Tao Te Ching - Verse 11

My personal paraphrase of verse 11 -

The hub of a wheel is empty.
The inside of a bowl is empty.
A doorway in a wall is empty.
Without the empty part
     a wheel, a bowl and a wall are useless.
We value the thing itself,
     but it's the "nothing" that makes it useful.

Socrates' Dark Side

During my commute each day I've been listening to David Aikman's Great Souls.  A passage in his introduction has caught my attention.  He says

"Our age, with its habit of instantly judging a man or woman's life based on the fragmentary and proverbial sound bite, is often impatient with detail, nuances, depth.  It takes a certain generosity of spirit too--sadly a rare virtue in our age--to admire the moral quality of a person when one disagrees with his or her ideas.  In my experience, that generosity of spirit is nevertheless almost always rewarded.  I have repeatedly been delighted to find large kernals of decency and integrity in the lives of people with whom, on political issues in particular, I have strongly disagreed."

With that as a preface, I'd like to take on Socrates's shadow.  As with many of us, Socrates' vices were often the flip side of the coin of his strength.  Behind the picture of a man called to expose the foolishness of man's pretensions to wisdom emerges another less dignified picture - the picture that must have dominated in the minds of those who condemned him.

1. "Why ever do some people enjoy spending a great deal of time
      with me?....they enjoy hearing men cross-examined who think
      they are wise, and are not; indeed that is not unpleasant."
                                  Apology
2. "Besides this, the young men, those who have most leisure,
      sons of the most wealthy houses, follow me of their own
      accord, delighted to hear people cross-examined; and they
      often imitate me, they try themselves to cross-examine, and
      then I think, they find plenty of people who believe they
      know something, when they know little or nothing.  So in
      consequence those who are cross-examined are angry with me
      instead of themselves."
                                 Apology
3.  Aristophanes describes his walk as a swagger.  Not a
     difficult thing to imagine of the man who, when convicted,
     proposed that his punishment be free meals for life at
     public expense.

Socrates (and Plato) - Reason and Revelation

For centuries scholars have tried to see if we can disentangle Socrates from Plato.  Like the search for the historical Jesus, the attempts have been many and ingenious and often differ widely one from another.  The arguments for immortality in the Phaedo depend on a style of reasoning that Aristotle specifically says originated with his master rather than Socrates.  I think we can safely say that here Plato is doing much more than just attempting to report Socrates’s words and opinions.  He is reaching for some logical certainly about the immortality of the soul.

     My dominant impression of the Phaedo is how poorly Plato's arguments have weathered the centuries.  That impression has made me sensitive to one the dialogue’s themes – the limitations of reason.

1)    Fear is expressed that the Socratic method, with its relentless demolishing of position after position may create a lack of faith in reason itself –

"Don't let us be 'misologues', hating argument....It would be a pitiable disease, when there is an argument true and sound and such as can be understood, if through the pain of meeting so many which seem sometimes to be true and sometimes not, instead of blaming himself and his own clumsiness a man should...throw the blame from himself upon the arguments and for the rest of his life continually hate and abuse them."

                                  Phaedo

2)    There is anxiety over the impact of the body's interference with the mind's search for truth:

"With loves and desires and fears and all kinds of fancies and much rubbish, it infects us....Indeed wars and factions and battles all come from the body and its desires, and from nothing else.  For the desire of getting wealth causes all wars, and we are compelled to desire wealth by the body, being slaves to its culture; therefore we have no leisure for philosophy....if we do have some leisure and turn away from the body to speculate on something, it causes confusion and disturbance, and dazzles us so that it will not let us see the truth."

                                   Phaedo

3)    Socrates himself is allowed to express doubt about whether he can reason without at least one very dangerous bias –

“For in fact as regards this very matter I am just now no philosopher, I am a philovictor - I want to win."

                                    Phaedo

I’m not saying that Plato has no faith in reason.  Certainly the following words from the Crito could almost serve as a motto for the entire enlightenment project.

"For my way is and always has been to obey no one and nothing, except the reasoning which seems to me best when I draw my conclusions."

                                            Crito

But the dialogue still sounds note after note of worry about how well reason serves as a tool in the search for truth.  Towards the end of the dialogue it is even compared (with some wistfulness) to the possibility of divine revelation:

"I think a man's duty is one of two things: either to be taught or to find out where the truth is, or if he cannot, at least to take the best possible human doctrine and the hardest to disprove, and to ride on this like a raft over the waters of life and take the risk; unless he could have a more seaworthy vessel to carry him more safely and with less danger, some divine doctrine to bring him through."

