15 December 2016

Notes - humbly, quietly and gladly / justice ? / to bed



          Early afternoon. You did your thirty minute exercises and you have been climbing and coming down the stairs like normal people do, not one foot, one step at a time because you can now balance yourself with the railings on both sides all the way up. One of the fun excitements of the day was going to the mailbox and seeing the cover of the new January issue of Harper's. It has a picture of Mr. Trump behind bars on the cover and says: "Make America Great Again and Stop Trump Before He Starts". - Amorella

          1308 hours. I'm surprised you mentioned the Harper's, I like to stay away from politics as much as possible in the blog.

          The cover caught your heart by surprise, boy, not because of the cover and the statement, but because it was your beloved Harper's magazine. Do you see the difference?

          1311 hours. Now I do. I wouldn't think about such a small difference.

       This is a problem with human beings, small difference can be of the greatest difference in here, thus I registered it as a lesson for you. - Amorella

       1314 hours. Thank you, Amorella. I am grateful that you pointed this out to me. It is worth reflecting on. I thought it was the politics which is what the cover is about; but it is about my favorite literary magazine taking a public stand I would not have even suspected them of taking so brazen and openly on the front cover, on the first issue of the new year no less. Ha! -- It makes me wonder about other issues. Sometimes I surely do things for the right reasons and other times for the wrong reasons and I don't take the time to discern the differences. And, to think, in here, the spirit world of the blog, I am haunted not by the Dead but by the Living before physical death. There is a humor here I find very intriguing, an irony, perhaps that can be used in a story. A dead person's conscious haunted by the tiniest of mistakes made when living. It could go either way depending on the person -- in agony over doing something for the right reason when she or he did it deliberately because it was wrong. What humor is that. I think the only way out of that sort of situation is to recognize the humor and let the agony go. (1327)

       That's what you do, orndorff. One of the reasons I am here in imagination or not. - Amorella

       1328 hours. You are a gift, a treasure to me, Amorella.

       And you share it, boy, don't you see. - Amorella

       1330 hours. What a reflection on a reflection. I have to smile both humbly and quietly.

       Post. - Amorella

       1331 hours. Gladly, yes. I share you gladly. - rho


       1557 hours. We ran errands and had a very late lunch at Piada Street Italian. Now we are at Macy's buying a shirt for Paul. At lunch I was thinking about what you said above, Amorella, and I see this (as I have once or twice ago in the last couple decades) that  inability to consciously know why we do the things we do gives a gift of innocence still, no matter the Adam and Eve and Satan in the Garden story demonstrates it. Writing something like this five to ten centuries ago could have got you killed by one means or another. This is very odd to consider.

       It still is, young man. Think on it, you still would not know if you were guilty or innocent. Ironically, in some cases even the judge and jury would not know either. - Amorella

       1608 hours. I wasn't thinking this as an out for getting away from something illegal. You are right though. How can justice ever be met in this context?

       Moral justice or legal justice? - Amorella

       1612 hours. How about spiritual justice?

       Now you are talking about spiritual reality not physical reality, at least in here, in the blog. - Amorella

       1614 hours. If in here can mean hypothetically, then yes, spiritual reality in the blog. -- Wait. I am not ready to go on this path at this time. Sometimes I automatically slow down in terms of heartansoulanmind. Not fog, mind you, but it is like I am at the end of the road that ends at a huge body of water and I know I need to turn around but I just want to get out of the car and hear the waves hit the beach and watch the stars overhead before I do so.


       Post. - Amorella

       How is the beach and the accompanying stars? - Amorella

       1814 hours. They provide a sense of satisfaction and comfort.

       Satisfaction for taking things as far as the could go in context and comfort from a memory of such a scene. - Amorella

       1817 hours. You always express my true self (in context) better than I can. How is this?

       I know whether it comes from heart or soul or mind and as such I judge the temperament of each separately as well as together. As a Betweener I can do this because it is necessary. - Amorella

       1823 hours. I hear a 'rule' in your statement; I hear that necessity is a marker of sorts. I am not asking. I am just thinking out what I might learn to help me be a better person, a wiser person, but only in reference to how to lead my own life. Socrates once said an unreflective life is not worth living, or something to that effect. . . . Wikipedia comes to the rescue once again.

** **
The unexamined life is not worth living

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The unexamined life is not worth living (Ancient Greek: ὁ ... ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ) is a famous dictum apparently uttered by Socrates at his trial for impiety and corrupting youth, for which he was subsequently sentenced to death, as described in Plato's Apology (38a5-6).

Rationale

This statement relates to Socrates' understanding and attitude towards death and his commitment to fulfill his goal of investigating and understanding the statement of the Pythia. Socrates understood the Pythia's response to Chaerephon’s question as a communication from the god Apollo and this became Socrates's prime directive, his raison d'etre. For Socrates, to be separated from elenchus by exile (preventing him from investigating the statement) was therefore a fate worse than death. Since Socrates was religious and trusted his religious experiences, such as his guiding daimonic voice, he accordingly preferred to continue to seek the true answer to his question, in the after-life, than live a life not identifying the answer on earth.

Meaning

The words were supposedly spoken by Socrates at his trial after he chose death rather than exile. They represent (in modern terms) the noble choice, that is, the choice of death in the face of an alternative.

Interpretation

Socrates believed that philosophy - the love of wisdom - was the most important pursuit above all else. For some, he exemplifies more than anyone else in history the pursuit of wisdom through questioning and logical argument, by examining and by thinking. His 'examination' of life in this way spilled out into the lives of others, such that they began their own 'examination' of life, but he knew they would all die one day, as saying that a life without philosophy - an 'unexamined' life - was not worth living.

Selected and edited from Wikipedia

** **

       You both had a light supper, watched NBC News, "Designated Survivor" and "SNL Christmas Special".

       2055 hours. I read a popular biography of Socrates several decades ago. He, like Plato and Aristotle are philosophical heroes of mine. However, I do not remember anything such as the line in Wikipedia:

Socrates was religious and trusted his religious experiences, such as his guiding daimonic voice, . . .

I realize that 'daimonic' in context means according to the Oxford/American software: "1 (in ancient Greek belief) a divinity or supernatural being of a nature between gods and humans.
• an inner or attendant spirit or inspiring force."

I wonder upon reading this that in my imagination this is what I made of you, Amorella, an inner or attendant spirit?

       It is possible, boy. You have read much during your lifetime and you have the imagination to go with it. Surely you could have put this together in your imagination as you are doing at this very moment. - Amorella

       2117 hours. You know what, Amorella, I'm just going to let this topic go and head up to bed.

       Post - Amorella

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