The Socratic Experience
- Ludvick Vanleinbock
- Apr 19, 2017
- 5 min read
A Brief Look into Overthinking
During the last half of the final century before the common era a man known as Socrates was accredited with being one of the greatest teachers of his time. This man was responsible for helping to shape the minds of men that influenced the way ancient society went about educating its youth. During those times it was very common that those who received education were often of royal descent or members of the elite social classes, and as such were destined to be extremely important members of society as a whole. Socrates is considered to be one of the founding fathers of ancient Greek philosophy, which when combined with advancement and understanding of the health field would eventually become the leading inspiration behind the field of psychology. Likewise, Socrates is seen as one of the greatest minds the world has ever known. One of Socrates most well know character traits was his endless thirst to constantly be engaged in debates, which in turn often times left him in deep thought. However, Socrates would become so lost in deep thought that he could literally stop everything he is doing, and stand still in one place for hours simply thinking and doing nothing else but that. Like a double edged sword it was this exact behavior that probably prevented him from accomplishing so much more in his life, and the majority of what is known about him is based on the accounts of other people who had known him, or from the students of those who followed him and his verbal teachings.
Conforming vs Acceptance
Today, the act of overthinking can easily be associated with various forms of mental illnesses such as PTSD, anxiety, ADHD, and depression just to name a few. Eventually, what was once deemed as the behavior of an exceptional mind became considered to be negative attribute of one’s personality according to social standards that are in need of being altered. With the growing awareness of mental illnesses, more and more candidates are being identified as having one. Advancement in the pharmaceutical industry have made it possible for numerous amounts of medication to become available for many different conditions, however the majority of these medications seem to dull the senses and often times create a mental and sometimes even a physical dependency to the exact medication designed to help them. In a previous article, Let’s Talk About Sex Baby, I had raised the notion that the media uses Pavlov’s classical conditioning model in order to manipulate the thoughts and actions of the society it is created to be exposed to, and the idea that overthinking is very much apparent to this fact. When not approached with the mental illness route, the media used all of its resources to overly suggest what is bad behavior and what is not. By the 20th century many books, movies, TV shows, and commercials had adapted the terms of “be cool” and “chill” as a means to negatively view overthinking and making it an unacceptable action. Both methods of dealing with the issue of over thinking in these contexts are deeply rooted in the use of control, and often times have a heavy element of guilt and shame for displaying unwanted behavior such as thinking too much. The central idea presented to those with this condition is that they must conform to social standards and can only be healthy to members of society once they “cure” themselves of these traits.
One fundamental concept on the road to self improvement is the ability to be fully aware of one’s self in their entirety of whom they are. Those who question tend to think often times formulating and reformulating their personal identify. By engaging in this process an individual increases their chances of reaping the benefits of a higher intelligence by constantly seeking out answers to any given question or a more effective solution to problems in life. However, acceptance can sometimes act as a double edged sword able to both give one power and do them harm. There are instances when an individual comes to accept themselves so much that they are unable to see the negative implications to their actions or lack thereof. Individuals can become extremely stubborn and “set in their ways” believing there are no problems with themselves and that the true problem lies in others as if society needs to adjust and accept them for who they are. In addition, these individuals tend to be overly focused on self, paying no attention to the greater good. This develops many social difficulties that can not be altered due to the acceptance the person has for themselves, making it extremely hard to improve upon who they are.
The 3 fold path
The key concept prevalent in both the conforming and accepting aspects of dealing with overthinking is the ability to raise awareness to the behavior and all of its many side effects. It is said that awareness is the first step in creating change in one’s quality of life. By being aware, one is able to bare witness to both the pros and cons of those actions without the assistance of others. Once fully aware, an individual is able to make a personal decisions to change their apparent condition. In this instance, one is able to go about seeking the proper route that is most effective for them to utilize. One can then go about developing a personalized solution that can create a positive change in their life. With the turn of the century the growth in popularity of self help books, which in turn have given rise to many motivational speakers. There was this fundamental understanding that sweetness and a strong desire to change one’s life were all the components needed to achieve that goal in a solitary manner. Some find that merging themselves into spirituality took a much more natural approach to the issue, and find themselves rigorously participating in various forms of Western and Eastern faith’s and philosophies. Others decide to incorporate this natural element to a much more concisely aware choice of medication in order to properly manage those behaviors and not simply give over complete control, which is the result of many medications on the market. In the case of overthinking some find it helpful to simply write those thoughts down, and by doing so often times helps to clear those kind of too many thoughts. This, in fact, was one technique the great Socrates never enacted and had he, there would have probably been more of his teachings left behind for future generations to follow. Another solution some might find helpful when faced with overthinking is to participate in either the creation of music or simply listening to it. The blending of sounds created a calming sensation in these individuals leading them to get lost in sound rather than thought and for the few moments within this process they are able to escape in a way that does not seem forced at all. Ultimately one must have the freedom to change and feel the necessity of that change in order for it to take root and make any progress at all.
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