                                          Phaedo

Socrates - Reason and Revelation

      For Socrates their seemed to be no boundary between the spiritual and the intellectual.  Reason and revelation seemed to co-exist peacefully in his universe.  He would reason from the basis of a spiritual experience with as much confidence as he would argue from a mundane observation or analogy-

 

           1)If his inner voice indicated that his line of reasoning was
             off, he would accept its verdict:

 

             "In other speeches of mine it [his prophetic voice] has
             often checked me while I was still speaking."
                                                Apology

 

           2)After his sentence of death he even reasoned from its
             absence:

 

             "My familiar prophetic voice of the spirit in all times past
             has always come to me frequently, opposing me even in very
             small things, if I was about to do something not right....
             yet...as I left home this morning, there was no opposition
             from the signal of God, nor when I entered this place of the
             court, nor anywhere in my speeches as I was about to say
             anything....it has not opposesed me anywhere, either in deed
             or in word.  Then what am I to conceive to be the cause?  I
             will tell you; really this that has happened to me is good,
             and it is impossible that any of us conceives it aright
             who thinks it is an evil thing to die.  A strong proof of this
             has been given to me; for my usual signal would certainly
             have opposed me, unless I was about to do something good."
                               Apology

 

           3)As we've already seen, an oracle from Delphi or a striking
             dream could provide a riddle that drew forth his full mental
             abilities in an effort to understand its meaning correctly.
             Do the instructions on revelation in D&C 9 strike a
             familiar chord here?

 

 Although there is no evidence he ever doubted his own spiritual experiences, he felt free to use reason and experience to test and prove those that came from others.

 

           4) For there, I thought, if anywhere, I should test the revelation
            and prove that the oracle was wrong."
                              Apology

 

 It seems that a certain kind of compelling argument, unopposed by his voice, and able to withstand the objections of his companions could assume the provisional character of divine truth.

 

           5)At the end of the Crito, Socrates sums up his arguments for
             staying and facing his punishment:

 

             "let us do in this way, since in this way God is leading us."
                               Crito

 

           6)Here however we are left with another possible instance of
             revelation, for a few lines earlier he sums up the arguments
             thus:

 

             "This...is what I seem to hear, as the mystic revelers think
             they hear pipes; so in my ears the sound of these words keep
             humming and makes me deaf to other things.  As far as I can
             see, you may be sure that whatever you say contrary to this,
             you will say in vain."

                               Crito

 

 Of all the logical arguments or proofs I encountered in the three dialogues, this one - a variation of the idea of the social contract - seems to best stand the test of time, and comes across as fresh and compelling.

 

 

 

 

 

Socrates as a Religious Figure - 3

The third major way in which Socrates' spirituality emerges is in his consciousness of having a divine mission - a "vocation" or "calling" would be the Christian term for it.

A) He felt called to expose the limitations of human knowledge.

           1)It began with a search to understand the meaning of the

             message of the Delphic oracle - No one is wiser than

             Socrates - which appeared to him to be a riddle whose

             answer the god expected him to find:

             "I sorrowed and I feared; but still it seemed necessary to

             hold the god's business of the highest importance, so I had

             to go on trying to find out what the oracle meant."

                                    Apology

           2)During that search he came to understand what he felt God

             meant by the message, acquired a feeling that he was

             responsible to God to spread it, and discovered a technique

             for doing so - the infamous Socratic method:

             "The god in fact is wise, and in this oracle he means that

             human wisdom is worth little or nothing, and it appears

             that he does not say this of Socrates, but simply adds my

             name to take me as an example, as if he were to say that

             this one of you human beings is wisest, who like Socrates

             knows that he is in truth worth nothing as regards wisdom.

             This is what I still, even now, go about searching and

             investigating in the god's way, if ever I think one of our

             people, or a foreigner, is wise; and whenever I don't find

             him so, I help the god by proving that the man is not wise."

                                    Apology

           3)"Why ever do some people enjoy spending a great deal of

             time with me?....they enjoy hearing men cross-examined who

             think they are wise, and are not....And I maintain that I

             have been commanded by the god to do this, through oracles

             and dreams and in every way in which some divine influence

             or other has ever commanded a man to do anything."

                                    Apology

B) Over time his definition of his task expanded.  In addition to exposing what we don't know,
     he felt his duty to follow and advocate what he called Philosophy - literally a "love of wisdom." 
     The desire and search for wisdom and virtue seemed to him to take precedence over all other considerations:

           1)"God posted me, as I thought and believed, with the duty to

             be a philosopher and to test myself and others..."

                                    Apology

           2)"If you were to say to me...'we let you go free, but on

             this condition, that you will no longer spend your time in

             this search or in philosophy'...if you should let me go

             free on these terms which I have mentioned, I should answer

             you, 'Many thanks indeed for your kindness, gentlemen, but

             I will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I have

             breath in me and remain able to do it, I will never cease

             being a philosopher..."

