Socrates, the Midwife of Souls
Socrates, the great Greek philosopher, was a man of the people. His father was an artisan, one of the stone masons who squared, fixed and polished the blocks of which the Parthenon was built. Socrates took up the chisel of his father, the stone mason. He felt himself to be a born artisan, but he was more attracted to fashioning a different sort of material, the human soul, with the same "certainty, knowledge and workmanly conscientiousness" he applied to his stone work. He felt the artisan bound to his trade by strict and delicate rules, was most capable of understanding the human soul. He wanted to invent a technique for producing noble characters. His mother, who was a midwife, provided another foundation for Socrates' life vision. He would deliver souls of the truth they bore within themselves. He would become a midwife for souls. Socrates was known for being very strange, almost extravagant in his behavior. However, he was also a man of great common sense and strict logic. Fat, with bulging eyes, snub nose, broad nostrils, and a wide mouth, he was considered the ugliest man in Athens. Since he held the body in such low esteem, he rarely took a bath. But, as his friends knew, he was "all glorious within," "the most upright
His self-control and powers of endurance were exemplary; "he had so schooled himself to moderation that his scanty means satisfied all his wants. He questioned, refuted, debunked and bewitched priests, poets, scientists and others, all in the service of making "ones fellow citizens better". Socrates considered an excellent soul as one that had wisdom, was well-ordered and knew how to control its emotions and bodily desires. The voice of Socrates, the midwife of the soul, still rings true to this day. Socrates' truths were more important to him, than his life. I find his ideas engaging, fulfilling and inspiring. My task is to tell you that riches do not bring virtue, but that virtue is a source of all prosperity and of all good things whether or public and private. I also feel that living in a superficial fashion, leads to having an empty existence. Who could have rooted it in the human soul but that unrevealed god who can be neither more nor less than the supreme good? So much for Socrates' atheism! Throughout his life, Socrates urged everyone he met to take thought for nothing but his own soul. A man's happiness or well-being, in Socrates' view, depends directly on the goodness or badness of his soul. For this is the command of God, as I would have you know; and I believe that to this day no greater good has ever happened in the state than my service to the God. Even some of his friends were trying to silence him. According to Socrates, every man had something to teach him because he carried with in himself the truth about man. Is there not here conceit of knowledge, which is a disgraceful sort of ignorance? And this is the point in which, as I think, I am superior to men in general, and in which I might perhaps fancy myself wiser than other men, - that whereas I know but little of the world below, I do not suppose that I know: but I do know that injustice and disobedience to a better, whether God or man, is evil and dishonorable, and I will never fear or avoid a possible good rather than a certain evil. Those who were not too vain to face painful truths about themselves were able to seek intellectual and spiritual health.
Common topics in this essay:
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Amphipolis Delium,
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death fear,
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own ignorance,
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commit crime,
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