Meet Me There

I just found out that Flickr only lets you have 200 pictures on a free account, and I’m really bummed about it. And the thought of paying for a pro account irritates me. If it was a one time charge, that’d be one thing. But a yearly fee? Something about it just makes me cringe. With all the freeness out there it seems a shame to shell out $25 for that every year.

It’s too bad, though. Of the photo storage sites I’ve seen, I far and away like Flickr the best. I like the ease of use and the searchableness and the comments and community (even though I don’t get too many comments). I checked out Google’s Picasa and I’m less than impressed. I usually like most of what they put out, but that one doesn’t seem to be in the same league as Flickr.

I’m thinking about keeping the photos on Flickr for a while and then archiving them here on WordPress. It would mean more work for me, though, so that means it probably won’t get done at all.

Well, I finished reading War & Peace this week. (I don’t really have a list of life goals of which this was number fifty-two, but perhaps I should have such a list.) I ended up not reading it as I had intended… slowly over time with plenty of time for reflection and digestion. No, like most other books I try to read that way, I ended up getting absorbed into the characters and the events and spending hours and days immersed in it all. I wonder what power this is that allows authors to make me care so much about the people and situations they invent? I don’t understand it, but I love it. I love seeing my life through the eyes of all the various characters, and I inevitably find myself in most of them.

My goal is to try to gather up some of these thoughts about the various characters and write some about them soon (before they really fade from my mind). I don’t know if I can really write much about the plot. I’ve had a hard time identifying the normal structures I expect in a narrative. It’s so sprawling and huge. The characters seem to be more important to me (especially Pierre), but really I’m just in my first stages of trying to understand it all. More to come soon (I hope).

Plato’s Crito is the second part of the three-part account of the trial and execution of Socrates. A friend of Socrates named Crito visits him in prison and attempts to persuade him to bribe his jailors (or let his friends do it for him) and escape from Athens. He tries to tell Socrates that history will judge his friends for not doing all they could to save him; that he is capitulating to his enemies; that his children will be left orphans. But Socrates rejects a relativistic morality, argues against each one of these, and determines not to escape.

That’s the “plot” in a nutshell. I don’t have much to say about it at this point. I still feel like I don’t know how to read these things well. I’m listening to a lecture series on them as an aside, and the teacher makes an interesting comment: You can only really read these for the first time on your second or third time through them. The point is very similar to something we talked about in hermeneutics class: we come to understand the small units of a text (like sentences and paragraphs) in light of the text as a whole; we come to understand the text as a whole by focusing on the sentences and paragraphs. They inform and help interpret each other. Needless to say, I have a long way to go with Plato and hermeneutics in general. I know I won’t get it all on this protoreading.

However, I did want to quote one small part and make one or two tiny observations. In this quote, Socrates is speaking, but he is doing so from the perspective of the laws of Athens:

… be advised by us your guardians, and do not think more of your children or of your life or of anything else than you think of what is right, so that when you enter the next world you may have all this to plead in your defense before the authorities there. It seems clear that if you do this thing [i.e. escape from Athens], neither you nor any of your friends will be the better for it or be more upright or have a cleaner conscience here in this world, nor will it be better for you when you reach the next. (54b)

One, I think it’s interesting that Socrates recognizes and makes his conscience the primary reason for why he chooses not to escape. It reminds me of what I’ve read about Martin Luther’s stand at the beginning of the Reformation.

And two, this quote deals with the motivations Socrates gives for not violating his conscience. The first one is an expectation of some kind of judgment in the afterlife. Again, I know I don’t really understand the Greek cosmology here or who is doing the judging. But I’m interested in this expectation and how it agrees with what Christianity teaches. The letter to the Hebrews says, ‘For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’ (Heb 10:31)

The second motivation also bears some similarity to ideas in Christianity. It is a desire to do good to others. Socrates sees how his actions will impact his friends, and he determines to do nothing that will not benefit them—nothing that will not help them to be more upright. This is similar to Paul’s discussion of Christian liberty in 1 Corinthians 8-9. He encourages believers strong in faith to do nothing that will put the faith of others in danger.

Okay, so that was the first reading. Those comments probably don’t have much to do with the essential character of Plato’s dialogue. At this point I guess I’m just trying to make associations with things I already know and have been exposed to… some kind of weird free association. Hopefully it will at least help me to remember some of this.

The theme for the June Muxtape is “Hopeful Melancholy.” There something about the cathartic song, isn’t there? It can identify with us in our down times and still raise us up with a sense of comfort. It’s like rubbing a bruise. It’s hurts, but it strangely makes things feel better. In some way these songs take seriously the sins in our lives and their consequences. But they still offer hope. Some of my favorites:

1. Vigilantes of Love: Certain Slant of Light
   One of my all time favorite songs, especially after falling down so hard.

2. Karen Dalton: Something On Your Mind
   A new song I just heard. Thanks viz.

3. Jennie Stearns: Season of Dreams
   It’s the trumpet I love especially in this one.

4. Jason Harrod: Waiting For My Day
   A very honest song about unbelief and longing.

5. Low: Laser Beam
   “I just need your grace…”

6. The Innocence Mission: July
   We all need friends with sparklers.

7. Don Peris: Spin
   Another honest song about the struggles. But there is the Shepherd.

8. Jay Ungar: Ashokan Farewell
   What is it about the violin?

9. Sandra McCracken: Shelter
   “…the questions we have left unspoken…”

10. Over The Rhine: It’s Never Quite What It Seems
    I could’ve picked about a dozen songs from OtR for this list. In this one, I’m reminded that faith looks beyond just the appearances of things: “…those that burn with thirst will lift their glass…”

11. Ticklepenny Corner: (reprise)
    I love the picture of losing an arm and gaining extra legs. It reminds me that even though we’re scarred by life and sin, God can use even our deformities for his purposes. Even these things won’t cause him to erase us from his plan.

