Plato, justice and the Way

According to Guthrie, by 'justice' Plato meant 'following the way, which is properly your own'. This suggests resonance with the Way in Taoism - I need to explore that further.(Ref: WKC Guthrie, 1967, The Greek Philosophers, Methuen, pp6-7).

Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas, Do not go gentle into that good night

Pass it on

What your hands do,
It's your own eyes that've seen.
So won't you judge your actions
To make sure the results are clean?

It's your own conscience
That is gonna remind you
That it's your heart
and nobody else's
That is gonna judge.

Be not selfish in your doings:
Pass it on. (Pass it on, children)
Help your brothers (help
them) in their needs:
Pass it on.

Live for yourself and you
will live in vain;
Live for others, you will live again.

In the kingdom of Jah,
Man shall reign.
Pass it on;
Pass it on;
Pass it on;
Pass it on.

What's in the darkness
Must be revealed to light.
We're not here to judge
what's good from bad
But to do the things that are right.

On a hot, sunny day,
Follow the shadows for rescue.
But as the day grows old,
I know the sun is gonna find you.

Be not selfish in your doings:
Pass it on.
Help your brothers in their needs:
Pass it on.

Live for yourself, you
will live in vain;
Live for others, you will live again.

In the kingdom of Jah,
Man shall reign.
Pass it on;
Pass it on;
Pass it on;
Pass it on. (Pass it on)
Bob Marley

We all get in the end...

We all bear the scars,
Yes, We all feign a laugh.
We all sigh in the dark;
get cut off before we start.
And as the first act begins,
you realize they're all waiting
for a fall, for a flaw, for the end.
There's a path stained with tears.
Could you talk to quiet my fears?
Could you pull me aside,
just to acknowledge that I tried?
And as your last breath begins,
contently take it in,
because we all get it in the end.
And as your last breath begins,
you find your demon's your best friend.
And we all get it in the end.

Scott Matthew Shortbus

Eco-humanism?

If humans have a spiritual core that demands satisfaction in one way or another, how is that core fed at the moment? In the UK the Christian religion seems to be in decline, and though Islam is on the rise it has not yet attained the poition of majority faith. Consumerism was invented in the 1950's by Lebow; he called for the linear of buy-consume-discard to become a ritual. Perhaps consumerism has fed our sprituality in recent decades, but its requirement that the process must go on for ever in orrder to be a market for new production, has meant that it has not and cannot satisfy humanity. "I never realised Jesus Christ was crucified on Good Friday - what a coincidence!"; this syndrome is resulting in difficulty in understanding our history, art and literature as it is replaced by Lebow's religion. Perhaps the credit crunch is leading to some extent to people realising their need for spirituality and the hollowness of Lebowanism. Perhaps a new eco-ethical humanism can oust consumerism. Perhaps also the old religions could never both satisfy human spirituality and achieve a just sustainability, because they are about worshiping a god or gods over and above the adoration of nature and humanity.

The Flood

Lay upon the sinner his sin,
Lay upon the transgressor his transgression,
Punish him a little when he breaks loose,
Do not drive him too hard or he perishes,
Would that a lion had ravaged mankind
Rather than the flood,
Would that a wolf had ravaged mankind
Rather than the flood,
Would that famine had wasted the world
Rather than the flood,
Would that pestilence had wasted mankind
Rather than the flood.

Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim the Faraway's story of the flood

London, William Blake,

I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear:

How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appalls,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.

But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.

William Blake, published in Songs of Experience in 1794