Plato, as the sources say, began by writing poems. At some point and while he was about to teach a tragic tetralogy, tearing it at the very last moment, he threw it into the fire. Yes, he burned his book, because he had the inner confirmation that it did not even touch the poetic art of Homer. A big difference of course from the (selfish) way of thinking of today..., where everyone knows everything and... they know everything.
We are talking about those persons who have the vague (very vague) impression that by reading (when and if) a few books or even studying, they at least became all-wise. Others have the delusional, after certainty, belief that by graduating they have one or even several talents and put on a cheap "glaze" of knowledge or cultivation as they think, since that is convenient for them. Some other persons, reading a little poetry or watching, for example, three film adaptations of books, consider that they have received by award a tivenon of supreme intellectual authority and try (unfortunately of course) to mock those who studied, considering the degrees preliminarily harmful.
Some go so far as to argue that all kinds of "papers" are offered by purchasing them with money. Others assure that they have read all, but all, of the ancient Greek authors from Homer onwards! And they announce that they intend to teach, while a page of their writing is riddled with spelling mistakes and syntactic slips. And the dance lasts well...
And of course there are also those "experts", those without formal and substantial qualifications, who declared themselves critics in every form of art (we are only talking about those who have no serious creation behind them) and who, for example, are unaware of how many and who the so-called good arts. But… they teach…
The above do not suspect - perhaps - that even the simple accumulation of knowledge or skills through systematic study* with a method or even practical training in a certain field, requires time, effort and sweat. It takes time and sweat to get to the point of realizing the magnitude of ignorance that we all have as earthly, earthly beings. This point was clarified in a single sentence by the greatest philosopher and humanist teacher of all time, Socrates.
Of course, this did not prevent those in power at the time, as well as the "educated" of the time, to try him "legally" in a supreme court and sentence him to death. Let it be emphasized that the ordinary citizens of the then mighty Athens did not react strongly, participating in the tort, in the crime to be more clear.
The condemned man had the possibility to save his life by escaping (action that, let's not laugh, everyone in his position would choose). He preferred not to annul his whole life as well as what he taught (for his whole life was what he taught), passing through the valley of physical death, making his spirit immortal. Humanity bows and will bow eternally to this Greek.
I wonder what exactly we after him can comment on...
At a later point in time, again "educated"**, "cultivated", "scientists" but also "universities", trained state jurists, "connoisseurs" of law but also supreme state theologians, as well as "studied" priests of the highest ranks at the time , they made sure to kill an innocent Person and indeed with a dishonorable death, in the midst of torture and mockery. They did not take into account even the higher worldly authority than them, that is, the commander appointed by the conqueror, who emphasized that this particular Person was innocent and they succeeded in various ways and cunning schemes to convince him. To convince him to issue the death warrant. And even as we mentioned above with the particularly brutal way of the death of the heinous criminals. The Person condemned by the "educated" and "cultivated" was called Jesus Christ...
This whole historical fact does not mean, in any of the cases, that the simple mob was not responsible***.
In our short story (The paradoxes of the lake) earlier, the hero Phoebus, "(...)did not believe that degrees (nor their absence) make a man". At this point we will quote the opinion of a linguist on the matter:
"► But let's change the subject. What, really, is the difference between Education and Training?
GM Although the two terms are often interchanged in linguistic communication, they are fundamentally different from each other. Education is the general cultivation of the soul, mind and personality of man that comes from many sources, while by the term education we mean the educational system that a country uses to educate its citizens through the three levels of education: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary.
► Who finally counts as an educated person, in other words is Education a monopoly of the "literate"?
GM The concept of Education, as we have already said, constitutes a more general human cultivation, mental and intellectual, which is not only the result of school and university education but also results from a set of experiences, sensitivities and interests. There are "common people", as they are usually characterized, who, speaking in the village cafe or elsewhere, are able to make very accurate assessments and key points with reference to principles and values. These people do not have conventional education but innate resourcefulness and mental cultivation. With what I say, I just want to prevent misplaced overgeneralizations that identify the educated person with the sole criterion of his literacy"*****.
There are many more questions we would like to ask, but due to the economy of space, we will stop here. After all, few people read texts longer than a certain number of words. Let's in the era of slogans. But we would like to express the opinion (and a position which all the teachers, with various expressions point out), that whatever talent or skill gift someone has (or thinks they have), if it is not placed under the purpose of the advancement of humanity, at best case are useless. In some other cases (as many examples the study of history makes clear), when they are not in favor of this purpose they are opposed to it. Remember how many people gifted with spiritual gifts eventually used them taking the human race back… way back…
We will end with a short quote by Nikos Kazantzakis: "Love the person because he is you"...
Footnotes
* It is a historical fact that researchers who did not have the standard university qualifications, offered valuable services in many branches of science, in various periods of time. But they followed a scientific method. As far as art is concerned, rather as (several genuine, accomplished and "classic" artists clarify in different ways of expression) it is mentioned in the literature, that the higher level they reached is due 1% to their talent and 99% to continuous, relentless and hard work for education and creation.
** Of course there were bright exceptions, such as Paul, Nicodemus and others.
*** "(...)they did not cry out, they crucified him, Pilate says to them, crucify your king, the high priests replied, we have no king but Caesar, and it was Easter Friday and it was about six o'clock." (John 19.14-16). This just a week after the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on a horse and the people to welcome the Lord holding palm trees in their hands and shouting: "Hosanna in the highest blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord"...
**** Plato, "Laws". In his writings The State and the Laws, Plato described the ideal state. Ioannis Theodorakopoulos noted: "There will always be a distance and tension between the real, empirical and the ideal state, because life will always need to overcome its imperfection, its formlessness and its natural injustice". (Ioannis Theodorakopoulos , Introduction to Plato p.184, University Traditions, 4th edition 1964).
***** Excerpt from an interview of Professor Georgios Babiniotis in the newspaper "PONTIKI ART" and the journalist Xenofontas Bruntzakis, in July 2010.
photo Leonhard_Niederwimmer / https://pixabay.com
