Chapter 92 What a flat and broad brain

We have said that all wisdom will meet at its end. Philosophy is the theory about human wisdom. Whether it is Eastern philosophy or Western philosophy, what is studied is human wisdom.If the Eastern philosophy is brought to the West and found to be all nonsense and impossible to apply, then there must be something wrong with this philosophical system.Similarly, if Western philosophy is brought to the East and found to be wrong everywhere, then there must be problems with this Western philosophy. If there are no problems with the Eastern philosophical system, it must be able to answer the questions of Westerners.

In the same way, if the Western philosophical system is correct, it can also be instructive to the Easterners. As we have seen, after twenty years of hard thinking, Wang Shouren finally came up with the ground-breaking idea of ​​"To Conscience". You will immediately notice that there is also a Socrates in the West. Come out with a philosophical orientation of "virtue is knowledge". But if you just scrutinize the text, you will find that there are obvious differences between Wang Shouren's "to conscience" and Socrates' "virtue is knowledge". But this discrepancy is just an error in the expression of words.The ultimate wisdom discovered by Wang Shouren and Socrates must be the same thing.

The question is, what exactly is this thing? If you want to know what this thing is, you have to go to ancient Greece and ask Plato, a disciple of Socrates, about it. Why do you have to find Plato? Because Plato's life was comparable to Wang Shouren's.He was born in an aristocratic family in Athens in 427 BC. His name was not Plato when he was born, but his original surname was Aristocles.But because his forehead is super big, people who saw him all exclaimed "Plato" - which means: what a flat and wide forehead.After that, everyone called him by his nickname, Plato, for so long that even he himself forgot his official name.

When Plato was 20 years old, he suddenly got excited and wanted to learn some knowledge, so he went out to find a teacher. As a result, he met Socrates as soon as he went out.Socrates told him: Plato, have you seen the sun in the sky?Let me tell you that the sun is actually very big, incredibly big, so big that you can't imagine, it is a huge fireball beyond your imagination.Also, have you seen the moon yet?The moon is also very big, but much smaller than the sun, and the moon is just a big rock. Plato was shocked when he heard this, and said, "Socrates, don't talk nonsense. The sun is a ball of fire and the moon is a big rock. Can you talk nonsense?"If people hear it, they will laugh at you, or even say that you are spreading rumors to confuse the public.

Socrates said: I did not say this, but Anaximenes’ disciple, Anaxagoras. He said that the sun is a mass of burning matter, and it is bigger than the entire Peloponnese Peninsula. Be big.He also said that the moon is really a big rock with mountains and valleys on it, and many people live there.Also, he also said that the moon shines because the sun shines on the moon. Plato looked at Socrates angrily: Socrates, you fix these useless things every day, don’t you care about your motherland at all? Socrates said: Some people also asked Anaxagoras this question. At that time, Anaxagoras pointed to the sky and said: Don't talk nonsense, I care about my motherland most.

Plato thought for a while and said: Well, I will learn from you in the future. I want to see, why do you say that the sun is a huge fireball... After that, Plato followed Socrates for eight years.In the eighth year, the ruler of Athens arrested Socrates, saying that he spread rumors to confuse the public, misled and poisoned young people, and got a glass of poisoned wine for Socrates to drink down.Seeing his teacher being poisoned to death, Plato was extremely sad and indignant, and said: Everyone should do what he does, a shoemaker should repair shoes, a blacksmith should forge iron, and the most learned philosopher should govern the country. Ignorance and ignorance, but poisoned the most learned philosophers to death?

So Plato traveled to Sicily, became active, and wanted to enter politics. For the first time, the local king Dionysius ignored him.He ignored him the second time, and by the third time, Plato's influence had already been great.The king invited Plato to discuss state affairs.Plato rushed there excitedly and found that there was already a slave ship waiting there. Without any explanation, he was thrown on the slave ship and pulled out to be sold as a slave.Fortunately, his friend caught up with the news and bought him back with money.From then on, Plato finally understood that in this world, violence, wealth and wisdom are the roads to power, but wisdom is the least powerful, and it is by no means an opponent of brutality and violence.