"to live a good life... | Plato's Philosophy"

So, it was one of those nights where I was anxious and had trouble falling asleep. But eventually the stream of thoughts stopped and I fell asleep. Then came the morning. Well, not that bright, but yeah. And I felt a certain kind of uneasiness as I woke up with the same thoughts from last night. I was thinking, will I be able to live a good life? Will I find meaning and fulfillment in the work I do? Or be able to share my being with people I adore, and will they share theirs with me? The questions continued and I finally arrived at THE question. What does it mean to live a good life? And what scares me is the vastness of this question. Like every person will come up with a different answer to this question. So, if there is no direct answer to such a question, how is then one supposed to navigate through life? Well, 2500 years ago, this man questioned the same thing and he found an interesting way to deal with this problem. In his two books, The Republic and Phaedrus, Plato proposes the theory of the soul or the psyche, stating that we have three parts or three tendencies in us. Reason, passion and appetite. Passion can be described as something that moves us, like for example when you look at a beautiful painting and desire to become a painter, or when you work hard to improve upon a skill or a craft. Appetite can be described as something related to pleasure, like the desire to eat delicious food or our sexual desires or something as little as our desire to stay in bed a little longer in the morning. And reason is the part that is responsible for the regulation of other parts. Life is a movement of these three tendencies. Every choice we make and every decision we take is guided by what tendencies we aim to attend to. Plato paints the picture of life as a chariot on a road, being pulled by two horses, namely passion and appetite, and reason being the charioteer. Now the horses of passion and appetite usually move in conflicting directions or at conflicting paces. Like we might be passionate about going to the gym next morning or learning a new skill, but when the morning arrives, our appetite might just snooze the alarm. Or the situation can be the opposite. We might, in the heat of passion, overwork ourselves and ignore our appetite for rest. Plato argues that for a good journey, the charioteer must control the two horses in such a way that they move at a harmonious pace and in a certain direction. Implying that a good life lies not in the suppression of our desires or tendencies, but rather in maintaining a harmony between our reason, passion and appetite, with reason guiding and regulating the other two. And he gives a really beautiful analogy for this in his work, The Republic. Think of a beautiful musical piece. Now what makes it beautiful is a certain harmony between the different notes and the strings, bass, tenor and treble. Socrates suggests in The Republic that in order to make life a just and a good journey, one must attune the three parts of the psyche just like the three strings in a musical piece, where none of the parts interfere with each other or do the work of one another. Attuning all the parts together in a uniform motion so that they render as a symphony. Thus, he will be led to combine all of these together and become of many an entire one, temperate and attuned, and in that manner to perform whatever is done, either in the way of acquiring wealth or concerning the management of the body or any public affair or private bargain, and in all these cases to account and call that action just and handsome, which always sustains and promotes this habit, and to call the knowledge which presides over this action, wisdom. But to call that an unjust action which dissolves this habit and the opinion which presides over this, folly. So, coming back to the question, will I be able to live a good life? The question has to be answered every day, in every act that is done, so that it becomes a habit, where we reasonably guide our passion and appetite towards the good. Therefore, let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing, and let it direct your passion with reason, that a passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix, rise above its own ashes. I hope this was meaningful and helpful for you. If you like this video and want to support more of these, check the link in the description. Any donation is helpful and genuinely appreciated. You can support me on Patreon or buy me a coffee. If you want me to cover more on these themes, let me know in the comments below. I make videos on metaphysics and philosophy, both eastern and western, as well as movies, artworks, books and other stuff. Thank you for watching!