Socrates, a great ancient philosopher, set the basis for life philosophy when he stated that an unexamined life is not worth living. This means that when individuals are able to understand every aspect of themselves, then their lives being to gain significance and value. This paper considers personal self-examination and its relationship to truth, wholeness, death and courage.
West (2013) tries to explain the Socratic methodology of examining life, where in the examination of life critical thinking plays a crucial role. Critical thinking refers to the study and assessment of an issue prior to making a judgement. For one to examine his/her life, one has to know how to critically think; and for one to critically think, one has to apply courage. West (2013) associates courage with critical thinking because numerous individuals are afraid of examining their lives. the element of fear prevents any individual from thinking about their existence or why they are living in a certain condition or doing the things they are doing. Courage means the capability not to fear. once an individual is courageous enough to face their life then they can critically think. Thus, he/she becomes best suited to examine their lives.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
According to West (2013), wholenss comes as a result of being able to apply the truth in one’s life. Prior to becoming whole, one believes that one has to die in order to be reborn as whole again. Death should be considered not as an event but as a phenomenon in real life. The aspects of death, wholeness and truth bring out the meaning of funk of life. When an individual applies truth in life, they die and are reborn as whole. This process is what is referred to as the funk of life.
Popova (2014) explains that when individuals critically think they are faced with the backfire effect. This refers to the fact that once individuals are faced with situations that require them to change their minds, they never explore the options that oppose their views. They usually feel that their opinions or thoughts are enough and do not want to get out of their comfort zones. Courage is very important for them to come out of one's comfort zone and explore all the options. Once this is done then will they be able to critically think and eventually examine their lives. This also applies to truth, truth is not what most individuals want to hear and for critical thinkers it is very important in terms of assessment of lives. Once truth is applied the options that come out most of the times oppose one’s own thoughts but this is the only way for one to die and be reborn in life.
Therefore, the reading brings out clearly that it is a necessity to live an examined life if one is going to live an excellent life. As hikghlighted by the authors, examining onelsef is the easiest way to finding truth and self-knowledge – the quivalent of a rebirth process.
References
West, C. (2008). Examined Life . Retrieved January 1, 2017, from Youtube.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfD3X3f5C_w .
Popova, M. (2014). The Backfire Effect: The Psychology of Why We Have A Hard Time Changing Minds. (online). Derived on 8th January 2017 from https://www.brainpickings.com
