Dear Gibbon,
Life's meaning.
I start with the questions - I do not say 'question' - which constitute all of our thirst.
We each suffer the same symptoms in this life but so few articulate them.
We each apply remedies to these symptoms but so few of these constitute the cure!
We defer surgery.
We are convinced we are unready.
We can live another day with the symptoms.
The antidote to our thirst? - Who has that kind of water?
The opening paragraph of Aristotle's Ethica Nicomachea, asserts,
"All men seek happiness but not all men agree of what things happiness consists".
It is a fair comment and can be verified by interrogating a passer-by.
But his second assertion is by far the more striking:
"All men can point to the good man in society".
Importune the same passer-by for a second time and this shall again be verified.
The pages of Aristotle give a special insight into a world utterly bereft of Christian influence. They constitute an excellent point of departure on any quest to find the perennial meaning to the 'predicament' of human life on earth. His writings illustrate what a competent thinking man is capable of coming to know of himself and his condition by pure observance of the things of nature (the world outside of and around him).
We'll start with Aristotle in these blogs and not his predecessors because his comprehensive treatment of them make his "Organon" a natural reference point for a synthesises of the thought of his day.
Welcome to my blog!
I shall be back....
