The other day I was thinking a bit about Plato and his notion of “The Forms” (i.e., the perfect ideal behind every crude and imprecise concept here on earth; e.g. the perfect circle, perfect harmony, perfect love, or maybe perfect justice). This was the basis of Plato’s metaphysical view; in effect it was his religion. The Forms supposedly exist in a heavenly realm where everything is perfect. Our souls come from the World of The Forms, and after we die they return home to that World. While here on earth, our souls are pretty much lost in the muck of decay and the struggle of daily existence. However, once in a blue moon they experience something that reminds them (if just for a moment) of the perfect world from which they came. When it happens you feel a thrill, a deep-down sensation, a religious experience.

For people like me, the way of having such a religious experience is through learning and education. Reading and studying are generally pretty boring. But once in a while you have an “ah ha” experience, a moment of great insight when the pieces all come together and you feel thrilled by the rush of understanding. That’s the kind of thing that an eternal student (like myself) lives for. It’s a bit like a drug trip or like falling in love, but without the hell to pay afterward.

Not to say that moments of love aren’t also temporary visions of an ideal. It’s just that reality and basic human needs and misunderstanding so quickly intervene in human relationships. Perhaps where and how you “follow your bliss” (as Joseph Campbell would say) is a matter of individual temperament. People who are extroverted and sensory-oriented will find their visions of heaven in physical moments (including, but not always through sex; it could also be a mother’s rush of joy in holding her baby, or an embrace among teammates after a great play in a sports game). People who are introverted and intuitive, however, will tend a bit more towards study, thinking and abstraction as their window on the holy.

I’m in no hurry to die, but I hope that Plato is right and that there is an eventual reunification with the forms. (Plato said that the ultimate purpose of philosophy, which means love of wisdom, is the preparation for death.) But I’m sometimes worried by a recurring thought, a rather silly one — that the forms are really “Colorforms”, those vinyl shapes that I played with as a child. So after death, your soul would then go to a place with a dark background having bright, colorful shapes floating about, e.g. red triangles, green squares, blue rectangles, and orange circles. Arg, sounds a bit like a bad acid trip. Say it ain’t so, Plato.