Plato

Once upon a time, a man named Plato set forth a set of presumptions about mankind in general and the purpose of men individually within a society and in interaction with a plurality of societies. The book was called The Republic. It described in the most essential way how we function as people groups and why we function in just such a way. The glue that binds the scheme is composed of logic, native intuition, individual interest and the dependence of the individual on community. The pattern described by Plato remains in effect at the very core of our everyday existence, though it is continually assailed by rebellion, a perverse inclination toward all that is contrary, counter-intuitive and ultimately chaotic. We do not like the truth. It is too clean, too pure. It is a deep-seated hatred of self that casts a lunatic shadow over all, angered by the inescapable concept of order. The exception, therefore, is made the rule, such that we may become victims rather than members of the cooperative experience known as life.