                                    Apology

           3)"Perhaps someone might say, Can't you go away from us,

             Socrates, and keep silent and lead a quiet life?....If I say

             that this is to disobey the god, and therefor I cannot keep

             quiet, you will not believe me but think that I am a humbug.

             If again I say it is the greatest good for a man every day

             to discuss virtue and the other things about which you hear

             me talking and examining myself and everybody else, and

             that life without enquiry is not worth living for a man,

             you will believe me still less if I say that.  And yet all

             this is true."

                                    Apology

C) As a philosopher, he saw his role as a kind of Nibleyesque gadfly -

     reminding his countrymen that they ought to pursue virtue and the

     good of their souls instead of wealth, power or honor.

 

           1)"I will never cease being a philosopher, and exhorting you,

             and showing what is in me to any one of you I may meet, by

             speaking to him in my usual way:  My excellent friend, you

             are an Athenian, a citizen of this great city, so famous

             for wisdom and strength, and you take every care to be as

             well off as possible in money, reputation and place - then

             are you not ashamed not to take every care and thought for

             understanding, for truth, and for the soul, so that it may

             be perfect?"

                                    Apology

           2)"And if any one of you argues the point and says he does

             take every care[for his soul], I will not at once let him

             go and depart myself; but I will question and cross-examine

             and test him, and if I think he does not possess virtue but

             only says so, I will show that that he sets very little

             value on things most precious, and sets more value on

             meaner things, and I will put him to shame....For this is

             what God commands me, make no mistake, and I think there is

             no greater good for you in the city in any way than my

             service to God."

                                    Apology

           3)"All I do is go about and persuade you, both young and old,

             not to care for your bodies and your monies first, and to

             care more exceedingly for the soul, to make it as good as

             possible."

                                    Apology

           4)"I plead for your sakes, that you may not offend about

             God's gift by condemning me.  For if you put me to death,

             you will not easily find such another, really like

             something stuck on the state by the god, though it is

             rather laughable to say so; for the state is like a big

             thoroughbred horse, so big that he is a bit slow and heavy,

             and wants a gadfly to wake him up.  I think the god put me

             on the state something like that, to wake you up and

             persuade you and reproach you every one, as I keep settling

             on you everywhere all day long."

                                    Apology

           5)"That I am really one given to you by God you can easily

             see from this; for it does not seem human that I have

             neglected all my own interests...while always I was

             attending to your interests, approaching each of you

             privately like a father or an elder brother and

             persuading you to care for virtue."

                                    Apology

I envy Socrates' clarity about his earthly mission.  He, like the Master was able to say "for this cause I was born and for this purpose came I into the world."  I take comfort that both Jesus and Socrates were looking backwards near the very end of their mortality.  I hope my own personal knowledge of what I was put upon this earth to accomplish comes clearer by then.

 

Di lanatos pedes habent

Favorite Latin proverb of this month -


Di lanotos pedes habent


"The gods have woolen feet." 


In other words, the divine often sneaks up on you.  The thought just makes me happy.

Tao Te Ching - Verse 11

一      yī     one


Using Jonathan Star's Tao Te Ching as a tool to look at the individual characters of a passage gives one some idea of the terse, polyvalent qualities of the original.  The first phrase of verse 11 parses literally as something like "thirty spokes share one hub."


Jonathan Star
      "thirty spokes of a wheel all join at a common hub"
Robert Henricks
     "thirty spokes unite in one hub"
R. B. Blakney
     "thirty spokes will converge in the hub of a wheel"

Socrates as a Religious Figure - 2

The Socrates who emerges in these three dialogues (we'll set aside the quest for the historical Socrates for the purpose of these posts, and concentrate on the Socrates we have and not worry for the moment about the Socrates we don't have) expresses his spirituality in at least three ways.  I'll deal with the first two in this post.

A)Socrates seems to recognize and trust in a divine providence.

 

           1)As he begins his defense:

             "In this let God's will be done."

                                    Apology

 

           2)In response to the vote for the death penalty:

             "Perhaps this was to be so."

                                    Apology

 

B)Socrates believes in and feels he is guided by divine inspiration.

 

           1)In the Apology he takes the Delphic oracle very seriously,

            treating its words as if they did in fact come from God.

             He reports that he pondered, puzzled, and tried those words

             until he believed he understood them:

 

                "What in the world does the god mean?  What in the

                     world is his riddle?"

                "I was puzzled for a long time to understand what he

                     meant; then I thought of a way to try to find

                     out..."

                "I asked myself on behalf of the oracle..."

                "the god in fact is wise, and in this oracle he

                     means..."

