Socrates said that the "unexamined life is not worth living". By this, he means that life can't be truly full if you float through life not examining critically the decisions and choices you make. Even though it would still be possible to be happy without scrutinizing every detail, such a life could not be lived to the very fullest extent.
I am in complete agreement with this statement. For example, I think that you can't really guess what is best for you. To truly know what path will lead to true happiness and satisfaction, you need to think critically about the decisions you make, the outcomes that follow, and how you can acheive what you want. If you aren't examining your life to some extent, I don't believe your chances of finding this path are very high. In addition, I think drifting through life without any self-criticism or self-examination would lead to a very false sense of happiness and fulfillness. It seems like it would be very easy to lead yourself to believe that "everything is fine." How can you really know how you feel if you don't think about your feelings at all?
On the other hand, I think surpassing a certain degree of examination can be slightly dangerous. Heavily scrutinizing every single mark, decision, word and move you make could quickly lead one into insanity, or at least crippling self-conciousness (That's how I would feel, at least.). You don't need to think about your decision over which brand of milk to buy as thoroughly as you would have to think about your decision over which career path you should take, or which house you should buy.
I love the statement "How can you really know how you feel if you don't think about your feelings at all?." That's so true, and I totally agree. Also, great point you make with the scrutinization of details in life. I think a lot of people at Whitney have a problem with that. They over examine their life and get stressed over nothing.
ReplyDeleteI like that you point out that different decisions require different amounts of examination. It's definitely true that we don't need to deeply scrutinize our milk brand, but I think it's also true that we sometimes scrutinize things like our emotions more than they actually need to be scrutinized. Do you think so many people are unhappy in our society because they aren't thinking critically about their decisions and outcomes, as you mentioned?
ReplyDelete