By SearchingTheMeaningOfLife

I love his way of discussion! I was a naive boy as my wise brother pushed four thick valiums set of books of Plato towards me and said: read! of course, I followed; they were the collection of Plato’s notes from the Socrates discussions complete. I can only remember when I began with reading them, once I was wandering on the Tehran’s street and just taking rest on a park bench, a girl came to me and asked: are you OK? I’d confusingly answered; of course, what’s the matter? you’re just looking so depressed I thought she said. I was so, not depressed but under a lot of heavy thought! 

here is a part of his wonderful way of teaching us; at first think twice then say something! With a great thank to; https://searchingthemeaningoflife.wordpress.com/

Two Athenian generals Lachis and Niki discuss with Socrates the prowess that the combatants should demonstrate in the battlefield. Both generals lost their lives to Lachis in the Battle of Mantineia in 418 BC and Nicky in 412 in the Sicilian campaign. Socrates brings the conversation to a higher level than bravery and asks the General who are experts to express their opinion. Following is the dialogue: Lahis    – A soldier recently showed us something new: He was one of my men and devised a spear-shaped spear. He was very proud of the potential of this weapon during the battle.               In order to make no mistake, in a naval battle, his spear was caught in the rigging of another ship as we passed by beside him. The soldier pulled it, but the spear was not recited, so he was forced to run along the deck, vice versa, holding the grip firmly to keep him out of his hands. Eventually, he had to leave the spear and leave running while the crews of both ships laughed until tears. We could not keep it, you had to see how the spear was hanging from the rigging! 

 Nikia – I    agree. I believe that this equipment seems remarkable.

Lahis – What is your view, Socrates? So far we are a pro, one against. The decisive vote falls on you!Socrates      – Lahis, instead of voting, I would say we should focus our attention on a more substantive issue that you have just rightly put before. Do not you think that for an issue as important as the practice of the arms of your friends’ sons, should we look for a specialist 
and follow his advice?  

Lahis – Of course, Socrates. This is right.

 Socrates        – What, then, should our expert be expert?Nikias     – Now we were not talking about arms training? Whether our young people should be practised or not? 

 Socrates       – Yes, Nikia. But should not we first answer this basic question? For example, when a person asks what medicine he has to put in his eyes, what does he really care about his medicine or eyes?

 Nikis        – Of course his eyes!

 Socrates          – And when he thinks of putting a bridle on a horse, the horse cares about it and not the bridle, is it?

 Nice     – Right. Socrates  – Do not you see, then, Nikia, how to practice the weapons is like drugs and skirts – just a means of achieving a goal? What we really think about when it comes to different kinds of education is young people. It is the self, the soul of these young people undergoing education.

  The doctor knows if it’s good for the eyes. Hippodomus what is good for horses. But who knows what’s good for the soul, that’s the basic question! Nikias          – (laughing): I had to wait for it, Socrates, we have done similar discussions, and it is a painful process. However, in the end, I always leave with clearer ideas than at first. Are you ready to face him, Lah? I warn you of the experience this man has for us! 

Lahis     – Generally, I am not in favour of the discussions, unless I’m sure my interlocutor is a man of both acts and words. I was together with Socrates in the retreat after our defeat in the Battle of Delhi, if all were recognized as Socrates, we would have won. I would accept the questions of such a man at any time.

Socrates          – Thank you, Lahis. Allow me to submit to you the part of this more general question that concerns you most because of your profession of driving soldiers into battle. What is Larus?

 Lahis         – This is easy, Socrates. It is a man who does not abandon his position and does not put his feet in danger. Socrates             – Good definition of bravery, in terms of a pedestrian. Does it apply, however, to the cavalry that is constantly on the move? If I’m not mistaken, a favourite manoeuvre of the Scythians is to escape by galloping, turning both the trunk on the horse and hitting the enemy as they retreat.  

 Lahis        – Correct observation Socrates. These horsemen are among the most prolific soldiers.