Well, I had plans to write so much more about these songs. But by the time I do I know that it’ll be the end of the month and it’ll be pointless. So, for what it’s worth, this is the month of June. Maybe I’ll get better at this as time goes by. The new job has been stealing all of my energy from me lately.

This evening is one of those shimmering bright unstained weather days. The air is cool and clean; the sun is bright; the sky is clear. It makes you want to walk forever and just absorb it all into your soul. The bugs were dancing in the streaming light.

Two boys were on a side road with a lemonade stand, bikes lying any old way in the grass behind them. No video games or music playing. They weren’t raising money for any great cause; just budding entrepreneurs spending a nice almost summer evening outside.

Anyway. It reminded me of childhood summers: forts and creeks and baseball and woods and bicycles. Swimming. Watermelon on the back patio. Fireflies.

I started my new (old) job today - back to surgical teching. It’s definitely not my passion, but it’ll pay the bills better than anything else I can think up at the moment. Now I’m just going to have to figure out how to get some reading finished after work.

I’ve just finished reading the first of Plato’s dialogues in the collected works edition that I mentioned yesterday. I must say, “Very interesting.” I didn’t realize just how interesting it would be. Maybe the “dry philosophical parts” come in later. I’ve run into a couple of issues I could use some help on, so if you have any thoughts, I crave your commentations.

First, a Summary

This dialogue deals with the trial of Socrates. He’s been accused by the Athenians of being an atheist and of corrupting the Athenian youth. The dialogue doesn’t begin with the case against him, but with his defense. He lays out the reasons, both past and present, why these charges have been brought against him, and gives reasons why they are not based on truth. At one point he questions his main accuser, Meletus. He goes on to argue that far from doing harm to Athens, he has actually been of invaluable service to its citizens by prodding them towards truth and goodness. I love the following quotations (sorry they are kind of long):

… Are you not ashamed that you give your attention to acquiring as much money as possible, and similarly with reputation and honor, and give no attention or thought to truth and understanding and the perfection of your soul?
     And if any of you disputes this and professes to care about these things, I shall not at once let him go or leave him. No, I shall question him and examine him and test him; and if it appears that in spite of his profession he has made no real progress toward goodness, I shall reprove him for neglecting what is of supreme importance, and giving his attention to trivialities. I shall do this to everyone that I meet, young or old, foreigner or fellow citizen, but especially to you, my fellow citizens, inasmuch as you are closer to me in kinship. This, I do assure you, is what my God commands, and it is my belief that no greater good has ever befallen you in this city than my service to my God. For I spend all my time going about trying to persuade you, young and old, to make your first and chief concern not for your bodies nor for your possessions, but for the highest welfare of your souls, proclaiming as I go, Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state.

And this gem:

… For this reason, gentlemen, so far from pleading on my own behalf, as might be supposed, I am really pleading on yours, to save you from misusing the gift of God by condemning me. If you put me to death, you will not easily find anyone to take my place. It is literally true, even if it sounds rather comical, that God has specially appointed me to this city, as though it were a large thoroughbred horse which because of its great size is inclined to be lazy and needs the stimulation of some stinging fly. It seems to me that God has attached me to this city to perform the office of such a fly, and all day long I never cease to settle here, there, and everywhere, rousing, persuading, reproving every one of you. You will not easily find another like me, gentlemen, and if you take my advice you will spare my life. I suspect, however, that before long you will awake from your drowsing, and in your annoyance you will [...] finish me off with a single slap, and then you will go on sleeping till the end of your days, unless God in his care for you sends someone to take my place.

However, the jury finds him guilty. In the sentencing phase, he is given the opportunity to suggest his own sentence. His response: “Well, what is appropriate for a poor man who is a public benefactor and who requires leisure for giving you moral encouragement? Nothing could be more appropriate for such a person than free maintenance at the state’s expense.” (You’ve got to love his boldness.) The jury has different ideas, however, and sentences him to death. But Socrates goes on to state how he does not fear death and it will actually be a great benefit to him, at worst like a dreamless sleep and at best like a conversation with all of the great heroes of the past.

Now, the Questions

First, since I don’t know classical Greek, I’m entirely dependent upon the translator for what he’s given me here. This one is Hugh Tredennick in 1954. (Incidentally, he’s given some great words like “effrontery”). Anyway, what I’m mostly wondering is how to take Socrates’ use of the term “God.” I don’t think the Greeks were monotheists, so I’m a bit confused by this. At other points in the dialogue, he even seems to acknowledge other deities. What was Socrates’ view of God? Is the translator smuggling in the majuscule title of God from Christianity? Or is that something that is there in Socrates.

The second question somewhat pertains to this as well. I quoted several sections above because I thought they really captured some great thoughts. The first is about not placing wealth above a pursuit for truth. (That is certainly a message needed in modern America.) The second is about prodding our neighbors from their sleep. I can see some distinctly Christian applications for both of these statements. But to what extent am I taking these out of context to make Christian applications from them? Is that something that is okay to do? Or is it just as wrong as when people take the Bible out of context? I guess I could use some pointers on how to appropriate non-Christian writers to make Christian points.

Comments about these questions, or the quotations, or anything else are very welcome.