SOCRATES AND ALCIBIADES (20th Century version)
- So, what you want, dear Alcibiades, is to achieve success
and results, right?
- Yes, master, you can indeed say so.
- And you then would be ready to choose the best method in order
to reach these objectives?
- Undoubtedly.
- Would you also be prepared to consider approaches that were
until now unknown, that are new and innovative?
- To the extent that I have good reasons to think they will
be more effective, yes, certainly! Why not?
- If now I submit there are two methods available to you: firstly
through your own efforts and volition, which is the power of
man and, secondly, through surrender which is accessing the
power of God - what would you chose?
- To be able to respond, I would need to know more about your
second option. I don't really understand it. Surrender, in military
terms, is what happens when you lose.
- Would you willing to learn if I submit to you, as a hypothesis,
that the second method delivers by far the best results?
- I guess, master Socrates, it does not work in all cases. It
must depend on what it is that one desires.
- You are quite correct there, dear Alcibiades. It works only
for achieving what is best for you.
- Well, if it so, I would be willing to hear more. Tell me how
to go about it in practical terms.
(Posthumous commentary by the dweller in the pond: Socrates
was condemned by his city to drink poison and Alcibiades led the
Athenian army against the tyrant of Syracuse, a campaign that
ended in to total disaster.)
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