How My Perspective in Life Changed Due to Socrates' Ideas

Socrates' view of life is what intrigues me. He was the first known philosopher in ancient Greece and his wisdoms were unforgettable to his student, Plato and Plato's student, Aristotle that brought them to write his teachings in a book. He was called a wise man for knowing things about life and other aspects of it but he claimed that he did know anything at all. He seeks wisdom by constantly asking hard questions because he believes that asking these questions can unlock deeper realizations and answers to life's never ending mystery. This was the idea that changed my perspective in life, which is the point of my essay.

Changing My Perspective in Life

I used to easily get annoyed with people who constantly ask questions because it made me think again and doubt my knowledge including myself as a being. I also hated the fact that I do not have the answers to all questions in life because it made me feel ignorant and stupid but then, I read about socrates and that changed my beliefs. He made me question my existence, the world around me, why the people behave the way they behave and many more. I believe this is called self doubt. In connection to my self-doubt, Rene Descartes stated that we should doubt everything because doubting is also a way of thinking which concludes that we are existing as humans and we are the only creature that is different from the rest because of our thoughts. Most of us believe that we clearly know an idea or a thought but in reality, it is the exact opposite and we do not exactly know how to explain that certain idea. This is the reason why people seek answers through socratic questioning. This method of questioning formulates questions after questions hopeful of receiving an explanation or an answer and this challenges the accuracy and wholeness of our thinking that moves us towards our goal. We think that someone who has a lot of questions is dumb and unwise but for socrates, a person who knows little is better than a person who knows everything. You may wonder why I think that is the case. It is because a person who knows nothing has much more potential to grow and to learn like a tree than a person who knows everything and remains stagnant like a rock for he thinks seeking wisdom will be useless to him.

Final Words

Without these life's questions, we would not have knowledge of the things we know about these days. It made me realize that there is nothing wrong with constantly asking questions but to those who remain stagnant and incurious about life's mystery. Life is a teacher full of learnings that has been laid out in front of us and our job is to unlock and live with these learnings that we call values. Socrates remained in our lives because of his wisdom that made him leave us with such a meaningful phrase 'an unexamined life is not worth living' which led me to a realization that I should keep on seeking for answers. So as you, go live and keep on asking!