The Quality of our Conversations & the Quality of our Lives

     “To Socrates, we are defined above all by what we know, which is reflected in our goodness. No amount of wealth or power can ever make a person wise or good. The truly good life is one of conversation around the pursuit of understanding, as represented in the text of Plato’s Socratic dialogues. ...
     In a sense, we can only be as good as the words that make up our lives. What sorts of things do we read, and to what degree do they open up possibilities for the full realization of our capacity to live and enrich the lives of others? We become what we habitually attend to, and our reading habits reflect our choice of destiny. If all we read are box scores or stock market quotations, this capacity is likely to lie dormant and unfulfilled. To a lesser degree, the same might be said for medical textbooks and journals, which provide an important kind of practical know-how but typically provide little insight into life’s more elevated possibilities.
     I am not suggesting that we stop reading newspapers and the medical literature; far from it. To be our best, we must understand the age in which we are living, as both citizens and professionals. Nevertheless, many of us would benefit from reading some better material. Moreover, many of us would do well to shift some of the time we devote to watching television or surfing the Internet to real reading. To repeat, our lives are to a great extent the product of the ideas with which we live, and by improving the quality of our ideas, we can enhance our own lives and the lives of those we live with and serve.”

       Gunderman RB. Writing and being. J Am Coll Radiol 2012; 9(3): 162-3.

Artist: Joanne Hunt CSPWC, SCA    http://www.gallery78.com/