 Socrates      – And what would you say about the prowess shown in the sea, sickness, poverty or political life? In addition, some people are brave when faced with pain and weak when taken by pleasure. That’s why I ask you again: what would we call the generosity of Lash?

Lahis – You put me in Socrates thoughts. Now that I think about it better, I would say that bravery is a kind of soul’s heartbeat.

Socrates     – My dear! Now you have given us a comprehensive definition, but perhaps too comprehensive, because if the real bravery is always a virtue, then the simple absurd misery can also be described as a virtue?

Lahis – I should have been wise. Socrates     – Yes, but what does it mean wise? What is your view of the man who is able to fight and is willing to fight bravely because he has reasonably calculated that he will have the support of others, that he is fighting against the fewer and weaker than those who fight at his side? Would you say that this man who performs such a wit in such wisdom is a manly man? 
More prolific and by the one who has the will to stay and fight on the weak side?Lahis – I have no doubt that the man who is not sitting to figure out the risk is brighter than the other. Socrates     – So, the man who dives in a well without knowing how to dive is brighter, even more, foolish than the trained diver? Lahis – I have to be consistent with what I said before Socrates, but there is obviously a gap in our reasoning.
Source: 
Nasos Argiropoulos writes at : http: //nasosargiropoulos.blogspot.gr(We read it in Ronald Gross’s book, The Socrates Method)

A small but big-deep story which learns a lot. wonderful ❤      By SearchingTheMeaningOfLife With a great Thank 🙂 

Stories “The Flower and the Frog”  from the book “From the Ignorance to Wisdom” by Jorge Bukai

via https://searchingthemeaningoflife.wordpress.com/

Once upon a time, a huge charming rose grew right at the centre of a lovely garden. The flower had a lively red colour, and it was not only beautiful but, moreover, she knew it. He even liked singing that beautiful song for, that, “the most beautiful flower in the garden.” 
One day, the rose began to desire more fans of its beauty, more people smell its gentle scent, more lovers to praise its perfection. However, he noticed annoyed that the world looked at him and received expressions of satisfaction, but always from afar.
The rose looked around him and discovered that at the source, very close, a huge and mischievous frog lived. He decided that this was the reason why nobody approached the rose to see the wonderful flower of her. The ugliness of the frog was terrifying the visitors … 
Exasperated with the truth that had just been revealed to him, the rose was stretched and he ordered the frog to leave the garden and never to come back again. 
The frog, perhaps the greatest admirer of the rose, obeyed. 
“Okay,” he said, “since you want it …” 
He took his few belongings and left jumping from the garden to the river …
After a few weeks, the forgotten frog went through the rose. Without much thought, he glanced at the garden and was surprised to see the rose completely withered, with few leaves and its petals wrinkled, without glow. 
Then, without any hesitation, he said, 
“I see you crap … What happened to you?” 
The rose tried to smile, to thank him for his compassion. 
“Since you left the worms they ate my leaves, day after day the ants destroyed my roots to make their nests. I was weak, and I never chewed on, that pretty flower you knew. ” 
” What a pity, “said the frog. “I’m sorry.” 
“Yes,” said the rose, “it was a great misfortune.”
“It was no misfortune,” the frog said. “When I was here I ate all the worms and larvae of the ants …”

by SearchingTheMeaningOfLife

If anybody says that he’s no fear it’s a lie! we have fear, we must have fear because it helps us to find our inner feeling, to know ourselves better. I was afraid often as I was a child, but I’ve overcome these through my life as I always didn’t look away but tried to confront them. My father died when I was only seven, therefore, got not a much of it but when I was eighteen I’ve lost my mother and if I had not my brother by my side, I’d surely get uncertainty in my life. now I’m left alone since my brother passed away in 2007, and as much the life must go on, I’ve tried to watch inside me to feel my fears and confront with them. I believe the fear is our biggest enemy and we must stand in front of this feeling and not to run away. 

