General Submission

Though this be true, I must nevertheless here consider that I am a man, and that, consequently, I am in the habit of sleeping, and representing to myself in dreams those same things, or even sometimes others less probable, which the insane think are presented to them in their waking moments. How often have I dreamt that I was in these familiar circumstances, that I was dressed, and occupied this place by the fire, when I was lying undressed in bed?

Those who have the capacity to wonder, in a sense of curiosity that allows them to use their mind in the way it evolved, will at some point wander across the intellectual quandary which is the ebb and flow of the universal battle between division and communion; intolerance and tolerance. The choices you make in building the character that you live your life by defines what you consider “tolerance” to be, and what you consider “intolerance” to be. The choices you make also define how you will apply these definitions in the social interactions you experience in your daily lives.

Seriously, I do not know how many times, and how many ways I will write and rewrite this essay to try to make the point clear. Somebody has to pay for you to be optimistic. People just do not understand the indirect consequences of their actions. As long as their optimism seems to keep them happy, that is as far as they see. They cannot understand when this optimism gathers in group-think to support the sacred gem, it demands indirectly a hardcore exclusion.

Translated by Benjamin Jowett

Socrates' Defense