The Republic by Plato [Book 10]

In this last book of The Republic, Socrates launches a campaign against painting and poetry and calls them imitators of everything and nothing else. He says that a painter is a creator of appearances just like a mirror and is far away from the truth and reality. He further adds that its the idea of the objects that matters and not what is imitated on a canvas and is neither a reflection of true knowledge e.g., things done by a cobbler when imitated by painter won't show that the painter is as skilled as a cobbler. Well, we know that a painter paints the world on canvas and keep memories alive along with the things that we cannot see. Its a form of art to depict the level of imagination that a human mind can have and Socrates himself has shown that imagination has importance in the real world.Then, by citing the example of Homer, he says that tragic poets are also imitators who actually have accomplished nothing except the exploitation of the weakness of human mind where confusions are revealed inside themselves. The things that overwhelm people like magic is only a tricky play of colors. A strong man under sorrow and grief has to come up with a remedy and not behave like a child with weeping and sorrowful life who cannot handle his own life. Well, poetry is the reflection of deepest convictions and emotions in words that, when accompanied by music, creates a new virtual world where a person can get past to his sorrows and clear his mind to relax. Now, we must leave the selection of poetry to the people as to what kind of poetry they want to read or listen because continuous propagation of same thing creates dullness eventually and people start asking for something new. Also, Socrates permits the hymns of gods and the  poetry about the famous men to be included in the state but then, there will be more fake poetry because people will find a way to fame anyhow. Socrates says that the feeling of weeping and lamentation are satisfied and delighted by the poets, which is true, but I do not see anything wrong in that because no matter how hard to try to hide your emotions, there is sorrow somewhere deep in the heart and it can be touched, and sometimes healed, by poetry. Reasoning has its own importance and a fair reason to bring out these emotions and attend to them in a repressed mind can be done in a better way by poetry. I am not saying that everyone should like or do poetry but banning this thing will actually bring out more of repression and less of a healthy mind.

In the end, Socrates tells a story of transition from earth to heaven after the soul leaves the body and explains how a soul is punished for evil deeds and then how they select the now lives accordingly. The concept of the repayment of debts takes the form of recompense of life after death that nothing goes unpaid and all the rewards and punishments will get to you no matter you are walking on the earth or not. For every suffering they gave to others, there is tenfold of punishment and similar rule is for rewards. This is good thing to make people fear the highest authority and imbibe in them a quality of obedience to the just society and get past the river of forgetfulness and ignorance but I think that a just society cannot be made without giving people an opportunity to explore themselves and liberty to make their lives their own city in reality.

I want to say that I have learnt a lot from this book and will re-read it to clear my thoughts about lots of things. I have actually felt myself going through the process of making a just society and making a moral individual despite the fact that I still refute some of the ideas that they considered to be just.Overall, Socrates and Plato have the highest form of reasoning qualities and I have read nothing like this book before.