The unexamined life?
Answer:
I think it means that we should think about our lives and not just take them for granted.
We see a lot of questions here on YA about the purpose or the meaning of life. We are lucky enough to have free will and to be able to determine the meaning and purpose of our own lives. But I think a lot of people don't. They don't run their lives, their lives run them!
I think we should continually re-examine our beliefs, our likes and dislikes, our values, etc. We should challenge ourselves "Do I really think that? Why do I think that? What other ways are there to think about it?" It takes a certain amount of . . . well, you might call it 'psychic energy' to do this. But I think it's worth it. 'The unexamined life' is not wicked, it's just lazy, it keeps us from living up to our potential as human beings.
Socrates believed that any belief or idea you have, you should be able to defend it in a conversation. All his own beliefs were explained in written 'dialogs', conversations between two people where one asked questions and the other answered. If you can't defend a belief in that way, it shows you haven't thought about it enough, you are just repeating something you've heard. That is a very Socratic idea. And it was one of the basic ideas of western culture! Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages borrowed a lot from Socrates, Aristotle and Plato.
Liz, to me the unexamined life would be a failure to ask and look for the bigger truths, the reason why I am here, what am I supposed to do with this life, what am I supposed to learn? What is the meaning of life? It's the difference between plodding through life one day at a time and just getting through it, and knowing and fulfilling my higher purpose. It takes time to answer for oneself the truth and higher purpose, but it's worth asking, and worth searching to find your own answers. Once you KNOW, nobody can take that away, and life becomes a Divine adventure.
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