60. The Death of Socrates


Socrates had been condemned to death.
His pupils, grieving, gathered around him.
"After we take you up and wash you and wrap you in your shroud, where do you want us to bury you?" they asked.
"If you can find me," he said, "bury me wherever you want. But will you be able to find me? I am not sure about that. At this moment I have not so much as a shred of knowledge of myself. If over the course of my long life I have not found myself, how do you expect to find me when I'm dead?"



Inspired by: The Conference of the Birds by Farid Ud-Din Attar, translated by S. C. Nott
Notes: This is in section 26. You can read more about the death of Socrates at Wikipedia, and compare a similar Sufi story about Bayazid: Finding Bayazid.



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