Socrates

today in the morning class, i read this paragraph which speaks really to the bottom of my heart. it is from Socrates' teaching. actually i have already done more or less the same thing during the past few years and have been benefited through this way, but i didn't have any idea that Socrates had already taught about this. i should have thought of learning from his teaching, darn!

anyways, here is what's about his teaching, taken from "MYSELF and other more important matters" by Charles Handy:

"Plato's Socrates was the great inquisitor, always questioning, always probing for the underlying assumptions. In later years I remember being told that if you continue to ask 'Why?' three or four times you will eventually get to the bottom of someone's often unconscious motivations. I have used the method myself:

'Why did you adopt this strategy?'

'Because it offered the best return on our investment.'

'Why do you use that criterion?'

'Because that is what our investors expect.'

'Why are they the sole arbiters of your decisions?'

'Because that's the way business is.'

'Why is it that way?'"

to me this is a very powerful and stunning paragraph that speaks to my heart. now, after so many years of searching for self or self-awareness, i have considered myself as an inquisitor and i know i will always be one. i know it's impossible for me to merely believe one thing (even the existence of Gods) without internalising it by carefully thinking. i need to know why and what i believe. about the phenomenon of people always trying to persuade others "don't think, just believe," i reckon that as a way of controlling people's minds and constraining their creativity, which can often be found in most churches. (the other day i received an email telling that Jews have been teaching their young generations to always ask questions instead of looking for answers. this is totally different from the way taught in churches.) Until this, over and over again when i look back to what had happened to me, i don't feel regretful about the decision of leaving the church anymore.

Socrates, i should spend time on reading more books about him and his mindset.