Utopia

It rained only briefly this morning maybe it was just what I needed to get motivated. A couple days ago we had another hard rain for about an hour – the sky even tossed in a bit of hail for good measure. My Newfoundland pup, Goliath, barked and growled at it behind the dry safety of new studio windows. He reminded me how long it had been since it last rained. It was the first shower since September. He was only born last November and had not yet experienced the rattle of water from the sky.

Also this morning, an anonymous comment was posted on the “100^th Post!” Check it out, this person has some good ideas – although I believe the concepts presented probably fall within the realm of a single fantasy that many of us share. A community based around a system of appropriately handled community-controlled economics that allow security and freedom for creativity.

Utopia. I once read Thomas More, as well, and was left with a feeling of plastic ethics. How can a society preach perfect peace and harmony, all the while hiring mercenaries to fight their wars – in order to keep their hands (and conscience) clean. It all seemed very Pontius Pilate, to me.

But like I said, many of us have had the same dream. Is it the tendency of artists, writers and philosophers to want these societies more than most? As I stepped outside this morning just to inhale the fragrance of the outdoor shower against my mountain, my thoughts continued to linger on this utopian ideal. Thomas More stole it from Plato and I can only assume Plato stole it from Socrates. My youngest son, Dylan Thomas, is only two but has long demanded to “do it myself”. Which path will his independence take? Will he grow competitive and autonomous - financially successful put possibly alone; or will his drive for self-sufficiency lead him inadvertently to seek the possibilities of self-reliance viewed through the lens of a like-minded community of socialists. Then again, am I being hypocritical in my judgment of societies influenced only by their financial success? Isn’t it this same society that allows me to write in the morning and paint scrolls in afternoon and evening?

Socrates defended his wisdom as a limited awareness of his own ignorance. By his death via hemlock, Socrates proved that wrongdoing was a consequence of ignorance, that the free who did wrong knew no better and only slaves did evil without regard. Despite his knowledge, he was still a slave to the government that forced him to commit suicide. In reality, he never asserted his wisdom - he only claimed to know the trail that a hunter of wisdom must take in pursuing it. - DN