People measure intelligence by the questions we ask. Yet questions often make people squirm. Think of those speakers who say, "Hold your questions until the end." Sorry, they need to know, curiosity doesn't work on a timetable. It pops up right in the middle of the talk! Holding it back often robs the question of its spark.
Enter Socrates, the barefoot granddad of Athens who turned "I don't know" into a superpower. His famous line, "I know that I know nothing", wasn't giving up. It was the starting point for real learning. He believed the moment you think you're an expert, you stop growing.
Socrates's method was simple. Keep asking "why?" like a stubborn five-year-old. He never lectured; he peeled assumptions layer by layer with gentle questions until people realized their own beliefs couldn't stand up to scrutiny. Some got so irritated, they made him drink poison.
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Yet his point still shines today. In school, we treat learning like a race. Finish the syllabus, take the exams, collect the certificate, done. Socrates says, "The race never ends." Doctors, engineers, and other professionals who qualified years ago stop learning and slowly fall behind. Expertise isn't a trophy on a shelf that gathers dust, but a river that must keep flowing.
Today in the age of Google and AI, answers are cheaper than street food. What's rare is good questions. Socrates would probably smile and whisper, "Slow down. Ask better questions. Don't just swallow facts. Chew them." That's how passive learning turns into an exploration.
So how do we honour him? Not by quoting him, but practising his art. Don't accept ideas at face value. Question gently. Prod kindly. Challenge ideas, not people. Winning awareness matters more than winning arguments.
In this context, here's a small challenge for you: Take one belief you’re totally sure about. Ask “why?” and “how?” until you reach its roots. You'll be amazed what hides behind your certainty.
Keep questioning. The Socrates way.
That's "Life Long Learning"😊
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