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.)