"The unexamined life is not worth living."
Socrates...said this more than two thousand years ago.
Yet how many of us really examine our lives, our beliefs, values and opinions?
How many of us question why we believe what we believe from our morals and ethics to our prejudices and biases to our politics and religion?
How many of us just parrot our cultural, familial, or generational party line without truly understanding the reasoning behind these ideologies?
How many of us go through life like a leaf in the wind just going with the flow without once questioning why or where it is all leading.
How many of us except what we hear on TV or read in the newspaper or a magazine or hear on the street or what we have been told all our lives growing up without once examining the reasons arguments and evidence supporting these beliefs?
How many of us have convictions that we cannot even logically defend?
I have heard many people get flustered and red-faced when asked the reasoning behind truths they hold to be "a priori" or true independent of evidence or critical evaluation.
True just because they are true.
You often get the: "I don't know why I believe it.
I just do!" or the: "Everybody knows that!" reply. Meaning that they haven't thought about whether their beliefs are true or false and don't want to now.
They want to believe not think.
Racists, bigots, sexists, and homophobics all fit into this mold.
They have their beliefs and they don't want to hear any evidence to contradict them.
They are willfully ignorant.
They want comfort and conformity not truth.
As a result, no matter how many experiences they have in their lifetimes, they gain no further wisdom and no greater knowledge.
They remain happy fools or as Schopenhauer called them "Happy animals."
Except they are only happy so long as they are surrounded by like-minded people who won't challenge their beliefs.
So, in order to preserve their happiness they isolate themselves in intellectual ghettos.
The greatest tragedy of this mentality is that they will never know who they truly might have been were they not saddled with these dogmas.
The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said:
"Man has but two choices, to be a happy animal or a suffering God."
I have long accepted that some people do not wish to know truths that might upset their world view and cause them distress.
Some people want to remain happy animals.
The problem is that these happy animals are often dangerous to the freedom and liberty of others.
That's the nearest reason why everyone doesn't find their own time to introspect...
Oh well...money talks...
"Everything in this book may be wrong." Illusions: The Adventures of The Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
The turned fear into positive energy is called courage.The courage examine the life and make it worth living.
Those with the open eyes are the great leaders:)
"And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same"-that was nice:)
Socrates' last words meant that death is the cure—and freedom, of the soul from the body.
Every word of what Socrates said back then is True. It is still relevant!... What a man he was!
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us.
And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
( Nelson Mandela in his 1994 )
Being unique sometimes costs your happyness, sometimes it is the way to achieve it.
The fear is the love's enemy.
FEAR...it's makes me remember that every second of live is most important and can not be replaced
LOVE...has opened our eyes, inspired our minds and enlightened our hearts
Agree with Flicker - not everyone has a chance to open his own eyes and see. Many a time, it's not intentional - it's just a matter of not being exposed and encouraged to think critically, have an open mind, flexibility and adaptability. Having said that, some people don't take very well to being shaken out of their comfort zones.
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Don't want no drama,
No, no drama, no, no, no, no drama
cling to what's familiar, our comfort zone especially when fear the unknown. Well, Im at that stage being a "happy animal" at the moment...am facing my fear now thru information and having a open mind. I have read the link and thanks for sharing.
"vive bene, spesso l' amore, di risata molto..." live well, love much, laugh often.
Blindly followers,fundamental bases for manipulation..Not everyone has a chanse to open his own eyes and see...Sometimes it is impossible,sometimes - not healthy..:)Outsider always risks :)
look into yourself to discover the the point of your life. Try to live the best life you can.
hmmm...misinformation and fear!
agreed!
but what's about "happy animals"?
"...misinformation is a weapon of mass destruction
whether inflation or globalisation
fear is a weapon of mass destruction.."
Maxi Jazz/Faithless
...in order to preserve my happiness I'll isolate myself in my cave...
Drac , the eternal insomniac .
So true , but I find most are afraid to look inward, for fear of what they may discover.
Keith Brown . AD 2009.