" An Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living"-Plato
This quote that was stated by Plato is synonymous with Rene Descartes’s "Cognito ergo sum" (It think therefore I exist) and Marcus Aurelius’s "Know thyself". In general only by examining one’s self a human can achieve a full realization of his existence on earth. Because a human being will not reach full development if he cannot recognize his purpose of living and fail to attain the qualities of having a purposeful life. The fullness of self-realization takes a long span of time to take its full fledge. One way of examining oneself is by fully understanding that humans have potentials, and by examining these potential one can have a life worth living. One human potential is his mental abilities, his capacity to think rationally and to create imaginations and set up ideals and goals and to gain and apply knowledge, to judge what is right and what is wrong, another human potential is his physical abilities to develop one’s body to its full strength and capabilities and communication capabilities. But on the other hand examining one’s life is also connected with examining not as an individual human being but something that is a part of a whole. To realize that as a human being we are in connection with a greater reality, that everything around us is also connected with us and that the consequence of our actions will not only affect us but also the system around us.
As the basic law of physics said "In every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Examining life is also like examining the universe, which includes its cognitive and orectic capabilities, as well as its affection (feelings) and conation (striving) characteristics. To examine one’s life one must know that in life everything is in a constant dualistic struggle of good and evil, like the constant struggle of day and night. Man by nature is both a medium of creation and destruction, that as a human being we are have the potential to be good and the potential to be evil and by examining one’s purpose in his life is one way of knowing where he stand in this two opposing forces. It is still not purposeful to say that only those selected people who have the "will" and the "strength" can survive the constant struggle of living, for life is more than the "brute force" of the human body and also more than the impetus of the "will" but also of relating with the system around us, the way we treat our surroundings. One’s examination of life will affect the development of a human being.
An unexamined life is a life full of confusion and turmoil. It is a life full of stillness and stagnation not only of knowledge, strength and potentials but also a stagnation of values as well. This stagnation of life will only put the person in a state of confusion, one will not know where he will go next, what will he become in the future. He will not realize what is right and what is wrong. His actions will only cause destruction not only to himself but the whole reality as well, for man is a part of a greater whole. It is a life not worth living, for one cannot give contribution to the whole greater part where he is a part. Everything is created for a purpose and thru examining one’s life he will recognize his part in this greater reality and that he will determine his place in the society.
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