Stay higher – tracks – ✍️ Dr Najla Hussein Al -Makabrab
At a time when myths were the minds of people, and the manifestations were deceived by the eyes, a barefoot man stood up, wearing a simple dress and raising the biggest questions:
“What is virtue” the high degree of good manners “? What is good? Who am I?”
He is Socrates, the father of Western philosophy, who has not written a single letter, but has changed the way the world thinks forever.
Socrates did not provide ready responses, but rather stimulated the mind to wake up. We have learned that wisdom does not mean the large number of information, but rather the ability to ask the right question at the right time.
Here are ten commandments that summarize his immortal philosophy, not as rigid principles, but as keys to conscience, freedom and happiness.
■ The first command: _ do you know_
♡ The most important thing that a person can do is navigate in himself. Many know the news of the world, but few know themselves: their weaknesses, their fears, their real desires. Socrates considered that knowledge of the soul is the beginning of wisdom, because whoever does not know each other cannot know his way.
■ The second will: _ He spoke until I see you_
♡ Man is known for his words, not only what he says, but how to say. Your conversation reveals your morality, your culture and even your intentions. Socrates tested people with intelligent questions, and thanks to their answers, he “saw them” for their reality.
■ The third will be: _ Do not be a slave for others, and God created you free_
♡ Socrates called for the release of intellectual and social dependence. Slavery does not only mean hindrances, but also to be blessed with the way you think and what you think. Real freedom begins when you are freed from fear, blind traditions and the power of others on your decisions.
■ The fourth will be: _ know that you do not know_
♡ The famous paradox of Socrates. When he was told that he was the wisest, he replied: “Because I am the only one who does not know.” This cognitive humility is what makes you open your mind to learn. The ignorant thinks that he knows everything, while the wise doubts everything until he becomes clear.
■ Fifth commandment: _ Virtue is Knowledge_
♡ In the eyes of Socrates, nobody intentionally does evil, but because he ignores goodness. If a person knows virtue, he can only follow him. This is why he focused on teaching people, not as preaching, but as an intellectual dialogue that awakens their conscience.
■ The sixth will be: _ Money is a good servant, but a corrupt master
♡ Money is a tool, not an end. Socrates lived poor with his choice, and he saw that greed is spoiling life and has made slaves to people to their interests. When money passes in a way of living in the axis of life, he becomes a hard master.
■ The seventh will be: _ The spirit is an ornament and a spoiler of ignorance_
♡ In an Athenian society that sanctified beauty, Socrates came to say: “Spirit is a real beauty.” Ignorance in his opinion is not only the absence of knowledge, but that is what produces vanity, violence and misunderstandings. As for the mind, this leads to tolerance and wisdom.
■ The eighth will: _ Happiness is not required from the outside, but it is rather created from the inside.
♡ Socrates did not look for happiness in money, power or even health, but rather in the harmony of the soul with itself. The happy person is the one who has his inner peace, not who runs behind ephemeral pleasure.
■ The ninth will be: _ The life in which it is not considered is not worthy of living
♡ The most famous sentence he said in his trial. He wanted to explain that living without contemplation, without a doubt, without seeking truth, is a superficial existence. Thought is not a luxury, but the essence of man. Whoever does not review can live in a permanent illusion.
■ The tenth commandment: _ The best to those who are better for you, and do not offend those who offend you_
♡ Despite its simplicity, it will bring a moral revolution. Socrates called to respond to evil with good, not weakness, but rather because you have control of your reactions. The one who offends does not change you, but reveals what is. As for you, I keep higher.
