“When I hear your arguments, I feel
sure that they are true as possible. But if I turn to human opinions, I ask
what man would not think them not only incredible, but even unthinkable?”
“Yes,” she said, “for men cannot raise
to the transparent light of truth their eyes which have been accustomed to
darkness. They are like those birds whose sight is clear at night, but blinded
by daylight. So long as they look not upon the true course of Nature, but upon
their own feelings, they think that the freedom of passion and the impunity of
crime are happy things.
“Think upon the sacred ordinances of
Eternal Law. If your mind is fashioned after better things, there is no need of
a judge to award a prize; you have added yourself to the number of the more
excellent. If your mind sinks to worse things, seek no avenger from without; you
have thrust yourself downward to lower things.
“It is as though you were looking at
the squalid earth and the heavens in turn; then take away all that is about
you, and by the power of sight, you will seem to be in the midst now of mud,
now of stars.
“But mankind looks not to such things.
What then shall we do? Shall we join ourselves to those whom we have shown to
be as beasts? If a man lost utterly his sight, and even forgot that he had ever
seen, so that he thought he lacked nothing of human perfection, should we think
that such a blind one can see as we do?”
—from
Book 4, Prose 4
Won’t
people start thinking that I am confused and disturbed if I speak of such
things, and won’t they laugh and walk away from me if I actually try to live
according to these principles? Very many of them most certainly will; they already
look at me funny whenever my conscience happens to even slightly stray from
what is popular.
It can
be deeply uncomfortable to go against the grain, to strike out on my own. This
is only compounded by a shameful sense of snobbery and elitism for dismissing
what the majority would wish of me. Who am I to say that I know better? Aren’t
many heads together better than one?
I can just remind myself that I should not worry about contradicting certain
opinions, though I should worry about contradicting Nature, for these two are
not always in agreement. It need not be about me believing that I am better,
but it can be about me struggling to become better. It isn’t arrogant to seek the
best path, nor is it dismissive to be wary of bad advice.
Instead
of looking for a conflict between the many and the few, I should focus on the
distinction between the true and false. Whether it is the majority or the
minority who manage to get it right, I should not confuse what is good with any
degree of approval from others. By all means listen to the wise man, but not
just to any man, or to the loudest man, or to the most esteemed man.
There is
a perfectly good reason why the crowd is so easily prone to error, and it arises
from the default position of human nature. In the order of things, a man is
born with the power to understand, but he is not born with the content of
understanding. He must acquire his understanding through experience and reasoning,
and this will demand an active effort from him. To think without reflection, to
choose without sound judgment, or to act without commitment will be remarkably easy;
to do nothing at all, to go with flow, will be the simplest solution.
This is
what many of us will do, as I have done far too often. It will be hard for us
to find our own way. Virtue will require sweat, and blood, and sacrifice. It
will mean putting ourselves in places that are not comfortable, when we would
rather bask in comfort. Yet complacency asks only the ease of surrender, not
the struggle for victory.
And so
we give way, instead of finding our way. We swim with the current, instead of
swimming for shore. We conform to expectations, instead of expecting anything
of ourselves.
I was
born to be a good man, yet I wasn’t already born as a good man; I was given a
potency to actualize. Now let us be honest: how many people will rise to that
challenge?
So God
made us all to succeed, even as many of us will freely decide to fail, simply
by doing nothing at all but going through the motions.
As in
Plato’s Cave, many prefer the darkness to the light. When shown the light, they
squint, and they squirm, and they want nothing of it. Impressions and passions
rule them, so they are certain there can be nothing more to life. They call
themselves free, while they choose to become slaves to the objects of their
desires.
Yet if I
only know myself rightly, I will see that virtue is its own reward, and vice is
its own punishment. Will they laugh at me for saying that? Yes, but they don’t
know any better. Now should I hate them and cast them away, or should I love
them and offer my help?
A
blurred, distorted, or blinded sense of vision is a fitting analogy for a
blurred, distorted, or blinded sense of reason. When my eyes are weak, I will
not be able to see what is in front of me. When my mind is weak, I will not be
able to grasp who I ought to be.
Will I
be a man or a beast? Will I be looking at the mud or at the stars? Sadly, many
will turn away, and my own sloth will ask me to follow them. I can still love
without being a pushover; I can still fulfill myself without leaving them
behind.
Popular?
Maybe, or maybe not. Decent? Absolutely.
Written in 11/2015
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