15th January 2022, The Mindful Entrepreneur

📅 Thought for today:

‘Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.’

— Plato (or Socrates)

#thoughtfortoday #politics #power #dumb #dumber #corrupts #absolutely #notademocracy

This is very much a simplification and anglicised version of a speech in The Apology of Socrates, by Plato.

The theme is that the best way to serve people is not through pursuit of a political career, or power.

I read a wonderful analysis on Quora by Zeb Mattey, and this is a short excerpt from that:

“There are two possibilities. The pursuit of power does something to one’s soul, which is what Socrates says explicitly in The Apology and Republic. This is likely why the philosopher-king is the individual who doesn’t want power but has it thrust upon him.

Another possibility is less well-equipped people are prone to power-seeking. It is in essence a lower drive, which you can trace to our ape-like ancestors. It represents a primitive state of consciousness, well and truly in Plato’s cave.”

If you live and work in the UK right now, does that sound familiar or resonate in some way?

Wait until you see the restrictions on civil rights in the UK that is coming this year!

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply