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I Admire Socrates

Socrates was a man who questioned life at a time questioning was simply not done.

How brave of him to do so.

He was outraged with materialism and shallowness and saw to break down ideas to the depths to find meaning or the negation of meaning.

How?

By asking questions.

Near the end of his life, around 2,500 years ago, according to what is written of him he was told to drink poison by the authorities of the time for “corrupting the youth” which he drank without a problem as if he was drinking a Sprite.

What a man and legend of what it is to think and question what we are taught.

What can we analyze from all we have experienced in our lives really?

In my case that life is about being found pleasing, productive, and harmless OR we are negatively labeled, sent to be fixed, or locked up.

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drymer · 56-60, M

Socrates, according to what Plato wrote, had a whole rationale to drank poison according to what the authorities decided... It was a matter of principle, of obeying the law, because the alternative was chaos and anarchy. It's a concept that's beyond lost in our societies, where increasingly people think it's "OK" to break the law if it suits their immediate interests... The results are becoming apparent... Chaos an anarchy indeed, when everyone decides by themselves when it's OK to break the law...

SW-User

Do you think rules are made for public convenience and rule can be bent or changed if it causers invonvenience to people? @drymer

drymer · 56-60, M

@SW-User People respect each other when they all play by the same rules. The moment people start cheating and taking advantage of others for their own benefit, resentment and hatred happens, violence happens (because it seems/feels "justified": "getting even"). The places where people are more prone to "bend the rules" is where violence is more prevalent... Of course there are degrees of "bending the rules"... Someone driving 2 miles above the speed limit is technically doing something illegal, which won't be as outrageous as some guy scamming elderly people out of their life savings... Yet, the [i]principle[/i] is there, that was Socrate's point... He felt that if he refused to follow the authorities ruling that he should drink poison, he would be undermining the pillars of a civilized society. He had a point.

SW-User

My Facebook actually has a quote from Socrates.

[quote]The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.[/quote]

I love that guy :P

Specialyouare · 31-35, F

@SW-User I love him too! So true haha!

PoetryNEmotion · F

One can still learn by reading the writings of the wise men, the philosophers.

GoodoldBob · 61-69, M

He was seeking truth and wisdom. How could we not admire that?

xSharp · 31-35, M

im more of a diogenes type of guy lol

lovingdead · 31-35, M

I think he was the embodiment of rebellion.

To question and ask why, to fan the flames of youth, to revolt against the establishment built by those who came before him.

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