First, I would like to begin by saying I am so glad I have the opportunity to read modern-language material most of the time. I am having a really hard time getting through the Phaedrus reading, especially when there is Greek mythology and uncommon words mixed in.
Luckily we are using the translation which is a bit easier for me to get through...
This classes reading was around the Phaedrus section regarding the soul. The text talks about the white horse, the dark horse and the charioteer. The white horse is more disciplined, obedient and well-mannered, while the dark horse is rowdy, untamed and unwilling to cooperate. The charioteer is in charge of controlling, or helping the horses behave.
In Christianity, God acts as the charioteer, grouping the horses together and controlling them. As humans, we are all a lot like the white and dark horses. At times, we can be switch between identifying with qualities of the white or dark horse. As Christians, however, we strive to be more like the white horse; diciplined, obedient and well-mannered in our relationship with Christ and others. We want to show that Godly love to others and want to spread the joy of Christ to others. There are dark horses out there though, that remain that way. People can lose sight of a righteous path, and fall into a rowdy, untamed or unwilling lifestyles.
God's grace is amazing though and allows even the darkest horse to become stark white by accepting that Christ is Lord and receiving redemption through Jesus.
Imagine though, a world full of white horses. :)
As Christians, our goal is to spread the Word, and by doing so, we can help gray horses, brown horses, and black horses become another white horse in God's corral.
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Interesting. Socrates/Plato is talking about our souls . . . the good and the bad within each of us, and he sees us as the ones who are trying to whip the two sides of our nature/souls into shape and make them run like a team, right? We want to do the white horse thing, but the other one keeps wanting to head off in another, dangerous direction that deflects us from becoming our best selves.
ReplyDeleteI think it might be more productive to run with Socrates' metaphor. God can help us control our white and black natures, and Isaiah said he can make the black become "whiter than snow."
When God is the charioteer, as you suggest in your interpretation of metaphor, what is the chariot? What are the horses? Are you thinking of the chariot as the church (or world) and God as trying to control the church (or world) -- with the black and white horses as somewhat like wheat and the tares growing side by side? Priests who molest little kids -- but God still working out His Kingdom through a godly church in a flawed world.