One day, Plato asked Socrates what love is.Socrates said: "Go across this wheat field, pick up and bring back the best and finest wheat, but remember one thing, you cannot go back, and you only have one chance."
Then Plato did so, but he came back with nothing after a long time.
Socrates asked him why? Plato answered: "I did saw the best and finest wheat when I walked through the field, but I was always thinking that maybe there would be some better ones ahead, so I gave it a miss; but as I moved on, there was nothing better than the one before, so in the end I came back with nothing."
Socrates smiled and said that this is love. It can be the most beautiful thing that can happen to a person, but you don't realise it's worth until it's gone.
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Next day, Plato asked Socrates what marriage is.Socrates said: "Go across this forest, cut down and bring back the tallest and most solid tree, but remember one thing, you cannot go back and you only have one chance."
Then Plato did so, but he just brought back a not so tall and solid one but good enough.
Socrates asked him why. Plato said: "I saw some very good trees on my way in the forest, this time, I learned something from the last time in the wheat field, so I just chose this one. If I did not, I was afraid that I would come back with nothing again, so doesn't matter if this is not the best one."
This time, Socrates said with significance this is marriage. It is a compromise, you pick the first best one and learn to live happily with it.
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One more time, Plato asked Socrates what happiness is.Socrates said: "Go across this field, pick the most beautiful flower, but remember one thing, you cannot go back, and you only have one chance."
Then Plato did so, and he came back with a fairly pretty flower.
Socrates asked him was this the most beautiful one. Plato said: "I saw this beautiful flower, picked it and thought this was the most beautiful one, when I walked in the field. And even though I saw many other beautiful ones, I still believed this was the most beautiful one, so I brought it back."
Then Socrates said profoundly this is happiness. It is being content with what you have, knowing there are better ones out there.
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Again, Plato asked his teacher Socrates what lust is.Socrates asked him to go through the forest again, and he could have the freedom to go back and forth to bring back the most beautiful flower.
Plato went out with confidence, and came back, bringing a bright but a little withered flower after two hours.
Socrates asked him whether this was the most beautiful flower. He answered to his teacher: "I was looking for the prettiest one for two hours and found this was the one, but on my way back, this picked flower was becoming withered."
Then Socrates told him sternly, this is lust. It may look like the most beautiful thing but will die off as soon as you have one and you'll be left with nothing in the end.
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Another day, Plato asked his teacher Socrates what life is.Socrates asked him again to go through the forest, he could have all the time and freedom but must bring back the most beautiful flower.
Plato learned from his last experience and went out with great confidence.
Three days passed, he did not come back.
Socrates became worried and walked into the forest to look for him, soon after, he found that Plato had pitched a camp in the forest. Socrates asked him whether he had found the prettiest flower. He pointed at a flower beside him and said this was the one.
Socrates asked him why he did not bring it back.
He answered: "If I did, it would be withered soon. Even if I did not, it would also wither sooner or later. So I decided to be beside it when it was in its best blossom, and when it died, I would find the next; this was the second one I found here."
This time, Socrates smiled again and told him: "Now you’ve already known the truth of life. It is about living the moments and moving on."