While I like dogs very much, I sometimes find ‘dog-eared’ pages in books annoying. My copy of The Cave and the Light – Plato versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization, by Dr. Arthur Herman, has 22 bent page corners.
Bending the rules about dog-ears, the one on Page 326 finds the author saying: “Plato’s allegory of man’s upward climb from the darkness of matter to the eternal light inspired the greatest minds of the ancient world…it touched Christian thinkers… it lurks in the deepest recesses of modern science.” On the next page, referring to Galileo: “Science and religion, he averred, were in fact emanations of the same truth.”
Not until I had nearly finished the draft of my fourth novel, did I gain a deeper understanding of the underlying theme of faith and science. Witnesses to this revelation sat in the small audience of a Community Education session for my “Words on Paper” program. During the discussion, while attempting to describe the theme I felt a flash of insight. Perhaps it was primed by that book among my research readings, and all the dog-eared pages. From the cave to the light.
I had been struggling with understanding the theme of my fourth novel, Beyond All That Matters. My inspiration for the story grew from the experience of an acquaintance, coupled with my curiosity and interest in science, particularly quantum physics, and the nebulous world of faith, or mysticism. Understanding that there is nothing new under the sun, I recognized the connection to Plato and Aristotle, which I recall acknowledging to the small audience.
Later, I recalled reading Plato in the original Greek for college class on classical Greek. In reading anything in its original language your grasp of the meaning is deeper and more nuanced than reading a translation. (And yes, I did find a file folder with notes from the class. Reading them now, it was Greek to me.)
My research for the novel into the interface of metaphysics and faith also led me to Alfred North Whitehead. The British mathematician and philosopher is quoted saying about Plato, “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” And Plato’s teacher was Socrates, who left no writings, being only recorded in the Dialogues written by Plato. Socratic dialogue, two people in conversation using critical thinking.
Whitehead sought to meld science and faith in his ‘process theology’. God is the Creator, and creation is an on-going process, which we attempt to understand with science. You could even argue that the meaning of life is found in creativity, a limitless range, from baking cookies to painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to clothes washing – creating clean clothes.
The Cave and the Light is written in a very readable style and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Back cover blubs describe it better than I can. “A fabulous way to understand over two millennia of history, all in one book.” – Library Journal. “Examining mathematics, politics, theology, and architecture, the book demonstrates the continuing relevance of the ancient world.” – Publishers Weekly.
I don’t recall how I found the book. Perhaps like many others in research for my novels, it was a combination of my personal radar, serendipity, and Divine guidance. And the Divine – God – is still and will continue to be very much in play as said in Dr. Herman’s book subtitle, “The struggle for the soul of western civilization.” This is the tension that drives all good literature and art. Vast amounts of art and literature seek to portray or understand goodness, and God, and the forces that surge against it.
In the book’s final chapter, entitled “Worlds at War: Plato and Aristotle in the Violent Century,” a dog-eared page finds an insight gleaned from the work of Friedrich von Hayek, an Austrian-British economist and political philosopher (1899-1992) (Wikipedia). The violent century here was the Twentieth: Economic depression, two world wars, Viet Nam, racial conflict, terrorism, etc.
As I understand it, Hayek argued that information in the marketplace – small daily decisions and behaviors of all individuals – are what comprise the marketplace and civil society. (There’s that word again, information). When individual entities – tribes or dictators – seek to dominate and manipulate everything, instability and violence follow. And today society again struggles to sustain political democracy.
The violence continues in the Twenty First Century. What would Plato, Aristotle, God, say about the current partisan divide, war in Europe and Middle East? So what else is new? Among the major causes of this century’s ‘violence’: Gross wealth disparity, diminished resources for education, erosion of institutions, internet information anarchy and misinformation, environmental degradation, climate change.
The only solution lies within the hearts and minds of individuals. This is the simple message of Jesus in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’. His followers had expected a new kingdom of God on earth. Get rid of those nasty Roman oppressors. Instead, they heard him say look inside your own hearts and minds. Start there, ‘create in me a clean heart’. Love your enemies, forgive others, help the poor and marginalized.
In the same way we must seek the truth and not blindly follow demagogues and their propaganda, ‘faux news’. To me, this is the mission of honest authors and artists, to seek and portray truth about the human condition – its strengths and weaknesses – and inspire others to seek goodness. The trick is to do so in entertaining and aesthetically pleasing ways. Jesus used parables. We also can try to tell interesting and meaningful stories.
Next up: Religious literature: A discussion of literature, philosophy, and important books, without including religious literature, misses out on vast amounts of thought about the human condition.
Thanks for your attention!
Forrest
