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.
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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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