Living a Good Life in a Real City Requires Thinking

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 10:09 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Living a Good Life in a Real City Requires Thinking 2016-09-30T10:09:30-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The_Sky_Line,_Houston,_Texas_opt Recently a nice fellow on social media suggested my advice on some practical question proved I should move to the Shire and write books for children and on Plato. I would if I could. The Shire would be an excellent place to live, Thorin and Company always welcome, while the chance to write books for a living in the Shire sounds like Heaven. Sadly, this was a great idea that just is not practicable. The Shire is mentally accessible, but physically out of reach while my books for children and on Plato have not sold well enough to get ale at the Green Dragon, let alone support a family.

There is another possibility, however. He might have been suggesting that people with ideas like mine cannot live in the real world, instead we should live in a fantasy world where we can write on topics of interest only to children or philosophers (children without parents or other means of support). My ideas will only work in no place, for nobody, doing nothing of value.

Maybe. Plato spends most of Republic with a similar worry. Those who “love wisdom” (philosophers) can be giant goofs, unable to live in the actual city while deciding how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Or perhaps the problem is that those who look at Heaven rarely live on Earth and those who look to Earth never see Heaven.

The trouble with a classical education is that we can get lost looking at Wisdom, Virtue, and feeling the Joy of the Lord and forget how to talk to people. Since we are folks, no better than anybody else, this is obnoxious. Socrates and company discuss a hypothetical city in words in Republic books I-IV and then are dragged back down to reality. How? The young men in the room want to know about “women . . . in common.”

Young men overwhelmed by curiosity and desire are not uncommon in any society. In fact, it is so common, we think (if we are “intellectuals”) we can ignore it. Let’s live in Heaven and not Earth. Yet humans are not creatures of Heaven, God lives in Heaven, and we are born to live on Earth. “Intellectuals” can assume superiority, because they think only of higher things and intellectuals are correct: they are thinking of higher things. The problem is that we are not beings born merely of the higher: we have eternity in our hearts, but clay in our bodies. To be human, something God chose to do at Christmas, is to become earthy.

This is hard to recollect. The better a discussion, the more intense, the harder it is to remember time passing. If I don’t set an alarm for class, then we would never end on time. Once I forgot and we went an hour over and the college students nearly missed their next class!

This was “unreal” and being “unreal” is bad. We see Virtue or Wisdom and feel Joy, but in order to bring all three to the city where we live. Houston is the city of the 21st century and it is the city where we live. We cannot ignore the “low” problems of our city, because if we do, then we pretending to be something we are not. We must think, but we must also live. We think so we can live in the city of Houston. We live in the city of Houston (we hope) as thoughtful citizens and as thoughtful citizens, we must fight for justice.

Nobody who is just can make us stop contemplating the “higher things,” but nobody who sees the higher things correctly can ignore the City.

Perhaps this is an odd problem. Many Americans spend more time watching screens than talking to people. Few there be that want to study or think all the time. As a result, those few think themselves a happy few, superior to most people. This is a horrid lie. The evils of anti-intellectualism do not justify the evils of intellectualism any more than the wicked practices of the miser justify the spendthrift.

We must see God and serve our brothers and sisters. Our treasure must be in God, but spent on Earth. This week I have thought deeply with students from our college program . . . students willing to think hard in a great city. They do not allow me to stay impractical, but coming to our college program was not practical! They are impractical, but real or real and willing to dream.

Thank God.

———————————–

First thoughts based on a discussion at The Saint Constantine School college program. Thank you to the students for helping me.

Culture

Education

On Books

Previous Post

September 29, 2016

In Which I Dialog with Not Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Next Post

October 1, 2016 All Mom Has to Do Is

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

To whom did God give the commandments, engraved on stone tablets?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter Noah Moses Adam

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »