How little things really change – just ask Socrates

Fairly recently I started following an interesting blog that provides quotes from famous or quasi-famous people nearly every day.  Extensive collections of quotes. Wow, there are so many observations and admonitions that have been made over the years by so many wise people; you’d think that all that good advice would have made a bigger difference by now! As we know, not nearly as much as one might have hoped.

I have lots of favourite quotes from these collections, after just a few months. But I’m choosing quotes from the great philosopher Socrates for my example. Why?  Because, face it, folks, Socrates lived a very, very long time ago; the fact that what he had to say nearly 2500 years ago is still unerringly applicable is worth thinking about.

Let’s start at the beginning, in 470 B.C., when Socrates was thought to have been born in Athens, a full 470 years before the birth of Christ. Socrates was the son of a well-off citizen and inherited enough wealth to allow him to get along just fine without working, once his soldiering was done. So what did he do? He spent his time in Athens’ central gathering spot, attempting to enrich the minds of the youth (young men, of course) of his city. He did so by asking them the tough questions about life, establishing a dialogue rather than a lecture, with the intention of training them to think deeply and to reflect on their course of actions. This method of teaching by questioning became referred to as the Socratic Method. In the course of having these running dialogues with his students, his own views became widely known and reported.  But …

One aspect of Socrates’ famous work might surprise those of you who haven’t studied him: he never actually wrote down any of his own words.  That’s right, never. The Western world’s first acknowledged philosopher left no trail of books, notebooks, or scrolls.  No cell phone backup files, no Word documents, no post-it notes, nada. So everything we read that is ascribed to Socrates was actually written during and after his death by his former students, like, for example, Plato, and Plato’s student, Aristotle! Therefore, everything attributed to Socrates must be taken with a bit of a grain of salt as far as 100% authenticity is concerned, but its intent is quite authentic.

Just to give Socrates’ story a tidy conclusion before moving to the quotes that led me down this path, his life came to an end in 399 B.C. Yes, even way back then, people who managed to live past childhood diseases and the horrors of wars lived into their 70s and beyond. Socrates only died at age 71 because he was executed (his choice was to swallow hemlock) after being found guilty of being a bad influence on the youth. Sound suspicious?  Clearly, he had enemies, who were by all accounts his fellow elite who didn’t like the idea that their young people were being taught to question their motives and abilities?!

Some of the many, many insights attributed to Socrates:

• The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
• The unexamined life is not worth living.
• Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
• To find yourself, think for yourself.
• He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.
• The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.
• We cannot live better than in seeking to become better.
• Envy is the ulcer of the soul.
• Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

And this is the quote that made me stop and think about how little human interaction has really changed in 2500 years.

• The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

How many of you have heard this sentiment being voiced recently? Or perhaps by your parents?  Turns out, it’s been said by almost every generation of parents … for a very, very long time. The more things change, the more things stay the same! 🙂