Who’s In Charge?

“Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?… Morons.” Most Americans have heard of Plato and know that he was an ancient thinker. Sadly, in most cases, our entire understanding of Plato comes from watching The Princess Bride. Very few people have read anything written by Plato. Plato’s The Republic is a dialogue in which Socrates discusses political theory that will result in a just republic. It is unclear, at least to me, whether Plato is recording Socrates thoughts or is using his name to add credibility to his own. The discussion addresses the concepts of liberty, education and governmental control to promote moderation in the masses.

In Plato’s reality, there is no need to be respectful of a person’s right to individual liberty, nor is there any need to allow everyone to have a voice in the policies and laws that govern them. Plato believed reason and power should be in control of his perfect city; therefore, he theorized that the city should identify a group of people to become philosopher-warriors, the city’s Guardians. One of the keys to actualizing his perfect city was the selection and education of the Guardians. In order to facilitate this goal, children would be raised and educated by the state. While still young, the state would identify the children who were most intelligent, strongest, and most naturally disciplined. These children received a separate and “superior” education. Children who didn’t make the cut were seen as better suited for being trained as producers: farmers, cobblers, tailors, and merchants.

The kind of education that a child who was destined to become a Guardian received was very important and highly controlled. The city could not be just if the leaders did not possess a strong moral character. In order to ensure that this character developed in the Guardians, Plato advocated censoring authors and musicians. He further advocated training all the Guardians in gymnastics so that they could become strong and disciplined, able to be in strict control of all their activities and pleasures. While the Guardians were expected to possess a great deal of self-control, the Guardians dictated moderation for the rest of society. Plato believed that the inferior majority was ruled by their passions and incapable of self-control.

But you meet with the desires that are simple, measured, and directed by calculation in accordance with the understanding and correct belief only in the few people who are born with the best natures and receive the best education… Then, don’t you see that in your city, too, the desires of the inferior many are controlled by the wisdom and desires of the few? (Plato’s The Republic, Book IV, Line 431c)

All too often I find the culture that I live in aligning itself with this pagan thinker. There are overt examples like the Florida Legislature approving a requirement forcing high school students to declare a major. Other states have attempted to align the state’s educational scope and sequence with the perceived needs of the work force. There are subtle examples like an individual education plan that trains some children for the workforce rather than allowing him or her to experience a rich, diverse education. Even among the homeschool community I read advertisements for opportunities available only to “gifted” children.

Sadly, I see Plato in my own thoughts too. I want to guarantee that my children grow up to share my beliefs by controlling what they are exposed to. I am the intellectual elite, the Guardian, censoring their music, reading and making laws about how they spends their time and treasures. But deep down I know that I do not want to live in Plato’s Republic. I do not want to live in a world where someone else thinks they know what is best for me. I am quite sure my children don’t like the world I create for them either.

As I read Plato, I realized that this “ideal” society, the one I see mirrored in my own home, never had as its goal encouraging self-control among the masses. I started my own, internal dialogue. What would my home look like if I were trying to create an environment that fostered self-control in my children? It would be too simple to say, just do everything the opposite of what Plato suggests. My inquiry took me back to my own history. I realized that in my case the key to being self-controlled was to give up total control of myself to the Holy Spirit.

My thinking has been greatly impacted by the secular thinking that permeates America. In the past, my understanding of self-control matched Plato’s. He theorized that inside each man are a stronger self and a weaker self. When we have mastery over our pleasures and passions, our stronger self is controlling our weaker self. This humanistic idea that man can “take control” denies the reality of sin.

“For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15, NAS)

Plato’s brand of self-control, individual self-control or discipline, is what people commonly mean when they use the term. People who are disciplined consistently choose not to pursue their evil, unhealthy or unproductive desires, passions and pleasures. They are motivated to make the “right choice” by either a fear of punishment or a desire for a reward. Individual self-control is totally dependent on our own strength in controlling our bad impulses. Even as a new Christian, desiring to please a Holy God, I tried and failed to consistently make right choices. I felt defeated, as I would struggle over and over with the same sin. I understood my need for a Savior, but I still thought I was good enough to work out my cleaning by my own, human efforts.

While individual self-control can be seen in both Christians and non-Christians, I believe there is another kind of self-control. Godly self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. Discipline requires that we deny ourselves. Godly self-control urges us to pursue good. We make ourselves completely dependent on the Spirit of God to change our impulses. The difference is subtle, and to the casual observer the results appear identical, but Godly self-control is not denying the passions of the flesh. Godly self-control comes when the Holy Spirit works in the heart so that those passions and desires are no longer produced.

What was my conclusion? Don’t worry about my children’s behavior. Go after their heart. They will demonstrate Godly self-control when their heart’s desire is to pursue good.