Journal
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
As humans, each day we carry out certain tasks, say different things, and are faced with several different decisions, some crucial, yet others maybe pointless. Many people, unaware of the control they possess over their very own lives, tend to live their lives with no intent of any direction. Socrates, however, tells us that "the unexamined life is not worth living," which demands a more focused and directional type of lifestyle involving a better sense of direction and purpose. Self-awareness leads us as humans to begin to ask ourselves the "important" questions of our lives: "Why are we here?" "What do I have to offer to the world?" or "How am I supposed to live my life?" Asking these questions can often lead us closer to finding "the truth" out of our experiences. To reach certain truths, we, as humans, must accept that we have the tendancy to be biased and, therefore, we must learn to accept to see more than one side of a certain matter and to seek the truth with an open mind. Also, we can not only learn from our mistakes, but we can also learn from the perspective of others. Accepting this, and realizing that our very own decisions affect our everyday lives, we are brought closer to the the truth, and the truth, in the words of Fr. Hagan, will be beautiful.
Three Important Ideas of the Section:
1.Nicely stated by musician Eric Clapton, "humans have the tendancy to bulls#@! themselves." Relating to the idea of hubris, exaggerated pride that often leads to fatal retribution, which is often portrayed by many humans, we, as humans, often find ourselves in cases of denial. Just like Eric Clapton who denied the fact that he had drug problems, many humans deny vices such as laziness, health problems, and saftey issues. Teenagers often believe when it comes to driving that an accident could never occur to them and that accidents only happen to the people seen on TV. This is a prime example of humans "bulls#@!ting" themselves. Most likely, those people who did get into car accidents probably thought the same thing about car crashes and, therefore, avoided saftey measures leading them to the very accident they were in. As humans, we must be aware of who we are even if it means accepting our problems. Only then can we undergoe metanoia and work towards living an examined life.
2. The story of Deon Sanders conveys a prime example of how the message that society offers that the ideal life includes money, fame, and sex can be an illusion to some and only provides happiness for certain people. Just as in Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," we can often times can be living in an illusion of reality and contentment. Deon Sanders was told by society, just as most people are, that being rich and famous would provide him happiness. After deep depression and a failed attempt at suicide, Deon realized that this "ideal" life that society raised up to be so glorious, only left him empty. Deon's actions towards faith in Christianity for a deeper, fuller meaning in his life, leaving him satisfied wholely as a human being, teach us that we can't accept everything as the truth, and that we must separate truth from illusion to be happy.
3. Aristotle said that humans are like boats. Some are fully equipped and have rudders, while others do not have rudders. Rudders on boats allow for steering. So what does this mean? Going back to "the unexamined life is not worth living" concept, the humans with "the rudders" are the ones with direction in their life. They are aware of the decisions they make and how they will affect their life. Not only this, but they are the ones who strive for purpose and a sense of truth from themselves and from the world around them. They are able to steer clear of hard times or even steer safely through them. The people "without rudders," however, are the ones who have no direction in their lives. They are usually unaware that they are "drifting out to sea" and often times their lives get out of hand because of unawareness.
Images of Key Ideas:
Question to think about:
How does one know when he or she has found "the truth"
-Is it really the truth? Is it just another opinion of what one believes to be the truth?"
Gaining all the knowledge about one thing as well as learning and attempting to accept different perspectives of one concept may not necessarily lead someone to the truth. On a deeper level, things that humans hold as fundamentally true may even be untrue. Opinion and bias often times intervere with the definition of truth and, therefore, a "true" definition of "true" is often times impossible to find. This answer is not the truth in itself. It is my opinion. So what is the answer to this question then? Is there a true answer? (This leads me back to the original question..)
