Greek Philosopher’s Way to Make Decisions
Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
People, through the ages, as represented in Robert Frost’s famous poem The Road Not Taken, have struggled with making decisions.
When you have a difficult decision to make or are trying to make sense of something, one of the best ways to figure things out is to use the Socratic Method – ask questions.
Named after the Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates (469 – 399 B.C.), who used this technique in teaching his students, the method asks ever more pointed and challenging questions to get to the root of the matter and come up with ideas.
Much like a news reporter’s Who? What? Where? When? Why? questions to get at the heart of a story, Socratic questions help you to unearth the facts you’re looking for and to reflect on the issues that are important to you.
Rather than jumping to conclusions, ask such questions as: What am I trying to accomplish? When can I get started? Where can I do it? Who can help me? Why is this important? You can ask questions of yourself or get someone to join you in a back-and-forth dialog where you challenge each other to dig deeper into the questioning process.
SurfWriter Girls friend Linda Van Den Brink, a financial advisor (her clients call her “Ms. Life”), told us that using the Socratic Method helps her to see the different aspects of a situation and make thoughtful decisions that lead to purposeful action.
Van Den Brink also finds that the teachings of Raymond Charles Barker (1912 – 1988), a leader of the New Thought spiritual movement, are a good complement to the Socratic Method because they help to tap the creative, inspirational part of the mind. In making decisions, she says, “I am conscious that my body is vitalized by the living currents of life and my mind sets the course.”
Barker wrote in his book The Power of Decision that there is an Infinite Mind that continuously creates, “expecting us to stay curious and express its limitless potential through our own growth and expansion.” So, in addition to questioning the options we already know, Barker emphasizes tapping this expanded consciousness to explore new, outside-the-box ones.
Socrates and Barker both believed that to make good decisions we must be open to change and build trust in ourselves and our own judgment, rather than blindly accepting the status quo or popular opinion.
By combining the rational, continually questioning approach of Socrates and the intuitive, creative approach of Barker, you can utilize the best of both to successfully make decisions.
Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.