On Threads, my friend posted a quote by Baldwin:
“It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the earth as though I had a right to be here.”
Reading Baldwin’s reflection reminded me of a Platonic dialogue, where they mentioned the river Styx.
In Phaedo:
“when the dead arrive at the place to which the genius of each severally conveys them, first of all they have sentence passed upon them, as they have lived well and piously or not. And those who appear to have lived neither well nor ill, go to the river Acheron, and mount such conveyances as they can get, and are carried in them to the lake, and there they dwell and are purified of their evil deeds, and suffer the penalty of the wrongs which they have done to others, and are absolved, and receive the rewards of their good deeds according to their deserts.”
Baldwin describes a visceral process of unlearning, the painful shedding of internalized racism and homophobia. This isn't mere self-improvement but a fundamental transformation, a reclaiming of humanity from the weight of imposed beliefs.
His words echo an ancient metaphor found in Plato's Phaedo, where souls journey across the River Styx. In the dialogue, Plato writes: "when the dead arrive at the place to which the genius of each severally conveys them... there they dwell and are purified of their evil deeds, and suffer the penalty of the wrongs which they have done to others, and are absolved." This crossing represents transformation - a shedding of earthly impurities for renewal.
Charon carries souls across the river Styx by Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko.
Where Plato wrestles with philosophical questions of the soul, Baldwin confronts the lived reality of racism, homophobia, and systemic oppression. His metaphor of "vomiting up all the filth" grounds abstract ideas of purification in embodied experience. The "filth" represents societal beliefs aimed at dehumanization, and his liberation comes through their violent rejection.
Both describe a necessary death of false knowledge. Plato's souls achieve understanding through divine purification. Baldwin reclaims his identity through the expulsion of internalized oppression. But while Plato seeks transcendence, Baldwin fights for his right to exist fully within this world.
Baldwin's metaphor reaches beyond personal transformation to critique the systems perpetuating racism and homophobia. His act of self-liberation becomes a challenge to power structures that shape identity. The mythological crossing of the Styx transforms into a story of resistance and reclamation.
"Walking on earth as though I had a right to be here"
James Baldwin at his home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, southern France, in 1979. Image Credit: Ralph Gatti/AFP via Getty Images
Baldwin's words remind us that true liberation demands we confront uncomfortable truths. Only by rejecting beliefs can we claim our place in the world as complete and authentic beings. His "vomiting up all the filth" becomes more than metaphor, it's an urgent call to shed the poisonous ideas society forces us to swallow, and through that violent rejection, find our way home to ourselves.
Book recommendations
1. “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin
2. “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin
3. “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin
4. “Phaedo” by Plato
5. “The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B. Du Bois
6. “Black Skin, White Masks” by Frantz Fanon
7. “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire