Video Transcript
In ancient Greece, Socrates was considered the wisest man in Athens. Yet, this was not always the case. Legend has it that when Socrates visited the Oracle of Delphi, the Oracle declared Socrates to be that.
This puzzled Socrates since he only claimed to know that he did not know. But upon his return to Athens, Socrates began to question the learned men of the town who claimed to know the truth about a particular subject. Based on his astute questioning, Socrates quickly uncovered the fact that these men did not know their subject as well as Socrates.
Socrates did not allow good sounding answers to go unchallenged. Thus, he was able to expose the fallacious thinking of his wise countrymen. They had to admit that prior to Socrates’ questioning, they were ignorant of the fact that they did not know that they did not know. That error is something we are all predisposed to commit. We assume we know when we actually are clueless about the subject or we accept something as true because someone tells us it is so.
Socrates came to realize that he was the wisest man in Athens because he alone understood the limitation of his own knowledge. Because of this, Socrates was a free thinker that questioned all. He did not blindly accept something as truth just because someone said so.
Truth is true and nothing else is true. Truth does not require your agreement to make it true. Truth ignores common opinion. Truth does not become more or less true based upon your belief about its validity. Truth just is. It operates independently from your opinions or beliefs. Just because a person or society declares something to be true does not make it so.
Socrates understood that what often passes as “common knowledge” is really only a common misperception. We all need to become more like Socrates and realize that we, all too often, fail to realize that we do not know. This is especially true regarding problems. Only after you realize that you have a problem, will you give yourself permission to look for the answer. Seeking precedes learning and one will only seek when one realizes that there is a problem they must solve.
We believe that we have freely and rationally chosen our own beliefs, thought system and self-identity. We claim that our operating system is derived from our personal experiences. Therefore, it is a correct and accurate representation of our world. Furthermore, it is this self-determined operating system that keeps us safe and provides the guidance for our interaction with the outside world. Because of this, we have no reason to challenge the validity of our operating system. All of these assumptions have been proven to be terribly wrong. Yet, our society continues to teach and perpetrate this myth and we accept it by default.
Our operating system is the product of past indoctrination. It is not deliberately chosen nor based on our own experiences. It is definitely not a product of our free will. Instead, it is a product of outside brainwashing. It is our ignorance of this forced indoctrination into a fear-based thought system that is the problem that we do not realize that we have.
The above excerpt is from my book Ending Fear:The “7 R” Formula for Fearless Awakening: How to End the Blame, Shame, and Guilt Game and Recover Your Joy, Power, and Inner Peace. This book has recently been made into an audio book and is now live on Audible.com. Of course, the print or eBook edition can be purchased from Amazon.
Create a great day for yourself and your world.
Tom Wakechild
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