Some Observations on An Insight for All Time
This from Josef Pieper.
from Enthusiasm and Divine Madness: on the Platonic Dialogue Phaedrus
Josef PieperThus, in the first lines of the dialogue, Plato evokes the atmosphere in which these young Athenian intellectuals live. Theirs is a world of sophisticated irreverence and detachment, of enlightened health doctrines and simultaneous depravity. And in the midst of these poisonous fumes we find. . . (p. 7)
. . .everybody. Boy, that really hit me. A better description of present time would be hard to come by. Utter irreverence, to the point where religion is considered at best an intrusion and at worst a potential threat and usurper. And what is the one crime anyone today might commit--to smoke in the presence of others or to condone or otherwise support smoking. Or, heaven forbid--to be overweight. Or not to jog in the morning. Or to eat fatty foods. We are those Athenians and we desperately need to listen to our Socrates, the one man who keeps calling for a sane, humane, and human society--our dear and beloved Pope. Viva il Papa!
