Seeking the Truth

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wrongful deeds if they recollected the realities of the Forms. This concept of humankind’s knowledge of good and evil expressed Plato and Socrates viewpoints on human morality.

Humans become aware of the Forms during their lifetime on earth. As people seek after truth, they are slowly “reminded” of the logos their souls understood in Heaven. These reminders occur because of changes and observations noticed by the individual. As they wrestle with their thoughts and engage in challenging dialogue, they begin to trigger the prompts of the logos formally known to them. These reminders drive humanity towards morality and the grasping of Truth.

Plato separated the Forms into two distinctive classes: higher and lower. Higher Forms pertained more to human ethics and morals. These forms reminded people of their moral duties and enlightened them to the concepts of justice, peace, and rationality. Higher Forms focused on the desire to live a life in pursuit of comprehending the Truth and acting out the Divine Law. Lower Forms benefit people through basic awareness of objects and concepts. It is the Lower Forms that allow acknowledgement of furniture and nature that surrounds people. Studying our environment and focusing on what makes certain objects identify as such lead humanity towards rational thought. Both classes of Forms teach humans how to think which enables them to debate more effectively with others. These debates are ultimately the road to Truth.

I do not agree with Plato’s view of souls being stored in Heaven before placing them into a human body; however, I concur with our moralities coming from a previous understanding of them. Yes, humans are born into sin and desire to please ourselves immediately, yet people are naturally aware of the mistakes executed in their lives. When an action occurs which dishonors the Divine Law (God’s law for His people), the conscience speaks guilt into the head of the deliberator. This awareness of sin comes from the first disobedient act of humanity in the Garden of Eden. Eve’s choice to listen to the serpent and eat the fruit informed all people of the shame of their sin and crystalized the lines between right and wrong. As Christians, individuals must turn to Scripture and meditation with God to better interpret His Divine Law and help us practice it righteously.

Plato continues theorizing human representation of concepts in his myth “The Cave”. “The Cave”, located in his book Republic, illustrates Plato’s thoughts on human understanding of our environments. The cave described in his tale holds prisoners who are facing a stonewall with their capturers standing behind. The capturers build a fire behind the prisoners and create an area to perform with puppets. They build a stage and create the puppets in front of the fire so the shadows will display on the way ahead of the prisoners. As the shadows of the puppets dance in front of the prisoners, the prisoners begin to describe what they see. However, are their descriptions of the actual object or of the shadow? Plato argues that their descriptions are inaccurate because the shadow is not the object claimed. The prisoners exclaim the concepts known in their mind about the object being portrayed, but not of the object itself. Plato’s point is that human names do not define an object, but the human idea of the object is how people identify it to others. Words and gestures cannot label any concept or object here on earth. Humankind must turn around to observe the object, wrestle with the possible purposes of mentioned object, and then decipher a rational understanding of what they are observing. Plato attempts to teach Truth seekers that the perceived and the grasped realities of the mind are on different understanding levels.

“The Cave” focused more on the mind, but Plato’s work “The Charioteer” focuses on the soul. Taken from his writing Phaedrus, “The Charioteer” describes the goals and actualities of what creates man. This allegory describes a journey to reach the Forms of Heaven. Two horses willed either similarly or differently pull each charioteer. Upon reaching the Forms, new strength will empower the horses to lead another revolution around the Heavens. The Immortals follow two beautiful, powerful horses who lead swiftly towards Heavens gates and grant a smooth, strong ride to the Forms. Mortals, however, must guide one beautiful, powerful horse and one dark, obstinate horse. As the noble steed attempts to gallop towards the gates of Heaven, the obstinate horse opposes the direction and yanks down towards the earth. If the charioteer successfully guides his stallions into the Forms, his next journey bears less trouble. When the dark horse pulls against the reigns back down towards earth, the Higher Power shortens his descent. Plato illustrates that the larger understanding of the Forms, the harder it is for humanity to slip into inappropriate behavior. The horse regaining strength at the Forms exemplifies the energy granted to individuals who receive knowledge of the logos. Reaching the Forms is not a faint task, yet each new reminder leads each person to the enlightenment of Truth.

References

Melchert, Norman. The Great Conversation. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

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