Socrates Became

Socrates Became 2011-11-01T15:15:42-07:00

“Socrates became what he was because in every encounter, he paid attention only to reason.* As for you, if you are not yet Socrates, you should live as though you wanted to be Socrates.” Epictetus

* this wonderful word “reason” is best unpacked a bit. Not only, although certainly inclusive of, the quest for knowledge; reason can stand for wisdom. And here I believe it does. In this spirit an early translation of the Teh in Tao Teh Ching, which today is variously rendered “way,” “virtue,” or “power,” was “reason.” One, I suspect, can find a gloss for the Buddhist term “mind” here, as well.


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