Chase What Really Matters
Wisdom > Money
We can be running hard, but if we are going in the wrong direction, the harder we run, the bigger our detriment. The finish line determines the quality of the result as well as the effort.
In The Republic, Plato searched for the perfect city, and therefore the perfect human being. Both exhibit justice and harmony, and exist for the right reasons. So everyone in Plato’s (or rather Socrates’) city who goes to work or to war does so for the good.
Socrates describes a communist utopia, which is not possible in real life. But we can still learn from and align our motivations around the ideas that are its foundation.
We should all aspire to be philosophers, but not for the purpose of being rulers, as the philosophers are in the city of Socrates. Rather, we should learn from their capacity to escape the cave and see the sun.
This too is in some ways impossible. Just as one cannot look directly at the sun, neither can ideas like truth, beauty, and justice be observed first-hand. However, we can seek them in things that participate in them. We can admire the logic and consistency of the Pythagorean theorem which is always true. Or read the timeless words of Shakespeare to partake in beauty.
As we run in the journey of life, let us orient ourselves to the finish line of the eternal rather than the temporal. Wisdom is worth more than money.
