I both agree and disagree with this statement. The little trials and tribulations of our lives really don't make much a mark on the hard surface of the world. In this way, Plato is totally right. We get caught up in trivia. So much of our daily lives are filled with minutia that are of paramount importance to us, have the power to make us ecstatic or miserable, and when we step away from them for a moment and see those concerns for what they really are, many of them can look small or petty.
Our individual suffering or joy is only a drop in the bucket of the total history and experience around us. And yet, that total sea is composed of those little drops. Our world is not vast, not macro. We are beings who live and die on the micro scale. The tiny ripples in our pools have the effect of tidal waves when that is the boundary of all you know.
I think this quote can be good for putting things into perspective, to help us remember that we need to look at the whole instead of only our little part. If we are finding a way not to be trapped by the useless and the trivial, then good for us. If we're turning a deaf ear to the cries of those nearby who are genuinely in need, then perhaps we need to think again.
No comments:
Post a Comment
And then you said.....