The wisdom of children
A six
year old boy asked his parents:
Why does life need bodies?
The
parents were unable to give any sensible answer. Instead, the boy came after a
while myself up with an answer:
It is probably to prevent life from escaping.
Incredibly
beautiful wisdom!
The importance of Answers
or:
Socrates Midwife-Method
A
Nobel Prize winner received a question from a journalist:
How do you manage to find the answers to
Nobel prize winning questions?
The
answer was:
The art is not to find the right answers.
The trick is to ask the right questions.
From
these lines, you can learn how to make it easier for yourselves to become
wiser.
First
of all, one can draw the same conclusion as Socrates once did: It is the asking
of Socratic questions that makes it possible to recall the wisdom that exists
in the spirit of every human being.
It is
important to understand that difficulties to release the inherent wisdom of the
mind stem from fixed ideas, prejudices and dogmas. Instead, it is important to
open the mind to different ways of thinking, just like many children often do
(as opposed to adults).
You
can even find support for these ideas in a famous Jesus quote from the Bible
(Matthew 19:14):
Let the children come to me. The kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Those who
are unable to receive the kingdom
of God like a child will
never enter there.
Even
Socrates felt that it was important to teach the youth rather than older people
who already believed they knew. Moreover, Socrates said that the future of the civilization
will be created by the young.
Quote from Theaetetus:
Soc. Such are the mid-wives, whose task is a very important
one but not so important as mine; for women do not bring into the world
at one time real children, and at another time counterfeits which are with
difficulty distinguished from them; if they did, then the, discernment
of the true and false birth would be the crowning achievement of the art
of midwifery-you would think so?
Theaet. Indeed I should.
Soc. Well, my art of midwifery is in most respects like
theirs; but differs, in that I attend men and not women; and look after
their souls when they are in labour, and not after their bodies: and the
triumph of my art is in thoroughly examining whether the thought which
the mind of the young man brings forth is a false idol or a noble and true
birth. And like the mid-wives, I am barren, and the reproach which is often
made against me, that I ask questions of others and have not the wit to
answer them myself, is very just-the reason is, that the god compels-me
to be a midwife, but does not allow me to bring forth. And therefore I
am not myself at all wise, nor have I anything to show which is the invention
or birth of my own soul, but those who converse with me profit. Some of
them appear dull enough at first, but afterwards, as our acquaintance ripens,
if the god is gracious to them, they all make astonishing progress; and
this in the opinion of others as well as in their own. It is quite dear
that they never learned anything from me; the many fine discoveries to
which they cling are of their own making. But to me and the god they owe
their delivery. And the proof of my words is, that many of them in their
ignorance, either in their self-conceit despising me, or falling under
the influence of others, have gone away too soon; and have not only lost
the children of whom I had previously delivered them by an ill bringing
up, but have stifled whatever else they had in them by evil communications,
being fonder of lies and shams than of the truth; and they have at last
ended by seeing themselves, as others see them, to be great fools. Aristeides,
the son of Lysimachus, is one of them, and there are many others. The truants
often return to me, and beg that I would consort with them again-they are
ready to go to me on their knees and then, if my familiar allows, which
is not always the case, I receive them, and they begin to grow again. Dire
are the pangs which my art is able to arouse and to allay in those who
consort with me, just like the pangs of women in childbirth; night and
day they are full of perplexity and travail which is even worse than that
of the women. So much for them. And there are -others, Theaetetus, who
come to me apparently having nothing in them; and as I know that they have
no need of my art, I coax them into marrying some one, and by the grace
of God I can generally tell who is likely to do them good. Many of them
I have given away to Prodicus, and many to other inspired sages. I tell
you this long story, friend Theaetetus, because I suspect, as indeed you
seem to think yourself, that you are in labour-great with some conception.
Come then to me, who am a midwife's son and myself a midwife, and do your
best to answer the questions which I will ask you. And if I abstract and
expose your first-born, because I discover upon inspection that the conception
which you have formed is a vain shadow, do not quarrel with me on that
account, as the manner of women is when their first children are taken
from them. For I have actually known some who were ready to bite me when
I deprived them of a darling folly; they did not perceive that I acted
from good will, not knowing that no god is the enemy of man-that was not
within the range of their ideas; neither am I their enemy in all this,
but it would be wrong for me to admit falsehood, or to stifle the truth.
Once more, then, Theaetetus, I repeat my old question, "What is knowledge?"-and
do not say that you cannot tell; but quit yourself like a man, and by the
help of God you will be able to tell.
If you want to read the full dialogue "Theaetetus" you will find it on:
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/theatu.html
