Like many students who had to take an intro philosophy class in college, I was forced read Plato’s Five Dialogues. For those who don’t know, These five dialogues focus primarily on the historical character of Socrates, Plato’s teacher. In them, Socrates discusses or debates a subject, often an ethical one (friendship, piety) with a friend or with someone presumed to be an expert on it. At that time, as you can imagine,  I did not care much about philosophy, it was just one more class I had to take to get through school. Furthermore, I was in no way interested in the lessons that these ancient Greeks had to teach. What the heck do they know!

Skipping forward to today, philosophy and theology have become a passionate interest–my how times have changed! And although I am by no means an expert on his writings, I have come to grow very fond of Danish Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, specifically his work Fear and Trembling. Like I said, I’m no Kiekegaardian scholar, In fact I’ve have only read two of his works, and read them very, very slowly for that matter. Needless to say, it’s dense stuff (the same being true of the Socratic dialogues). I guess it’s easier for some people, but for me, being of average intelligence, It takes a lot of work to grind through books of this nature. Remarkably though, the wisdom contained within these seemingly inaccessible works is worth the effort and is beyond priceless.

One of the things that has stuck with me from reading the Socratic Dialogues in College was that Socrates was always pegged as being a bit of a trouble maker. For instance, Meno calls him a torpedo fish (stingray) because he would often numb people with his perplexing onslaught of questions. In the Apology, the entire story centers on Socrates defending himself from charges of being impious and a corrupter of the youth. At one point in the story, Socrates explains how he has spent his life trying to vindicate the god’s pronouncement by seeking out the wisest men in society and testing them. The wisest men, he says, turn out to be not wise at all. Needless to say, the fact that he shows men that they are not in fact wise has admittedly made Socrates very unpopular.

It’s evident that Kierkegaard understands this Socratic method of examining things that people take for granted and pointing out that if someone already claims to  possess knowledge, this may actually prevent them from seeking knowledge. Accordingly, in his book Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard does the exact same thing by challenging religious people and questioning the unquestioned and accepted notion of faith, pointing out that if you already think you are a Christian, this may very well hinder you from becoming a Christian.

I am truly inspired by these two philosophers. I believe that their teachings and ideas are in harmony with Jesus’ sermon on the mount, which is of the utmost importance to me and serves as a guide in my life. The more I learn and experience in life, the more I’m convinced that it would do us all well to have a torpedo fish swim through our lives every now and then to burst our prideful bubbles. Maybe Socrates, Kierkegaard and Jesus are on to something with this whole meekness and humility thing. I guess in the end, the best I can hope for is to live a life that is steeped in what Catherine Keller calls critical fidelity, that is, maybe I need to learn to stop skipping to the end so much and focus more on the journey and examine the task that is indeed at hand. After all, if we begin with the answer, sooner or later we discover there is no need to continue asking questions.

Painting: “Oceans Before and Behind Us in Time” by Adam Friedman, 2010, Acrylic, Screen Print, and Collage on Panel 18″x12″

Tags:JesusKierkegaardknowledgesocratesSocratic Methodtruthwisdom