Democracy

                                         Protesters evicted from Zuccotti Park convened later in Foley Square in Manhattan

(Photograph by Marcus Yam for the New York Times Nov. 16, 2011)

 I was struck by this photograph's composition and the calm aura captured by the photographer against an early morning sky in the busiest city of America. The figure of a young man off to the left addressing the crowd is contrasted by the building behind him with its vertical supports reminiscent of columns from antiquity. Considering the excitement often associated with the Occupy Wall Street Movement, this image serves to remind us of mans' inherent desires for self expression, to listen and to be heard. For most people these words would describe a student. But one of the greatest listener's throughout history, was a teacher. His name was Socrates.

Read the following excerpts from  a Socrates study guide

 then listen to American history buff Joe Spratt draw parallels to Socrates 

and 

our Founding Fathers!

Contributions of Socrates

One: Awakened thinkers to the need to examine and reexamine their political, moral, and philosophical views in order to discover and root out errors and misconceptions that impede progress. Socrates accomplished this task by demonstrating, through cross-examination of people he encountered, that many accepted precepts, conventions, and beliefs were based on faulty logic or outright errors. A quotation attributed to him states: "The unexamined life is not worth living." In other words, a human being must not be complacent and self-satisfied; instead, he must be ever probing, exploring, and reconnoitering his soul in order to discover ways to imrpove.

Two: Effectively rebutted a central tenet of the Sophists, traveling teachers who charged fees for educating young men. This tenet maintained that the guiding principles of a society, such as justice and truth, were relative concepts--that is, they changed according to the needs of men in a particular time and place. What was considered right and just in Athens was not necessarily right and just in another society, the Sophists maintained. One man's virtue could be another man's vice.

Three: Pioneered the use of inductive reasoning to draw logical conclusions. According to Aristotle, Socrates founded the "scientific method." 

Four: Demonstrated that wrongdoing results from ignorance. If a man lies, Socrates might have said, he does so because he does not understand the benefits of telling the truth.

Five: Inspired philosophers in his own time and in later times to pursue the truth through rigorous analysis of available, facts, opinions, and so on. Two of the most important philosophers in the history of the world, Plato and Aristotle, both esteemed Socrates as a supreme thinker and infused their philosophical systems with Socratic thought. Plato was a pupil of Socrates, and Aristotle was a pupil of Plato.

Six: Showed the world the meaning of integrity and moral commitment by accepting a death sentence rather than recanting his principles.

Seven: Made clear that a human being is more than his appearance. Socrates was ugly, wore old clothes, and walked barefooted through the streets of Athens. But his mind and the words he spoke were beautiful.

.Study Guide Compiled by Michael J. Cummings..© 2004, 2010 

 

Take a Walk

Listen to the Sages philosophize on 

the art of walking

Below are some excerpts from scholar, Saurabh Bhattacharva's, author of "Walk Therapy, the Walk of Life", who presents a great opportunity for guided imagery. You may even imagine yourself walking along with Aristotle in the 4th century!

"...and when you want to reach your self, there's nothing better than a stroll through nature. It is a new day and the sun is just beginning to peek over the horizon. Your bare feet press down dew-drenched grass. The sweet and soothing smell of fecund earth seeps into your lungs with each deep breath, making you one with nature's creative force, asking you to throw out your arms and embrace creation. Intimacy could never be more profound.... the left foot alternates with the right, the conscious side with the unconscious, between heart on the left and reason on the right. Walking erect and balanced, like a vertical line, the world axis, can unite conscious and unconscious mind and matter, in a way that thinking can not.

Picture a shaded street of Athens, circa 430 B.C. A stout, balding man in his  sixties ambles along in deep conversation with an aristocratic youth, discussing ethics, politics, morality and other ideas. The logical flow of thought smoothly permeates into words with each step, and the plinth of western philosophy is laid on the walks of Athens. The elder teacher is Socrates, walking with his acolyte Plato. A century later, Plato's favorite disciple Aristotle will create the Peripatetic school of philosophy, modeled on the walks he took with his students in the natural environs of his academy.

And if that's not enough...

Walking plays an equally, if not more, important role in the development of eastern thought. France-based Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh has even developed a form of meditation on these lines—the walking meditation. Describing this, he says: "We walk slowly, in a relaxed way, keeping a light smile on our lips. When we practice this way, we feel deeply at ease, and our steps are those of the most secure person on Earth. All our sorrows and anxieties drop away, and peace and joy fill our hearts. Anyone can do it. It takes only a little time, a little mindfulness, and the wish to be happy." Thich, or Thay (teacher) as he is popularly known, considers walking the best way to deal with stress and anger. "Practice walking, even with your anger still within you," he says. "After a few minutes, your anger will subside."