Here again a wonderful lesson by a wonderful woman Elaine Mansfield whom I’ve learned a lot by her. ❤ ❤  

By 
Elaine Mansfield   via https://elainemansfield.com/  
Health, Psychology and Mythology 

My cochlear implant surgery is scheduled for February 5. Not the scariest of surgeries, but I haven’t had general anesthesia since I was a girl.

I know my doctor well and trust him. My son Anthony will drive me to the surgical center in Rochester, NY. The procedure is usually day surgery. I expect to sleep at home that night.

“I’m scared,” a little voice inside says. She doesn’t give up. It’s easy to dismiss her as whiny. She’s about four, my age when I had my first surgery for crossed eyes. She remembers the choking smell of the ether mask as she drowned in visions of bones, huge bones, dinosaur-sized bones burying her little body.

“Daddy, they took out my eyes,” I screamed when I woke up. Both eyes were patched and my hands were tied to the bed railings. “Daddy, help me,” I cried. I heard him sniffle and blow. I knew he was crying. “Those bandages will come off and you’ll be able to see,” he said. I believed him.

At home, he held me on his lap to put stinging drops in my eyes. He scolded me for wiping out the medicine, so I didn’t. I wanted to be held.

Looking back, I know how sick he was, how close to dying. Since he was often bedridden, he was home to support me. I knew where to find him.

My dad lived another ten years, but he was always sick. Mom pushed for a second eye surgery months after his death. It was cosmetic this time. I thought I looked fine, but she detected a slight turning inward of that eye. The doctor must have agreed.

I wasn’t ready. Maybe I would have never been ready.

Mom taught full-time and focused on pulling her widowed life together. She had no patience for fear or grief, mine or especially her own. I couldn’t say, “Mommy, I’m scared.”

Who will hold my hand and love me when I’m weak and helpless? Who will say “You’ll be OK?” This time, I’ll tell my friends and sons about the scared little girl within. This time, I know how to comfort myself.

The ear that gets the cochlear implant has been dead to sound for almost a year. Surgical risk is minimal. Implanted people assure me their lives have been vastly improved. I don’t risk losing the barely correctable hearing in my R ear.  I’ve struggled with hearing loss for years and hoped for help. The implant receivers won’t be turned on until mid-March to make sure I’m completely healed. The transition will be slow. I’ll be OK.

“I’m scared,” my little one says. “I’m really scared.” She doesn’t understand OK.

I remember what the poet Robert Bly taught about supporting his scared inner child. He said he tried to ignore the fear and scold himself into silence, but it didn’t work. So he surrendered and let the little one lives in his imagination. He talked to him. Bly imagined the little guy on his knee and comforted that nagging irrational little kid’s fear.

I did this when my husband was dying and again when my brother was dying. Again when I had Meniere’s Disease “drop attacks” six years ago and feared I’d need assisted living.

This time, I’ve had practice and have two loving sons to help. This time, a friend already offered to stay at my home if I need her and another friend will watch my dog. This time, I know what to do.

“You’re OK,” I’ll tell the scared little one. “I hear you and hold you close. I won’t scold or ignore you. I hear you. I love you. It’s OK to be scared.”

Life offers many chances to comfort or reject our wounded selves. I’ll imagine my little one in my arms with patches over her eyes and a big bandage over her left ear.

“You’re OK,” I’ll say. “We’re both OK.”

“I believe you,” she’ll say pushing her little body against my pounding heart.

***

What do you do with irrational anxiety or fears Do you try to ignore it or do you let it in so you can comfort yourself? Thanks to my Facebook friend Judy Cohen who has two cochlear implants and told me I could ask her any questions. She’s spent hours reassuring and teaching me. Thanks to Lori Yelensky who offered to spend the night after surgery and bring along her sweet dog. For another post about hearing loss, read My Friend Meniere: Standing Up to Disability. For another piece about my sweet Dad, you’ll enjoy Say Yes and Leave Your List at Home.

http://symbolreader.net/2018/12/09/symbolism-of-the-egg/

There is a desert on the moon where the dreamer sinks so deeply into the ground that she reaches hell.