Eternal Forms? What’s that mean?

When I studied philosophy as an undergraduate, I was introduced to the Greek philosopher, Plato, and his Theory of Forms. Plato looked to the world around him, and saw a world that is constantly changing.  Nothing stays the same, even the most permanent of objects. The natural world is always in a state of flux, and our understanding and our perception of the world around us is likewise always in a state of development. 

Plato argued that, while the physical world is constantly changing, only ideas are timeless, absolute and unchangeable. For example, one plus one equals two.  It has always and will always equal two - no matter what two things we may be counting. It’s the timelessness of the ideas that brings continuity and understanding to our experience of the world around us.

Take for instance, a seat. A seat can take many different forms, but the idea behind a seat - something that can be sat upon - doesn’t ever change - nor will it ever. When we encounter objects in the world that resemble a seat, we know exactly what they are for or how they can be used - because we have encountered “seat-ness” before. In this way, a plush, tufted, wingback chair is a seat, or a flat rock is a seat.

[image of chair][image of elephant sitting on a rock]

It is these individual experiences we have that try to emulate those timeless “Eternal Forms”. In a way, we all have ideals in our lives, and try to make our experiences reach or perhaps match those ideals.

Plato said that even abstract ideas like love and family are timeless and absolute as well. He explained that we all encounter particular instances of love and family in our lives, but while they hint at the ultimate, unchanging realities of love and family, each instance is only an imperfect representation. The best we can do as human beings, is try to emulate those Eternal Forms as well as we can.  We are always striving to make relationships better, deepen our love for one another, and make the fleeting moments in our lives gain a bit more permanence.

Every one of us starts our family with an idea of family and love. We have dreams of what we want our lives to be like with our families.

As maternity and newborn photographers, we endeavor to capture instances of the feelings of family, love and new life. They may be imperfect, but they are each person’s, each family’s attempt to reach the Eternal Form.  Through photographs, we are able to capture those instances a bit more permanently - helping to extend them a little closer to their ultimate form. That can only be experienced in the hearts and minds of our clients.