Your soul is in your keeping alone.
Your soul is in your keeping alone.
He was scheduled to die.
Why? Because his dangerous devotion to the truth posed a threat.
His troublemaking tendencies first glistened when he and a few others presided over the trial of six commanders accused of abandoning shipwrecked survivors. The law required separate trials, but the public demanded deviation—a joint trial and death if found guilty. He, alone, refused to yield to public pressure.
His annoying conviction would reveal itself again when he and four others were summoned by the oligarchy to falsely arrest and condemn a man to death. The sole dissenter, he proved he’d rather risk wrath and retribution than participate in a lie.
His reputation grew.
But the leaders, whose authority he undermined, would not allow this. So they ordered him arrested and found guilty on two counts: corrupting the youth and “impiety.” His punishment? Death.
Awaiting his execution, his friends would visit and plead for him to forsake his teachings and save himself. But as he would explain to them, and eventually to the Senate, the internal oracle that he consulted on all matters, his soul, had made up its mind.
He would walk before the Senate and face, not flee, his fate. He would die for what he believed to be right—head high and soul safe. And his decision to do so forever hangs as a shining example that continues to inspire us (or at least, me) today.
In fact, I often imagine myself sitting with Socrates in a corner booth. He’s incredibly consistent with his reminders: it doesn’t matter what the press or politicians say; what pressures are placed on you or what the masses deem right. Keeping your soul requires that you speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. It demands that you stand up for what is right, no matter the consequences.
And then King Baldwin from the movie Kingdom of Heaven enters the booth:
“[R]emember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, ‘But I was told by others to do thus.’ Or that, ‘virtue was not convenient at the time.’ This will not suffice.”
I hope I never forget this advice.