Philosophy good for the soul
Published:Thursday | January 2, 2014 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
The New Year will be well under way and that sweet refrain of "May all acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind" made its customary rounds at the singalong and end-of-year parties. There will be the usual New Year resolutions made and broken in record time after a period of reflection and appraisal; the things done and left undone, the successes and failures.
In looking at the past year, and in fact past years, one acquaintance that I have met through the pages of the Gleaner is your columnist Ian Boyne. His articles reflect a philosophical bent which is both illuminating and inspiring, and a must-read for aspiring philosophers of whatever genre. Boyne's examination of philosophical models reveals a love for wisdom which, of course, is the ideal that the philosopher strives for. May he be always brought to mind through the pages of the Gleaner.
In using this medium to meet all acquaintances, family, and friends, I must wish for them all that is good in the New Year and that they get in touch with the philosopher in themselves. May they conquer the Goliath in their life by not seeing him as too big to fight, but as David saw him, too big to miss.
Finally, in the Boyne tradition (philosophical bent), let philosophy be the guiding post in life's trials and, as Epicurus the Greek philosopher said 300 years before Christ was born, "Let not the young delay in studying philosophy or the old grow weary of its study, for whether young or old, it is good for the soul."
ROGER PERKINS