Wisdom

As some of my classes have been reading a selection from Apology by Plato, I've been thinking about the concept of what it means to be wise lately. In Apology, Socrates tells the men of Athens that he did not think of himself as wise as he knows only that there is much that he does not know. When he was told that the Oracle of Delphi (whose temple I get to see this spring) declared that "there is no man wiser than Socrates," he was floored by the revelation and went out to seek the truth of it. As he went from man to man who were purported to be wise, he discovered that these men were all accomplished in one area, but did not truly understand the reasons behind their success--worse, they felt that because they were good at one thing that they could give advice on a variety of topics. In the end, Socrates decides that the Oracle meant that no man's wisdom can compare to the wisdom of the gods as the wisest of me (himself) doesn't really know anything. 

I don't think that Socrates would like me much. One of my most insufferable traits is that I am a "know-it-all." Truthfully, there is a great deal that I do not know, but I love learning and (this is where I get in trouble) sharing what I have learned. I also cannot stand it when people (including myself) spread misinformation, so I try to be as informed as I can so that I do not make such a mistake myself, but I also have the tendency to correct those who spread blatant falsehoods. As Socrates himself learned (considering he was put to death for this very thing), people don't like that. Perhaps, he would also have been wiser to keep his mouth shut; however, he said that he was compelled by the gods to seek the truth and tell it to those who would hear. I certainly understand that compulsion.

I just need to be more careful about what I drink than he was.