The Psychological Solution-5
Plato believes that a nation cannot be strong unless it believes in God.
A mere cosmic force, or first cause, or élan vital, that was not a person, could hardly inspire hope, or devotion, or sacrifice;
it could not offer comfort to the hearts of the distressed, nor courage to embattled souls.
But a living God can do all this, and can stir or frighten the self-seeking individualist into some moderation of his greed, some control of his passion.
All the more so if to belief in God is added belief in personal immortality: the hope of another life gives us courage to meet our own death, and to bear with the death of our loved ones;
we are twice armed if we fight with faith.
Granted that none of the beliefs can be demonstrated;
that God may be after all only the personified ideal of our love and our hope, and that the soul is like the music of the lyre, and dies with the instrument that gave it form: yet surely (so runs the argument, Pascal-like, of the Phædo) it will do us no harm to believe, and it may do us and our children immeasurable good.
[ 01’11” ] cosmic force (宇宙力量)
[ 01’30” ] élan vital (生命的动力)
[ 02’30” ] distressed (低沉的，消沉的)
[ 02’40” ] embattled (严阵以待的；处境艰难的)
[ 03’52” ] stir (扰乱)
[ 03’57” ] frighten (恐吓)
[ 04’03” ] self-seeking (以自我为中心的，个体主义的)
[ 04’23” ] moderation (克制，节制)
[ 06’48” ] granted that (即便)
[ 06’54” ] take it for granted (视为当然；把…当成理所当然)
[ 07’25” ] after all (终究)
[ 08’59” ] lyre (古希腊的七弦竖琴)
