Philosophy of Life
The unexamined life in not worth living
~Socrates (Plato’s Apology 38a)
So many of my colleagues seem to be busy building their careers or looking for that elusive so called meaning of life that they don’t seem to be enjoying their lives. Even worse some are settling because they believe this is the way it has to be. It’s the all time soul suck - responsible people do this. Whatever “this” happens to be in their estimation.
What is this all for if you die while pursuing poorly contemplated lives?
In the months prior to my father’s death in 2008 I realized that he had been so busying trying not to be the kind of man my grandfather was that he didn’t really live his life. He did what he thought he had to do. He gave up so many of his dreams. He didn’t realize that we would have loved him just as much if he had tried his hand at something he really loved rather than squandering the precious best years of his life in cheerless offices under fluorescent lights or sitting around in airports waiting for his connecting flights.
We bail on a philosophy of a life of our choosing for a prepackaged list of expectations. We don’t have to be monks, mystics or religious fanatics to develop a healthy philosophy of life. We don’t even need to spend countless Sunday’s in church or Sabbath days in temple. We don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on books, tapes and seminars, although any of these things can be helpful and help us focus. However, all we really need to do is listen to our hearts. Of course that statement is so vague as to be quite useless...