What kind of celebrity would Socrates be if he were alive today? How would we treat him?

In what way would he ask his questions in 21st century? He never wrote much of anything--we know his ideas mostly through work of his student, Plato. Would he give speeches? Would he have televised debates? Would he have his own talk show? If so, who would be his guests?

Socrates was famous in his day. He was loved and admired for his ideas and his relentless questioning, and he was despised for same things. Like all celebrities, he had his fans and he had his detractors.

Socrates himself said, "I am utterly disturbing and I create only perplexity." He understood his role as a provocateur, but he also had best of intentions. He simply wanted to give people opportunity to question themselves in order to become better humans.

There are a lot of celebrities who push our buttons,but we don't tend to think of them as philosophers!

What if we did? What if we could separate thoughts from thinkers? We tend to dismiss whole package--the persona--instead of taking a good look at revolutionary or inflammatory ideas. We marginalize our radical thinkers.

The rapper Eminem is a radical thinker, though many would say he is just plain radical. In his way, he is true to himself. He has broken through to mainstream consciousness because he touched a nerve--and got a lot of press.

Would Socrates be a rapper today? Would he be a professor? A performance artist? How would we regard him?

He was notoriously unattractive. Would photographers surround him, taking photos to sell to tabloids?Would we care about him if he didn't make it on cover of our favorite magazines?

Get To The Bottom Of It!

What causes a passion for something so strong that brings about these types of ambitions? The strongest passion of all I believe is love. So, if love is present, what empowers it? If it's hate, what empowers it?

Someone can have a destructive passion, in name of love, and cause events like 9/11. What ever force is, for sake of this article, let's call it go-power.

Whether motivation is love or hate, intensity of go-power behind it is driving force that makes it happen. Go-Power is inner urge that gives action to all worthwhile emotions and destructive ones.

Go-Power can be used to acquire riches, health, happiness, and to do good for others. It can be used to hurt others. Whether good or bad, inspiration to action will motivate someone to act in a manner that is consistent with their habits.

Letter Perfect!

You've heard it said, "Seek and you shall find". This is a universal truth and it applies to seeking love, knowledge, wisdom, and all desirable things this world has to offer. Someone could also seek and find all insane things this world has to offer.

What motivates a person to pursue insane things? Without getting into stuff that is way out in left field, let's just say in one word, habit! We are creatures of habit and habit is underlying go-power that keeps it alive and perpetuating itself in our lives. Whatever it is!

The famous Psychologist William James said, "If we act as if we feel in any given way, in time, our feelings will catch up to our actions." When that happens, you have formed a habit that will be part of your personality and character and, stronger than a garlic milkshake.

The time period for this habit to form is between 20 and 30 days. And, if that time has passed, it'll hair-lip bear creek before you break it. Once it becomes a habit, you break it or change it with a different action of 20 to 30 days.

I know this is going to be controversial, but I'm going to say it anyway. You can change any feeling you have, any habit you dislike, and any response you exhibit during a stressful moment, just by performing an action that is just opposite of former and, keeping that action for 20-30 days!

Their Tower Of Strength!

We use same principle to teach pilots and astronauts. They can't always see what's out there, so they are trained to believe whatever their instruments tell them. And, then they act on it. If their instruments tell them moon is made of green cheese, they believe it. That's habit!

When your right hand doesn't know what your left hand is doing, you've formed a habit. When you can do something, something good hopefully, without thinking, you've formed a habit.

Ask anyone who smokes why they reach for a cigarette right after a meal or a drink. Their mind is programmed with a habit that their body is in agreement with. The more body does it, stronger habit becomes. The stronger habit becomes, more body does it.