Philosophical Seasonal Humor

Sitting on my desk, next to my laptop, is the Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar . . . Daily Calendar. Based on the book by the same name, each day a joke or humorous anecdote illustrates a philosophical idea or principle. I really had to laugh when I read today’s page, which is, perhaps, a sad commentary on the state of my sense of humor.

“The History of Philosophy: On this date in 381 BCE, Plato sees shadows on the wall of a cave and interprets them to mean six more weeks of winter.”

The above reminded me of an Easter joke I heard and do not know who to attribute it to. It goes something like this.

“Little William's Sunday School teacher asked him to explain Easter. Will responded that on Easter day Jesus comes out of a cave and if he sees his shadow we have six more weeks of Lent.”

And to make matters worse I offer this original Christmas humor.

“On Christmas Eve Santa comes down the chimney, and if, as he exits from the chimney into the living room, he sees his shadow cast by Rudolph’s shining nose glaring through the window, we will have two more weeks of Advent.”

SPA

When I taught college level introduction to philosophy I taught my students to remember the historical order of the three great classical philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle with the mnemonic acronym SPA. I would often suggest to the students that when their brain hurt or needed some tender loving care and pampering that they needed to visit a SPA, a Socrates, Plato or Aristotle teaching.

Earlier this evening I was reworking the layout of Summit to Shore and decided to add sidebar gadgets with quotes from Plato and Aristotle to the sidebar gadget with quotes from Socrates. I think Sophie would be both pleased and proud. In an age of sound bite and bumper sticker politics and theology some classical philosophy might offer us a much needed corrective.

Shadows Outside the Cave

Not long ago during a sunny afternoon following a week of rain and overcast skies, I noticed a compelling shadow on a wall in our living room. Recognizing the outline I knew at once what the shadow was of. The shadow on the wall was of a mermaid sculpture sitting near the window where rays of the Sun were shining in. I would not have been able to deduce the form casting the shadow if I had not first known the Sculpture. Because I knew the three dimensional sculpture I recognized its outline in the two dimensional shadow. I knew the shadow was not the sculpture because I also knew the sculpture casting the shadow. I was compelled to capture both the shadow and the sculpture with my digital camera.

A few days later I was walking along the sidewalk on another rare bight sunny day. I noticed my shadow ahead of me on the sidewalk. Since I had my camera with me I took a picture, not quite a self portrait, but close.

A week or so later I was standing in the foyer of North Church Queens, waiting for worship to begin, when I looked out the window and noticed on the street in front of the church the shadow of a very recognizable form. It was the form of a Celtic Cross, but not any Celtic Cross. It was the shadow of the Celtic Cross on the roof of the church.

I have learned over the years that when I am aware of similar phenomena occurring in threes or more within close proximity of time to pay attention to them. Jung called such occurrences synchronicity, and through his writings he taught me that when I am aware of occurrences of synchronicity that I had not only better pay attention but also reflect upon the experience. Thus, I write this post.

Hopefully everyone who has ever had a high school or college level Introduction to Philosophy Class will be familiar with Plato’s Analogy of the Cave. I know the students I had for Introduction to Philosophy at the undergraduate level were presented with it.

I think we very often are willing to settle for and live with shadows when upon a little reflection and inquiry we can discover the three dimensional reality behind them. We rarely expend the time or energy to ask questions about our world, to go below the surface and delve deeper into reality. After awhile our own existence can take on a shadow quality and so we live shallow, superficial, two dimensional lives.