PLATO DISCOVERS DISTANCE
BY: YONI CORCOS
In this chapter, Powers discusses the power of distance and its influence on the peace of the mind. He mentions a quote from Plato, “Physical distance is the oldest method of crowd control”, meaning that people will never obtain complete tranquility of the mind unless they are able to find physical distance and absolute isolation for a substantial amount of time. It elaborates on the idea that people can only have peace of mind when they obtain physical space from people; however, social media seems to reverse the attempt. By being connected to social media and the internet 24/7 people don’t have space. The constant uploads of pictures and ideas, and the inexorable desire to know what others are doing, violates this sense of physical space. This is visually exhibited in society today, and is, according to plato, the leading reason humans or people will never reach emotional tranquility and peace of mind.
In the book, Powers depicts life in Ancient Greece, during the time of Socrates and Plato. Throughout this time Greece had cities very popular in peoples travel options. These very cities were the most notorious for their influence on social affairs. Many people would congregate in these cities and speak to each other; something that became popular after Socrates, Plato’s mentor, passed down the tradition of intellectual stimulation through verbal discussion. This led many to lose touch with their peace, even Plato himself suffered from this. Plato then was offered by his doctor to start meditating, a solution that will help Plato escape from the constant verbal interactions that he was taught to do by Socrates.
“Now, in the place where this kind of connectedness had reached its highest and most intense expression, thoughtful people were realizing that, for personal well-being and happiness, it was necessary to restore some of that distance to everyday life”.
People, even the most peaceful people, are now looking for ways to isolate themselves from the overload of physical interactions, something they used to be able to do somewhat before social media’s onset. This is a virtue that seems to have been lost, and in my opinion, I believe that people deserve to retrieve their sense of privacy. This sense of privacy, that we have examined in the beginning of the school semester where we discussed how people are always searching for what other people are doing and that seemingly takes away our privacy. I think that this idea of restoring privacy and alone time is extremely important for the well-being of society and its people, and thus should be practiced even more today.
In conclusion, people confused social interaction with personal space. Therefore, people became very obsessed with personal space and isolation, something they have lost over time through the influence of social media.
