The Unexamined Life

Why should we examine our lives?

As the great philosopher Socrates mentioned, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. I believe we need to examine our lives because after all, we are all human, and possibly the most complex form of life. We are the only organisms able to investigate our own lives, it would be a waste to simply live to cater to our our needs and not try to understand our feelings, our mistakes, our strengths and our weaknesses. For instance, we cannot learn from mistakes we have made unless we understand what made us react in that way and why it happened in the first place. Growth is essential for survival as well as happiness, which is after all, what every human being wants.

What is a purposeful life?

I believe that in the end of everyone’s death, the satisfaction of the life they have lived would be highly based on if they ended up meeting their goals, and how happily they lived. Aristotle identified the golden mean of life to be a life filled of happiness, all people have the desire to achieve happiness in their lives, this is ultimately a primary goal that is almost instinctive to human beings. The goals an individual sets for themselves throughout their lives is different, whether it be someone who has goals of leaving a positive mark on the world, someone who wants to be selfless and helpful, or someone who wants to simply be themselves. In the end, it is all up to the individual to decide if their life was a life worth living.

Do we create our own meaning?

Who I admire

Every person is individually unique and different, therefore we all have our own ideas of what is right and wrong. The ethics and morals that are scripted into our brains is a mixture of what we see fit in this world and what others tell us, what society tells us. Since we are all unique, it up to us to create our lives as we wish. We push through life to live up to our fullest potential, we set goals and plans for ourselves to get to where we want, and to become who we want to be as a person. Everyone’s self ideals are different, and therefore everyone creates their own meaning.

In my life, someone I admire is my mother. I admire her because of the sacrifices she has made, and because of the hardworking woman she is. She gave up living a comfortable life back home in Iran, to struggle her way through immigration processes, long hours of work and not to mention the language barriers. Despite all the turmoil and difficulties, she has kept her head up and has always been supportive and loving of my brother and I. She and my dad came here to give us a brighter future and to give us the freedoms they didn't have as kids. I believe my mother is admirable because she is a giver, she gives and gives and never expects anything in return, after 4 hard years of studying she became a nurse and her in 50’s. She is a hard working and inspirational woman and mother figure. Who I look up to proves I respect selflessness and

The Unexamined Life

Dad

Mom

Is it Worth Living?

What is happiness, how can it be attained?

According to Buddha, one of the worlds most famous deep thinkers, happiness can be attained through understanding the roots of suffering. To buddha, suffering comes from attachment and life, fortunately he also believed that there is a way to overcome attachment, through his eightfold path. The eightfold path consists the practice of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right contemplation. To philosopher Epicurus, for one to live happily, they must have three things. They must have an analyzed life, they must have friends and they must be self sufficient. To me, happiness is a feeling of rightfulness, a feeling of absolute peace and a feeling of interest.

Are our lives predetermined or do we have free will?

Is God required for a meaningful life?

Our lives are predetermined. Through the body and brain are physical entities that are subject to the deterministic laws of nature, in short “the soul” or “spirit” of a person is something far greater than just our physical capacity. That being said, there is more to us than just our organs and skin, our minds are something that is beyond our reach of comprehension, something that lives on forever. Keeping this in mind, just because we cannot see something does not mean it does not exist. I believe that the universe has our paths planned out for us, and controls every decision we make to ensure our lives fall into this specific path. Everything happens for a reason, because everything in the universe is connected to each other.

For many people, God is a symbol for hope and faith, many people who have religious views use the entity of God to find meaning in their own lives by accepting a higher power. That being said, I don’t believe entirely in that God is required for a meaningful life, especially if you are able to find meaning within yourself and the journey you are on. I do not know what to expect after my life on Earth, but for the time being, I am going by my own ethics and morals, to live my life as happily as possible. Contrary to my beliefs, Philosopher Leo Tolstoy strictly believes in that human intention is weak and thus cannot correctly direct us to the meaning of life, unless founded in God. Through God, people can find faith and meaning.