Monthly Archives: August 2012

Socrates Outside

In which you examine the two-horse drawn chariot from a more ecologically-historical angle….

You are with your kind phellows and other civilized scoundrels, such as the Gray jay and the Yellow-pine chipmunk, thinking and talking about truth.  The dog keeps the robberbandits at bay.  If we could find some use for them, we’d make them our slaves.

You romanticize the campfire while partnering with Prometheus for a slow dance and the smoke chooses different beauties to follow with the will of the wind.  Seven tents successfully made in true question-answer form: you are with your tribe.

Proposition: “Children gifted with ADHD, when taken outside for extended periods of time,” he says, “become calm.”

True or false?

You are wondering how long it would take to find your copy of Phaedrus when you get back home.  Boxes of books make reference checks more laborious – more laborious than simply washing dishes from a campsite pump using Dr. Bronner’s Magic biodegradable soap.  The smell of the soap reminds you of your first Socrates Cafe at The Waypost, an establishment with a poorly-lit bathroom which has a bottle of it sitting at the sink.  You are in love with this soap; the black horse compelled you to spend three dollars for a couple of ounces of it at R.E.I., as though nostalgia is a good enough argument.

Snickers trauma. Mathematical haiku.  An insightful insight.  Mandolin and Guitar. The periodic table of the elements sung.  Moral realism isn’t intuitively binary. Gold, mateys.

You are wondering why the bear or the bull haven’t invaded your campground, and why the topic of love was set outside the streets of Athens.  Sure, it was about madness and rhetoric and all of that, but Plato was pointing to something about those two horses, and the trees too.  You lie in your tent, covered with two sleepingbags, enclosed by Lodgepole pines, supported by dust, knowledgeable of a watersource nearby, breathing icy air, wondering if sleep will come soon or never, embraced by your beloved, significant other.

Proposition: “It is reported that people returning from time spent with primitive cultures breeds discontent, anxiety, and boredom upon re-entry into the conveniences of their cultures-of-origin.”

True or false?

East Lake.  Newberry Caldera.  Oregon. Northern Hemisphere. The Biosphere. Solar System.  Universe.