over...and yet neither is free.
In other words, "WE.....are the torch-bearers of humanity - its poets, seers and saints, who lead and lift the race out of darkness, toward the light. WE.... are the law-givers and saviors, the light-bringers, way-showers and truth-tellers, and without developing our light on the inside.... humanity would lose its way in the dark."
I do believe that 'freedom' begins with 'us' individually. Learning and growing within ourselves.
Grab a taper from that inner spring of inspiration, truth and beauty and share it with your fellow human being.