Cracking it in The Socrates Way

“The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing.”

Masses read texts, books, consumes content, talks to people & experience something, and then suffered from the illusion that they know everything. But do you even question what you know? Do you know something in reality or is it just some preconceived knowledge that you’re feeding yourself?

One needs a great deal of intelligence and a questioning mind to understand the limitation of knowledge. Whatever the knowledge and information that we get, we get it through the experiences of our 5 senses. So, the ground of knowledge is experience. Now let’s question our experience. Our experience is limited because the instrument (Our own body) through which we experience anything is itself limited. Our senses and rationale cannot observe the complete picture of any phenomenon of this universe. We can dig down into this concept through quantum physics where electron behaves like particles when observed in a certain way and also behaves like waves when observed in another way. When we start questioning the instruments we realize that each one of them has limited ability and it can never see the whole picture. It only shows the reality of one fragment and the poor man assumes it the only reality.

Idiots know everything and they even assume that its right. Rational being questions his own knowledge and ends up challenging his/her own ego to realize that they actually don’t know. Realizing that you don’t know opens the tremendous possibility to know and see everything with objectivity in a relative manner.

“I know you won’t believe me but the highest form of human excellence is to question oneself and others.”

In his words, Socrates is making fun of the masses since he knows that You only live in your own beliefs. Whatever we’ve learned through our upbringing, parents, and institutions like family, society, and religion, most of us live in the delusion that it’s the only truth. And when someone raises questions on them we tend to reject it outrightly. Only the rarest of the rarest has the courage to question oneself, his own beliefs, and the beliefs of the others. Though in the history of humanity, masses have always turned against those rational beings.

The sole reason for communal riots is the same religious beliefs that people have acquired through their different religious texts. But if they do questioning in order to understand things written in those texts objectively and focus on adopting the best ways & practices to live life then where’s the conflict.

In a nutshell, never believe anything blindly. Question whatever you read, whatever someone says, and most importantly question whatever you’ve accumulated. Remember you’re doubting someone by asking questions but rather you’re seeking to know and understand the complete picture. It’s not necessary that whatever you’re questioning is wrong maybe the fault lies with your understanding.

“The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but on creating the new.”

We create some particular kind of patterns in our minds that we call habits. We don’t like many of our habits and we tend to fight them but the trick lies in not fighting with those old patterns but to focus your energy on making new patterns i.e, to form new habits. Instead of focusing on changing the old mindset, focus on creating a new mindset.

Live your life with a vision and act according then only you can bring a change in its truest form.