posted February 20, 2010 11:53 PM         

We say "an apple", but what we mean to say is "the form of an apple". We indicate the form, and believe we have identified the thing. We hold that the idea of an apple is not the thing, but an abstraction from it. But, what if the reverse were true; what if that which we now call "an apple" were understood to be, not an apple, but, merely "the form of an apple"? What if, rather than saying "the idea of an apple", we were to say only "an apple", and take the idea to be the thing, just as we now take the form to be the thing? What would this reversal suggest for ourselves? Also, for our culture, and the values it promotes?

If we considered ideas as things a priori would they perhaps command the respect we now reserve for hard currency? If we held that forms are not real things, but abstractions, would we then be forced to look upon them as mere appearances? How rich would this make the poor man, and how poor would seem the rich man's riches?

Granted, the idea of an apple cannot be eaten. But it can be utilized in a thousand inventive ways to illustrate a thousand beautiful, natural truths. The form of an apple, on the other hand, is good only for eating. It is here one minute, devoured the next, and if we wish to recall it, we find that it may only be recalled in a more ghastly, more vomitous form.

How is it that forms have come to occupy such a high position in our thoughts? Is it only because they are rare, -- at least, relative to ideas, which "materialize" (if I may be permitted to stretch the word so far) at the speed of will, and the ease of intention? Is it because they are difficult to procure and maintain? Is it because they must be guarded against theft and decay?

If we were to consider ideas as things, and forms as abstractions, it is conceivable that the things which ought to matter most in life -- the intangible things, like honesty, hope, loyalty, compassion, friendship, and so on, -- would actually begin to matter most in our lives; and not just in our personal lives, but in our culture, our politics, our businesses and economies, as well. It may be that the prejudices we hold about what constitutes reality keep us from appreciating what is most precious, and most present to us. Perhaps even our language, in the most fundamental ways, undermines our appreciation for what is, by constantly suggesting to us that what exists in the mind does not really exist, and that what is wrought in matter possesses eternal "weight".