1 min read

Tea bag tag.

My teabag has this saying on it's purple tag:

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance." Socrates (460 - 399 BC)

Just to add a little historical perspective, while Gautama Buddha (Siddhartha) was wandering around talking about enlightenment and love, Socrates (as reported by Plato) was telling everyone to think, learn and discuss a bit more. 1.

I've been wondering about this idea of knowledge.  What knowledge was Socrates talking about?

  • Was he talking about the knowledge of how to kill another person efficiently with the least blood spilled?
  • Maybe he was referring to the knowledge of how to bilk your neighbor out of millions of dollars.
  • Quite possibly he was thinking of the knowledge of how to cheat on your spouse without getting caught.

I mean it is a little vague, wouldn't you say?

And if Ignorance is evil, why doesn't our government put more money into education?  I mean, I was able to get a great education but the money, that was tight when I went to high school and college, is no longer available.

Currently 45% of students drop out of high school.  Are they evil?

This man, Socrates, has such enormous influence in our world.

And what if he's wrong?

I think the lack of love is the greatest evil.

Maybe we should learn how to get along; how to love more; how to tolerate people who are different from us; how to disagree and still love; or even how to love our flawed imperfect selves.

That's knowledge worth having.

>>>>>>>>>

1.  Yes, yes, Buddha said that ignorance was the root of suffering causing grasping and attachment.  The knowledge necessary to cease suffering??  Basically becoming a good decent honest person.  Go figure.

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