Patrick Wolff
final essay
section 11
John: Agreed!
Patrick: I'll explain it all later because right now time is of the essence.
Patrick: The first question I have for all of you is What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?
Plato: I believe growing up comes at very specific points of maturity. If you look at my allegory of the cave you can see what I mean. I will explain. In the allegory of the cave there is a very often overlooked detail that I wrote for a very specific purpose. The detail I am speaking about is the blinding light that is seen when someone first breaks the shackles inside the cave and see the fire there are blinded by the light. This represents a complete change and reevaluation of ones self. This also happens when the person sees the sun in the allegory of the cave. Both of these moments are moments of maturity. I feel that only the first stage is needed to be consider an adult, this is why some people are still childish in some of their actions.
Patrick: That was a very interesting thought Plato I had not seen it that way before. My response to the question and What I have seen personally is that we never grow up. We are always still that same kid at art. We reach points of maturity and independence. Once we are living on our own for the first time that is generally when we are seen as adults.
Susan: I sort of disagree with what you said. I believe a lot of growing up has to do with your maturity and your age goes right along with that. Everyone must learn morals and ethics at some point or else it could actually be potential dangerous to society. This is why growing up is so important
John: I believe that adulthood is the gateway to knowledge and wisdom and it is often looked down upon by people who do not yet understand this. The best parts of growing up is getting to exercise your free will.
Patrick: You know, John I really agree with you on that point. Moving along now into our next question. What makes life worth living.
Patrick: What makes life worth living is creating. When you are creating something from nothing. The joy and fulfillment you get from anything like this is unrivaled. It could be creating anything but it seems to be that the most fulfillment that most people generally get is from having a kid.
Susan: The thing that makes life worth living is being able to surround yourself with people who love and adore you. People who care for you in life give you reason to care for others. The more we care for each other the more is worth living
John: There is only one thing that gives life meaning and that is death. Without death life would be meaningless. We are fighting against the current and against a ticking clock. This at the end of the day is what makes life worth living.
Plato: What makes life worth living is knowledge. At the end of the day what makes life worth living is the pursuit of knowledge and gaining wisdom. life is meaningless if we are missing this crucial knowledge. One must break ones perception of reality in order to truly learn.
Patrick: Those are all very interesting points. U really agree with Plato on this one that knowledge is a very valuable and meaningful part of life.
"at art"--at heart?
ReplyDelete"we never grow up"--what do you mean, WE? Seriously: we all still have more growing to do, forever, but we really ought to aim to be grown-ups before we leave our 20s (at the latest). That's not just because of potential harm "to society," but because the unexamined life is (arguably, according to Socrates) not worth living.
"Without death life would be meaningless"--so death is the meaning of life? That's a paradox too far, in my opinion. LIFE is the meaning of life.