 

           2)He treats at least some dreams as divine messages.

 

                a)In prison, three days before his execution:

                  "SOCRATES:  I suppose I am to die the day after

                  that ship comes in....I don't think she'll come on

                  this day now beginning, but tomorrow.  I infer this

                  from a dream I had this very night just past, a

                  little while ago....I thought a woman came to me,

                  handsome and well grown, and dressed in white; she

                  called to me and said, 'Socrates, On the third day

                  you'll reach fertile Phthia.'

                  CRITON:  A strange dream, Socrates!

                  SOCRATES:  Not at all, quite clear, Criton, as I

                  think, anyhow."

                                    Crito

 

                b)In prison, the day of his death:

                  "In my past life, the same dream often used to come

                  to me, in different shapes at different times, but

                  saying the same thing, 'Socrates, get to work and

                  compose music!'  Formerly I took this to mean what

                  I was already doing; I thought the dream was urging

                  and encouraging me, as people do in cheering on

                  their own men when they are running a race, to

                  compose - which, taking philosophy to be the

                  highest form of composition, I was doing already;

                  but now...I thought that, if the dream should

                  really command me to work at this common kind of

                  composition, I ought not to disobey the dream but

                  to do so."

                                    Phaedo

 

           3)He hears and trusts an inner voice.

 

             "Something divine and spiritual comes to me....This has

             been about me since my boyhood, a voice, which when it

             comes always turns me away from doing something I am

             intending to do, but never urges me on."

                                   Apology

Socrates as a Religious Figure - 1

I grew up with an image of Socrates as a sort of secular saint, an early martyr for logic and philosophy against the superstition and ignorance of the ancient world.  I can't say anymore where exactly I picked it up, but it must have been from multiple sources.  When I first read the three dialogues of Plato that present his trial, final days and death I was somewhat surprised by the fact that they were suffused with as much spirituality as logic.

Since these dialogues were on this year's list of reading goals, I revisited them in a different translation to see how much of my first impression might have been the result of the choices of a translator.  The first translation I had used was by W.H.D. Rouse.  On a series of flights last month I reread the dialogues in Benjamin Jowett's translation.  I emerged with same impression of Socrates' spiritual qualities.

Tao Te Ching - Verse 10

一      yī     one

My own paraphrase of the same passage:

Can you bring body and spirit
   together in wholeness?
Can you center yourself
   and become as a child?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
   until you can see without distortion?
Can you love and lead
   without manipulation?
When heaven moves upon you
   can you give yourself to it?
Can you be farsighted
   seeing without prejudice?

Henricks' translation:

In nourishing the soul and embracing the one -
   can you do it without letting them leave?
In concentrating your breath and making it soft -
   can you make it like that of a child?
In cultivating and cleaning your profound mirror -
   can you do it so that it has no blemish?
In loving people and giving life to the state -
   can you do it without using knowledge?
In opening and closing the gates of heaven -
   can you play the part of the female?
In understanding all within the four reaches -
   can you do it without using knowledge?

Tao Te Ching - verse 10

一      yī     one

Our first occurrence of "yi" is in verse 10 where it speaks of "embracing the one/unity"

Blakney translates the extended passage like this:

Can you govern your animal soul, hold to the one and never depart from it?
Can you throttle your breath, down to the softness of breath in a child?
Can you purify your mystic vision and wash it until it is spotless?
Can you love all your people, rule over the land without being known?
Can you be like a female, and passively open and shut heaven's gates?
Can you keep clear in your mind the four quarters of earth and not interfere?

Works and Days - lines 1 - 10

With the help of the Perseus website, I've parsed my way through the first 10 lines of Hesiod's Works and Days.  Like Shakespeare I have "little Latin and less Greek," but it has been fun to stretch myself to try to catch the meanings of the words and phrases as I slowly work through the original.  Here is my personal attempt at versifying what I've understood:

Muses from Pieria, creating fame in songs,
Come! of Zeus, your father, tell us, singing praise -
he through whom all mortal men are known, unknown,
spoken of, unnoted, according to the great god's will.
For indeed with ease he makes strong, with ease crushes strength,
easily he dims conspicuous and magnifies invisible,
and with ease he straightens bent and withers heroic men -
high thundering Zeus, whose dwelling is the highest house.
Hear! both seeing and perceiving, and make you judgments straight
with justice.  And I too, Perseus, would speak true things.

Tao Te Ching

Here are my first 10 Chinese Characters (The numbers 1 - 10)

一      yī     one

二     èr      two

三     sān    three

四     sì      four

五     wǔ     five

六     liù     six

七     qī      seven

八     bā      eight

九     jiǔ      nine

十     shí      ten