Tribute to Socrates and his method

 I cannot help but present some information about my dear friend - Socrates.

 His method - the "midwife method" - is not as well known as one (especially I) would like. If we start with the word philosophy, it consists of two parts (from the Greek) "philos" meaning "friendship" or "love" + "sophos" meaning "wise" or "wisdom".

 The word philosophy was created when the philosopher Pythagoras was asked "Are you wise?" and replied “No, but I am a friend (philos) of wisdom (sophos)”.

 The most important (and often forgotten) thesis of the Socratic method is that wisdom is true knowledge (which belongs to the eternal and unchanging world of ideas) while ordinary practical knowledge belongs to the perishable and ever-changing world of the senses (the world we perceive with our bodily senses). Wisdom is created with our thoughts. Both our true self and our wisdom exist in the ungchanging world (of ideas).

 Practical knowledge is for survival in the world of the senses, while true knowledge (wisdom) is for overcoming the limitations of the body and mind and thereby awakening the true self’s awareness of itself – What was inscribed above the entrance to the Oracle at Delphi – Know thyself! (i.e. know your true self).

 Both Gautama Siddhartha (often called the Buddha) and Socrates were careful to point out that everything that exists in the world of the senses is constantly changing – it either gets better or worse, but it never stays the same. That is why it is pointless to fight for something in the world of   the senses to remain the same in the future.

 That the Socratic method is about directing attention to the world of ideas (behind the phenomena) instead of focusing on the present in space/time in order to reach eternal wisdom is not understood by many modern people.

 Our Café Socrates meetings aim to teach participants to reach towards the world of ideas in order to become wiser.

 An example of this is the law of gravity, which is an idea that is eternal and unchangeable (at least in space/time of the physical universe), while gravity in the world of the senses changes depending on how high above our planet you are or if you are on other planets or near black holes.

 The great philosopher Povel Ramel expressed this changeability when he wrote: Where do all the beautiful girls and handsome young men go? – Where do all the ugly old women and old men come from?

 

Todde