Fr. Joseph Pallatty

Plato distinguishes between the material world and the world of forms. The material world is a sensory world, which one can see, touch, and taste. It is the physical world. The world of forms is the real world. It is supernatural, metaphysical, but real. The forms, according to Plato, are ideas of things that actually exist. Material realities are the shadows of these forms in the world of ideas. They are a replica of the forms. For each material reality in this world, there exists a perfect form in the world of forms. Forms represent what each object is supposed to be. For example, the form of human represents the qualities one must have in order to be human. It is a depiction of the idea of ‘human-ness’. Though similar, no actual human is the perfect representation of the form human. Every human is different, and no one is perfectly human. Let us consider another example.There are many chairs in the world,but the form of ‘chair-ness’ is the core of all chairs. According to Plato, every object or quality, in reality, has a form: dogs, cats, humans, oceans, tables, colours, beauty, love, and courage.

Plato’s theory of forms is a difficult concept to grasp because it requires one to think in an abstract way about objects. According to this theory, no object is a perfect representation of the idea it represents. Each object in the real world is a mere flawed representation of the perfect forms they represent. The theory of forms is complex, nevertheless, it invites us to ponder upon ideals. The world of forms is ideal. It is the final destination, to which everyone is moving towards. For everything, we should keep ideals. For human nature, a sense of beauty, talents, achievements, values,etc., we should have an idea of a perfect reality. Keeping these ideals as a finishing point, we have to strive for perfection. Personality development trainers share an important view regarding how to improve our personal qualities. They say there are two types of selves, actual self and ideal self. The actual self is the self-image of what a person is now. The ideal self is the perfect and complete self-image to what he or she would like to become. Life is a journey from the actual self to ideal self. When the actual self and ideal self are identical, it is called perfection, completeness or in other words,realization. Today’s problem is a lack of ideals. People, especially, youngsters, are facing this tragic experience of idealless and dreamless life. People are running aimlessly. They are boxing as though beating the air. They will finally reach the peak of depression. Therefore, keep the ideals and strive for that.