Honesty, and when you are “too honest” when you do something wrong, it seems like the biggest crime of all, does it not? But, let us look at this issue from a different direction: The direction Galileo had when he said that the world was round and got scared by the Church to take it back or else, or Christ when he said we are all children of God, and not just the Priests and Scribes, or Bruno getting burned at the stake because he was honest. Honesty is the worst crime in existence when it knocks down establishments and changes normality, especially to those “in the majority that are in power” who are “benefitting from the normality”.
So, I think of myself as the “biggest fool of all”, because I can honestly say that I am one of those people who would go down with the ship of honesty instead of float with the dishonesty. There are times this world gets so disgusting that I would love to go to the stake with Giordano Bruno or carry the cross with Jesus Christ without a single look back at “the riches I could have had, had I been quiet, obedient and dishonest with the rest of them”. Sometimes, I look back on my childhood wistfully thinking, if “I had shut up, sat down and cooperated, I would be in a much better position than I am now,” then I think to myself after that moment of feeling sorry for myself, sort of: “Wait a minute, I am better off, think about the guy who lived because he traded his ticket for the Titanic for stock in Andrew Carnegie’s billion dollar company or something like that on an honest, but, intuitive whim.” That is the kind of “aha” moment I have about existence all the time, that keeps me on the genuine right path, and knowledgeably ready to drink the hemlock with Socrates understanding and laughing with him as I die with my finger righteously pointing up to heaven along with his, and leaving Plato holding the “silly glory bag” of “great philosopher” and dishonest player in it all behind the mess to this day.
Socrates was great, Plato plagiarized Socrates the way I look at it, and then threw him under the bus with that so-called apology, let us be honest there and let us face it. I would rather be the “loser who wins for real”, than “the winner who wins in a phony way.” Take out of that sentence what you may, but my finger points up to heaven with Socrates, Martin Luther and the rest of them however my hemlock may come. I croon with George O’Dowd of the 1980s band Culture Club: “Give me time to realize my crime!”
So, a little background to end this: We had a choice near the end of the twentieth century to be honest with ourselves or dishonest with ourselves and now we must see the fruits that come of what we planted. If we planted right, we get fruit. If we planted wrong, we all drink the hemlock, bella donna or poison we grew. That is my philosophical peace. One thing I can say though, I was honest with you.