INsight/ Ancient Genius Now

Photo of Bettany Hughes in BBC Genius of the Ancient World.

Manila, 1 July 2021 — How will you walk the trail they blazed?

“Progress is made by questioning things.” – Calvin Correli

Story

It happened yesterday. When I read Calvin Correli’s words, I realized they were the perfect curtain-raiser to my story for you this week. In case you wondered, Calvin is the founder of Simplero, the platform that brings these insights on leadership to your inbox every week. 

In his pithy words, Calvin introduces what I want to share with you about the work of three trailblazers whose life and legacies are described in Genius of the Ancient World. This story is produced by the BBC and narrated in an engaging fashion by Bettany Hughes. It was my first documentary to watch on Curiosity Stream. Joining Bettany on her three-part journey was a special experience. She helped me reflect on the transformational thoughts and practices of three trailblazers who lived 2,500 years ago, in different parts of the world. Watching her story, I realized how we in the 21st-century world are still playing catch-up to a lot of what these three left for us. 

Who are we talking about? There is Buddha, who left his comfortable home to explore the forests, villages, and cities of what is now Nepal and India to start what has become a global framework of transformational life practices. There is Confucius, who left his impoverished home to traverse the warring states of ancient China to explore ways of rediscovering order and harmony in a world torn apart by chaos and moral decay. And there is Socrates, who unceasingly challenged the people of Athens and the gods of Greece shortly after the birth of democracy right up to his public execution. Questioning things is what these three trailblazers did, to the benefit of humankind right to this day.

Challenge

Bear with me as I weave three stories together. Not only did the three trailblazers question things and ponder foundational questions about life, happiness, and society. While each focused on self-cultivation, their lasting legacy, I believe, is that they turned their newfound insights into a set of practices that have since attracted countless followers across the world and have stood the tests of time for more than two millennia. Each of the three modeled a new approach that anyone could embrace and apply to improve themselves and society, irrespective of their position in it. That egalitarian approach was bound to disrupt the prevailing belief systems and social order. Let me summarize my take on it, from a viewpoint of actions rather than beliefs.

Socrates is known for the motto that the unexamined life is not worth living. He showed us a way of questioning and reasoning that he himself modeled in one-to-one and public conversations. Discovering the appropriate way in any situation would prevent us from taking actions that would damage our own souls. He helped Athenians recognize that they themselves were in charge of their destiny rather than the (numerous) gods that ruled the universe from the Greek version of heaven. It was a revolutionary idea at that time. Today, life coaches draw on the way of questioning that Socrates pioneered, albeit with more open and less closed questions.

Confucius showed us a way of finding love, respect, and integrity in how we interact with our fellow human beings and with society at large, which was torn apart by wars during his lifetime. His appreciation for the beauty of precision in rituals helped people return to orderly and harmonious relationships with a high standard of behavior, starting in the family. Kong Fuzi’s focus was on cultivating and transforming the mindset through the practice of cultured relationships between people, with reverence and respect. This meant doing everything and anything in accordance with 仁 or Rén (a core value we can describe as ‘co-humanity’). More than ever, we need this today, not just in our societies, but for the very survival of human life on our planet.

Question

Buddha questioned things too. It’s what drove him to leave his young wife and newborn son to embark on an unforgiving exploration of what life was really about. Eventually, after experiencing enlightenment, he showed us a universal way to take control of our lives by discovering our non-self nature. He challenged people to break out of conventions to walk their own journey of self-cultivation on what he called the Eightfold Path. This involved the pursuit of right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. This path came to be seen as a Middle Way of moderation where people avoided attachment to extreme views and choices that would continue to cause more suffering and karma. What Buddha taught was that by practicing the Eightfold Path you could be your own lamp, release yourself from suffering, and bring positive change to society. How you behaved mattered more than what you believed. The focus was on action.

Reflecting on what these three trailblazers showed us 2,500 years ago, the message in BBC’s documentary is that we are now responsible for our own destiny. As people and planet. I could not agree more.

Three stories coming together as one. Thanks for making it to read all the way to this point. My question to you is what you take away from the story of the trailblazers. What will you do to change your behaviors and actions and walk the trail they blazed?