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Many ancient Greeks were afraid of one of Socrates’ questions that he often asked: “Aren’t you ashamed to take care of money, fame, honors, and not take care of your soul and not think about it, so that it is as good as possible?”
Alcibiades, one of Socrates’ students who was a politician and strategist of that time, had a turbulent love-hate relationship with Socrates, and he had said how Socrates made him feel ashamed, and even wished for Socrates’ death.
In our normal egoistic view of the world, where we each desire to view ourselves in a better position than others, then if someone points out our flaws, we initially want them and those flaws to disappear.
Desires for fame, money and power should at least be secondary, since they are part and parcel of our necessary existence. The principle here is that our main learning engagements should be in matters of the soul, and so this raises the question as to why do people generally not engage in matters of the soul as much as in matters of the body?
It is because people do not know what a soul is, how to develop it, and do not want to engage in what is a difficult and complicated topic to grasp. The soul is against our egoistic nature that constantly desires self-aimed benefit and comfort.
We could ask, however, that if we do not wish to engage in the soul, then why are there so many spiritual practices in the world? It is because people concoct all kinds of tricks to wrap God around their fingers. In other words, our egoistic nature that prioritizes self-benefit above all else builds worldviews that let us think that we will do one or another thing in exchange for conquering our ego, nature and God.
Matters of the soul—that which is ultimately most important in life—counters our egoistic nature. Therefore, if we earnestly engaged in matters of the soul, we would find that we do not progress in our worldly matters.
How, then, can we determine whether or not we have a desire to engage in matters of the soul? It begins with a feeling of life lacking true meaning and purpose. If we feel that existential lack, characterized by the question, “What is the meaning of life?” then we can start investing ourselves in its fulfillment. Such a desire eventually leads us to prioritize matters of the soul, which leads us to the feeling that we discover the meaning, purpose and source of our lives—a feeling where our heart and mind merge.
Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur on November 6, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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