There's a wonderful book by Alain de Botton called, The Consolations of Philosophy. One of Botton's distinct gifts as a writer and thinker is his ability to take complicated and often daunting subject matters and make them lucid, and dare I say fun.
In the beginning of his book he talks about the importance of thinking for one self and how doing so is often not popular.
He tells the story of Socrates, the classical Greek philosopher sentenced to death for corrupting the youth and failing to worship the city's gods.
Not surprisingly, the image that probably popped into your head was the painting done by Jacques-Louis David in Paris in 1786. The image shows Socrates surrounded by distraught friends as he defiantly prepares for his death.
"I am not going to alter my conduct, not even if I have to die a hundred deaths," Socrates supposedly told a jury.
To many the boldness of Socrates may be viewed as recklessness. He did after all have several opportunities to avoid death, namely by repudiating his beliefs and refraining from public discourse.
He refused.
To point he was trying to make is what's popular is not always right.
His jury of "peers" consisted of 500 men. 220 decided Socrates was not guilty, while the other 280 felt differently.
But what was their reasoning based on?
By the way,the qualifications to serve on the jury in Athens around the year 399 BC were the following:
-- being male
-- having citizenship
Talk about a low bar.
In other words, having the capacity to at least try and interpret why something was true by considering why it's alternatives were false was not a pre-requisite.
Which makes me wonder if it is for many of us today.
Most people give greater thought to how to make their favorite dish for a dinner party than whether the beliefs they've adopted are actually their own.
The truth is, the act of pursuing mental and moral well-being hinges on our ability to discount the unfounded link between approval of others and the TRUTH.
The two are NOT binary.
Botton says, "The validity of an idea or action is determined not by whether it is widely believed or widely reviled but by whether it obeys the rules of logic."
Courage, as he puts it, is intelligent endurance. It is the capacity to understand that truth is not about the number of people who may oppose it but rather their reasoning for doing so.
Do we have the courage to look BEHIND the critique of others? Ourselves?
The ability to not buckle under times of unpopularity takes courage, which is cultivated with practice. It's not about blindly clinging to our beliefs for the sake of defiance, but challenging others, however many, to prove its premise through logic, not emotion.
In the end, it seems Socrates was vindicated. Shortly after his death the mood around Athens changed like a season.
The three men who brought the charges against Socrates were supposedly banished, one was even condemned to death. Meanwhile, a bronze statue of Socrates was crafted by the sculpture Lysippos.
Athens, as Socrates predicted, came around and saw things the way he did.
The lesson is to not be intimidated by bad thinking NO MATTER who, or from how many it comes from.
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