Examined Life

I watched a documentary the other day called "Examined Life."  It explored the views of several modern day philosophers in contemporary settings, and was exactly the type of film that reminds me why I love thinking.  So here's some of the questions and thoughts flowing through my mind recently, inspired by this documentary.

"The unexamined life is not worth living"

~Plato

Is there value in going on a path that leads nowhere, or when you don't know where it will lead?  Can we leave room for the arbitrary?

"Anxiety is the mood of ethicity.  The responsible being is one who thinks that they've never been responsible enough."  This is a viewpoint that I have always held and acted upon- I question everything I do and say, anxious to be sure it is right and true.  Yet, when I hear it in the words of someone else, my tendency is to argue with it.  If the only way to assure you do everything right in life is to be constantly questioning yourself...is there any room for peace?

I don't need to find all the answers, I just want to make sure I ask all the questions.

"We all have moral obligations to help, just as we have moral obligations not to harm."  What is Global Citizenship, and how do we achieve it?  Do we have to work from the basics, creating citizenship on a personal, community, and societal level first?  How do we feel connected with those who cut cross geographical and cultural lines?  Is it important that we do?

"It takes tremendous discipline and courage to examine yourself.  It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on the battlefield."

~William Butler Yates

"The condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak."  ~Theodore Dorno

This one hit me hard.  How much more authentic would our world be if we all felt comfortable sharing the most vulnerable and wounded parts of ourselves?  Think of how much less lonely life would be, and how much more bearable our struggles, if only truth was made known and we all shared in each other's pain.  

When you are socially isolated, can you be even more intellectually and intensely alive?  The moments when I feel most free, most passionate, and most alive come when I am alone, engaged in thought and activity that is purely me.

Human nature is constituted by the history of human actions, habits, and expression; therefore, revolution requires a transformation of human nature to be capable of Democracy.  How can we change the world if we are unwilling and unable to change ourselves?  We need to create not just a better world for those that are least well-off, but a better world for all of us.

Love as seeing perfection in exact imperfection.  Is that love?

My goal is to discover everything I can about myself and the world around me, and use that truth to make the world a little bit better.