To be Free is to be Yourself: How Authentic Selfhood leads to Humility and Selflessness

“The Apology” by Plato is a classic of Western philosophy that demonstrates the transcendental value of philosophy. While people tend to think of philosophy as incredibly abstract with very few practical applications, “The Apology” is a clear counterexample to this trope and it is simply striking just how pragmatic Socrates’ abstractions are. However, this pragmatism is not a worldy one, but rather a truly transcendental, spiritual pragmatism that does not necessarily help one achieve worldly success, but brings one to the fullness of their humanity. To be more precise, Socrates speaks of “The Good Life,” a life which requires true freedom, causing one to know oneself truly, and ultimately cultivating a humility nurtured through divine assurance and supreme peace.

Socrates exemplifies freedom in the classical sense in “The Apology.” Socrates is found at trial before the men of Athens where he stands accused of corrupting the youth (Plato, et al. 36). However, although Socrates's incrimination is ultimately false as he only attempts to intellectually liberate the Greek youths' minds rather than corrupt them, he does not deny this accusation but rather accepts it, for he knows that what the men of Athens think of corruption is, in fact, just liberation. Relatedly, Socrates’s resolve in front of the jurors is derived from this liberation that Socrates attains and generously dispenses to the youth in a very apt, free way. This liberation, however, is not a postmodern liberty, detached from any sense of the Good, but rather the freedom that comes from conforming oneself to the Good, which, for Socrates, is the god which he has encountered. Socrates has this classical freedom and his fidelity to the god is the means by which he has this freedom. Socrates’s acceptance and fulfillment of divine servitude is clearly on display when he says that he does “what the god orders” him “to do, and” that he thinks “there is no greater blessing for the city than my service to the god” (Plato, et al. 33). Here, there is a beautiful connection that can be made to the work of the great nineteenth century Catholic theologian St. John Henry Cardinal Newman’s. Cardinal Newman’s seminal contributions to Christian accounts of the conscience can be succinctly encapsulated with his beautiful line that “the conscience is the abirigional vicar of Christ, in the soul,” (Seward, 2019). For Cardinal Newman, even if one does not have explicit knowledge of Christ, they are true followers of Him if they conform to their conscience ― if they conform to the Good. Socrates, then, encounters Christ when he encounters the god dwelling within his interiority and his conformity to the god both produces and is true freedom, for the god which Socrates encounters is the Good. Since Socrates encounters the Good, the god, and conforms to it, he is truly free.

Additionally, the freedom that Socrates possesses enables him to have a knowledge of his true self. Freedom as conformity to the Good is the classical understanding of freedom and it has its roots in the ontology of the Good, which is identical to being, such that evil is merely a privation or distortion of the Good in some way; evils limit or bind the Good. Relating this to freedom, in the classical understanding, to be in conformity to the Good is to be truly free because one has come to the fullness of their being, to have shaken off, so to speak, any limits imposed on their being. Freedom cannot be intelligible except in relation to the Good because such “freedom” makes no reference to ontology, and may lead to one tending towards non-being, which is clearly not freedom. When reflecting on his own path towards true freedom, the great spiritual master Thomas Merton said: “For me to be a saint means to be myself” (Merton 31). Merton understood that when he sins, in a very real ontological sense, he is not himself as he is tending towards non-being, which also entails that he is not truly free when he sins. Therefore, when Merton acts in conformity with the Good, he is truly free, but also truly himself as since the Good and being are identical, when one conforms to the Good, one truly and most fully exists. 

However, conceptually, there is an intermediate step between true freedom and being one’s true self and that is self-knowledge through self-reflection or, as Merton calls it, prayer. Merton has a very Thomistic analysis of prayer, a view that recognizes prayer to be the space in which one becomes aware of how, here and now, one is being created by God (Barron). Therefore, for Merton, prayer is a necessary step in one’s journey towards oneself for it enables one to know who God is creating: it enables them to know who they are. The reason that prayer is a merely conceptual step between true freedom and being one’s true self is because being’s one true self and being truly free are, in actuality, the same thing, but they are conceptually distinct because true freedom enables knowledge of one’s true self. Relating this to Socrates, since he has encountered the god, the Good, within himself and conformed himself to the god, he is truly free and through this freedom and self-reflection he comes to know himself as himself. 

Socrates’s perfect self-knowledge, through the assurance that it naturally elicits, is what grounds Socrates’s humility before the men of Athens. Furthermore, this self-knowledge does not lead to self-centeredness or pride as the fulfillment that accompanies Socrates’s knowledge of his true self brings the heart, mind, and entire being to perfect rest. Perfect satisfaction leaves nothing to be wanted, compelling Socrates to detach from the world, which, paradoxically, enables Socrates to liberate others, being the “crime” he has “committed.” This knowledge, therefore, in conjunction with perfect satisfaction, brings about a humility that amounts to self-lessness where one knows themself and is entirely satisfied with such knowledge. This is why Socrates is fearless in front of the jury: he is truly free because of his loyalty to the god, the Good, which gives him a knowledge of his true self that, beyond the satisfaction of such understanding, also nurtures a boundless humility that longs to be shared. Bearing this humility and wisdom as his shield, Socrates may stand before the men of Athens unafraid, content to be "driven out of one city after another" for he knows that "wherever [he] goes the young men will listen" (Plato, et al. 39). He is detached from the world: he is truly free. 

“The Apology” by Plato is a beautiful example of the transformative power of philosophy. Plato is able to recount, in a mere twenty pages, the startling and striking behavior of a truly free man ― detached by way of a perfect freedom and self-knowledge. Socrates has come to the fullness of himself and through this he diffuses himself to the youth of Athens. He is ultimately humble, self-less, and free, as he unremittingly conformed himself to the Good. He is himself, his true self, before the men of Athens: he could not be anything else.

Works Cited

Barron, Robert. Bishop Barron on Thomas Merton, Spiritual Master - Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X8fp2CvQmA. 

Merton, Thomas. New Seeds of Contemplation. New Directions Book, 2007. 

Plato, et al. The Trial and Death of Socrates: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Death Scene from Phaedo. Hackett, 2009. 

Seward, Daniel. “How Newman Followed His Conscience, No Matter the Cost.” Saint John Henry, Saint John Henry, 28 Aug. 2019, https://www.newmancanonisation.com/blog/newman-and-conscience#:~:text=Conscience%20%E2%80%93%20the%20%27aboriginal%20vicar%20of,mean%20%E2%80%9Chow%20I%20feel%E2%80%9D.