Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Filling in for an Absent Friend

Filling in for an Absent Friend

Last updated on: October 13, 2019 at 9:18 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

Filling in for an Absent Friend 2019-10-13T21:18:41-04:00 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.

Absent friends, those who have gone ahead of us in death, make doing alone what they used to do with us painful. Tasks, especially ones where the absent friend was most excellent appear impossibly difficult. Yet the discussion must continue while we are live. A man must answer the questions that threaten to drown him like a great wave sweeping over an island.

When Socrates died, his followers had to decide what to do. The teacher was gone. How could they go on? He had guided them and now he was no longer there. A man can only mourn so long before life intrudes. Fortunately, Socrates had been a mentor and not a guru. A mentor creates peers ready and able to go on, while a guru makes dependents. Plato, one of the greatest students in history, moved on by reflecting for decades on what Socrates had said in dialogues.

As an old man, Plato was still recollecting Socrates. In one of Plato’s last works (Timaeus), he pictures Socrates and some friends, especially the cosmologist Timaeus, getting ready to continue a conversation similar to the one in Republic. Right away Socrates discovers that someone is missing:

Socrates: One, two, three. . . Where’s the number four*, Timaeus? The four of you were my guests yesterday and today I am to be yours.

Timaeus: He came down with something or other, Socrates. He would have missed our meeting willingly.

Socrates: Well then, isn’t it for you and your companions to fill in for your absent friend?

Timaeus: You are quite right. Anyhow, we’ll do our best not to come up short.

Who was missing? There are many good guesses (justice, Plato, Glaucon), but nobody knows for sure. This is perfect, because the “missing” conversationalist can stand for every person who comes down with “something or other.” He or she would not miss willingly, but they are not here.

Plato presents a few suggestions of how to fill in for an absent friend.

Recollect what you have done up to that point.

Firmly fix what has been in your mind. Great good has been done and building on that foundation will honor the absent friend and allow for moving forward without him.

If the friend was most excellent, look to a community of friends or to some gifted outsider.

There is no “replacing” the absent friend.

You cannot accumulate enough people and magically replace Socrates. One hundred mediocrities are not a single genius, after all.

Yet a community can do good work that a singular genius cannot. The community can take the inherited insights from the absent friend and test them from multiple perspectives quickly.

There is another possibility. Sometimes, thank God, the group finds something unexpected: a great genius in their midst either from the group or from outside. Timaeus came from abroad, but the group was ready to receive him.

They know that any wisdom received is a “good gift.” (20c). The wise community never chases off the possible teacher, because he is a stranger.

Recall that he would be with you, if he could.

The absent friend is not malicious, not letting you down. This charity enables the group to honor the absent friend and go forward with some sense of cheer. This is what the missing friend would wish. If he is merely temporarily absent (sick), then he will come when he is well and the forward progress of the group will be a gift. If he is gone ahead in death, then (as Plato speculated and Scriptures revealed) we can report our findings when we meet on the other side!

Most of all Socrates and company seek wisdom in this tough place, echoing the good pathway of King Solomon.

Solomon’s father, King David died and Solomon found himself in tough times. He had wanted the job badly, but his confidence faltered a bit when he had the crown. God comes to ask what he wished and Solomon chose wisely:

7 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”

Solomon, for all his gifts and all that his father had prepared for him, was humble. He knew he was not his father and that he needed divine help.** He asked for an understanding mind and God gave him his desire.

Thank God.

Where is the fourth?

We know he would be here if he could, will be with us when he can, but for now we go forward into the great waves of life.

———————————————-

*Plato, Timaeus. 17. Zeyl. This would be better translated “Where is the fourth?”to show the distinction between the numbers “1,2,3” and the use of “fourth” instead of four. There is personal nature to this missing fourth. He or she is not just a number.

**This was a lesson Socrates also recognized . . .

On Books

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

October 8, 2019

On Impeachment: Nobody Knows

Next Post

October 10, 2019 Education: Not Giving Sight to the Blind, Turning the Icon Toward the Original

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

What does the name "Adam" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Earth Firstborn Breath of Life Man

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »