Friendship

Aha! It is nearly the end of September and I haven't written a blog post. What a shame it would be if I left a month unmarked, unremarked upon. I find so much in my life so remarkable. I just avoid this particular medium.

I tend to value my voice, my speech. I'm currently trudging my way through Aristotle's De Anima, 'On the Soul'. I often find books challenging. Sometimes I find them downright inscrutable. This is one of those cases. I intend to finish it, but I don't have many hopes for understanding it.

One thing I have grasped, however, is that Aristotle places particular emphasis on speech, because speech is the aspect of human behavior in which the soul is most clearly exhibited. I have reflected on this during my morning commute, sitting on a bus, quietly whirring, not a voice disturbing the mechanical peace.

Speech also seems to be a central element of friendship. After I read 'On the Soul' I'll probably read some fiction, spend some time relaxing. But I also intend to read the Nicomachean Ethics. As I've learned from a friend of mine, friendship plays a central role in Aristotle's account of the good life. My friend has told me that Aristotle goes so far as to argue that a person who possessed all other forms of goodness would not choose to go on living if they did not have friendship. Friendship has to be one of the highest forms of goodness.

One aspect of friendship that I have been reflecting on is it's exclusive character. We favor our friends more than we favor others, and that is simply how it is. We speak to them about matters closer to us, we let them in our truths that we don't let others in on. We care for them in a way that we don't care for others.

Honestly, I've lost my train of thought. That's okay. I'll just say that friendship seems to be an awkward question in some ways because it points to the question of inequality, the question of love.