Socrates and Me

by Farkel 15 Replies latest jw friends

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  Farkel

  Socrates is my hero and has been ever since I re-claimed my mind when I left the WT cult. When I read the Socrates Dialogues which were compiled by Plato, I found my purpose in my life.

  The Greek political cult killed Socrates because he called them on their bullshit. He was likely the most brilliant mind of his age (or any age), but they killed him for a very obvious reason: he didn't agree with the people in power and he was much smarter than the people in power.

  He knew stuff that the people in power didn't want to hear.

  I know stuff that the people in the WTS don't want to hear.

  Socrates was an incredible genius.

  I'm just a hack by comparison, but I may be just as dangerous as he, but in a smaller context. Never underestimate a dummy. Even one who is passing into the great void. I maybe have a year or so left and I will use all my energy to do some good with it.

  OR: maybe I'll go back to Hawaii and forget about everything I just said. Honest to God, I love Hawaii more than any place I have ever been and I have been to lots of places in the USA and abroad, and for me, Hawaii is my paradise.

  Nevermind....

  Farkel
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  freeflyingfaerie

  You're awesome!
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  DanaBug

  You can do both Farkel. The internet is a pretty powerful tool, maybe you can use it for the good you want to do while you're in Hawaii. Depends on what you have in mind though.

  What's your favorite thing in Hawaii? I've never been.
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  I quit!

  I'm glad you're feeling well enough to post. You've done a great job of keeping some of the idiots who post here in line. Hopefully you stick around longer than you expect to. Hawaii and few tropical drinks sounds pretty good to me.
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  Broken Promises

  Go to Hawaii. Screw the WTS. They'll still be around long after you're gone.

  Seriously, I'd be thrilled to hear that you've gone to Hawaii. Even if it's just for a week. I'd even join you there, but I can't afford it. But if I could, I'd shout you a beer or three. Or whatever is your poison.

  Make the most of what time you have left. Embrace your family and friends. Do you still play the piano? Play music that is beauty to your ears. Dance like nobody's watching. Sing like no one can hear you. Love like there's no tomorrow.

  Enjoy your life, Doug.
• 

  snowbird

  Farkel and Me

  I knew of him at least 6 years before I joined this discussion board. Back then, it was known as JWD, and I read and read and read before finally registering on May 2, 2007.

  I love history, and boy, did Farkel know WT's history! His expose' of Russell's eccentricities and Rutherford's excesses confirmed what I had always suspected. As The Ancestors used to say, there was a dead cat on the line somewhere, and the closer one got to Brooklyn, the louder it stank.

  I am from the deep backwoods of Alabama's Black Belt. It takes information forever to trickle down to us. By the time it does get here, it's about as stale as last week's cornbread that hasn't been put away properly. Therefore, were it not for the Internet and posters such as Farkel, I would never have been aware of how deceitful the WT really is.

  I want to thank Simon for providing this board, and I want to thank Farkel and others for providing documented evidence that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is nothing but a pumped-up, mind-controlling cult that is desperately trying to hold on to its power.

  As Don McLean sang of Van Gogh, I sing of Farkel: This world, especially the WT, was not made for one as beautiful as you.

  With deep appreciation, love, compassion, and respect.

  Sylvia Lee Snowden Seals Watson
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  PSacramento

  It is quite interesting that all we know of Socrates is what was passed on by his students like Plato and Xenophon.
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  Room 215

  Bless you Farkel, the latter-day Alcibiades! Keep 'em coming!
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  Terry

  I've always (well not ALWAYS) believed the New Testament writers shaped Jesus' preaching style around the figure of Socrates.

  How so?

  Socrates would answer a question with a question and speak in a way that drew out from within. It was a kind of teaching gimmick.

  It made the OTHER guy commit to a view which could then be taken apart piece by piece.

  This annoys persons of large ego because it makes them look like idiots.

  Farkle has this talent as well. He suffereth not fools to their folly!

  We need plain spoken folk; especially when idiots intrude on discussions with grandiose political hype they've cut and pasted from some

  angry website.

  Farkle slays them and wears their guts for garters.

  Back to Socrates (the Greek one, not the Farkle one...)

  The conversation in which Jesus is confronted about paying taxes is a genuine Socratic moment.

  The dialogue is definitely using Plato's writings as a model.

  This was done because, in the Roman world, all things Greek were considered the finest model of how things should be done.

  Early christianity was ripe with neo-Platonic thought.

  Here are some famous Socratic quotations:

  Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.

  Remember what is unbecoming to do is also unbecoming to speak of.

  Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults.

  I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private.
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  PSacramento

  Terry,

  Valid points indeed, I have often admired the similarities in some of their teachings.

  Socrates the philosopher, not the footballer, that is ;)