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| Socrates' Trial |
Being one of the smartest guys in human history, Socrates humbled us all by admitting his limit, and the sad truth of how little power we have in the physical world. He also said once, that most of us wouldn't even realize our own ignorance, or even take comfort in it. The quest of seeking truth and the possession of certain knowledge can be terrifying, history being one of those dangerous subjects.
As our poet walked the walk of unearthing the truths he sought in the ruins of the place considered origin of western philosophy, he's realizing the exact same thing, especially with the premonition of his own mortality hanging above his head! (His death at the age of 36 had been foretold) Standing in front of the remains of where ancient philosophers once gave seminars, with his blood saturated with history, there will be questions without answers.
Those restless souls have been, and will always been the pilgrims of knowledge will death puts a halt on their journeys.
Interesting fact about Acheron: the newly dead get ferried across it to enter the underworld. It's also called the river of pain. Vigil described it as the principle river and Dante called it the border of hell in Inferno, both poets being Byron's childhood idols.
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| Charles Babbage |
I'm feeling him as we speak, with so many unsolvable problems I'm facing everyday, as I read on about Byron's life, and all the untraceable facts. I could use internet and digital database -- modern communication has enabled us to do more than ever, to reach out farther than ever, but not, DEFINITELY NOT during 19th century, when scholars had to actually visit the sites for their researches. It's not until the later half of the 1800s when Byron's very own daughter Ada Lovelace began imagining what computers can do for human society. Her contribution to Charles Babbage's analytical engine earned her the name of "the first computer programmer".
There's a strange relationship between knowledge and religion. Some say that religion is a quitter's way out of explaining things they don't understand. The more you know, the more you'd question the existence of an omnipotent god. I've always preferred to think that most religious scriptures serve better as fables and moral guidances, rather than shackles of people's freewill.
The school of Athens witnessed some of the brightest stars of human society. Their wisdom is transcendental and boundless. The Bactrian sage mentioned here was Zoroaster, who suggested that the human condition is an endless struggle between what he called "asa (truth)" and "druj (lie)". His philosophy had great influence on Middle Platonism as well as Judaism.
Pythagoras was the Samian Sage that got called out in here, another influential people in Plato's life and shaping of his philosophy and world view, and of course, thus the entire western philosophy scope. You might remember his name from the mathematical theorem that goes like this:
"All that we know is, nothing can be known." Indeed Socrates said that too. At tis point of Childe Harold's journey, we are facing serious problems like regrets and the limit of the mortal. All those philosophers in the past are gone, though their words lived on. The Sadducees, mentioned in Stanza 8, dind't believe in resurrection. Life is a one time opportunity and there's no turing back. Socrate's orchard experiment depressed all of his students who wished for a second chance. The slightly frustrating truth is: we will infinitely be relatively ignorant. But that shouldn't stop us from craving for more knowledge, for the flip side of that frustrating truth is, there will always be pilgrims of truth picking up what we left behind. People in the future will always be able to solve the mysteries we cannot untangle during our lifetime.
A Tom Stoppard quote perfectly demonstrates this:
There's always more to know.
There's a strange relationship between knowledge and religion. Some say that religion is a quitter's way out of explaining things they don't understand. The more you know, the more you'd question the existence of an omnipotent god. I've always preferred to think that most religious scriptures serve better as fables and moral guidances, rather than shackles of people's freewill.
The school of Athens witnessed some of the brightest stars of human society. Their wisdom is transcendental and boundless. The Bactrian sage mentioned here was Zoroaster, who suggested that the human condition is an endless struggle between what he called "asa (truth)" and "druj (lie)". His philosophy had great influence on Middle Platonism as well as Judaism.
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| Detail of The School of Athens by Raphael, 1509, showing Zoroaster (left, with star-studded globe). |
Pythagoras was the Samian Sage that got called out in here, another influential people in Plato's life and shaping of his philosophy and world view, and of course, thus the entire western philosophy scope. You might remember his name from the mathematical theorem that goes like this:
His other contribution includes tetractys and various musical theories. Aristotle once called him a supernatural being. Aristotle exaggerated out of admiration, of course. Pythagoras, like all those amazing educators in the School of Athens, was just another pilgrim of truth that wouldn't rest until...there's actually no destination on their journeys, only another, and another step further.
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| Pythagoras, the man in the center with the book, teaching music, in The School of Athens by Raphael |
"All that we know is, nothing can be known." Indeed Socrates said that too. At tis point of Childe Harold's journey, we are facing serious problems like regrets and the limit of the mortal. All those philosophers in the past are gone, though their words lived on. The Sadducees, mentioned in Stanza 8, dind't believe in resurrection. Life is a one time opportunity and there's no turing back. Socrate's orchard experiment depressed all of his students who wished for a second chance. The slightly frustrating truth is: we will infinitely be relatively ignorant. But that shouldn't stop us from craving for more knowledge, for the flip side of that frustrating truth is, there will always be pilgrims of truth picking up what we left behind. People in the future will always be able to solve the mysteries we cannot untangle during our lifetime.
A Tom Stoppard quote perfectly demonstrates this:
"We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again."
---- Septimus Arcadia, Act I
There's always more to know.
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