“The
unexamined life is not worth living.” This saying of Socrates (470-399
B.C.) has been around for quite a while and is quoted often. One modern author
has produced a counter-statement for it.
“The unexamined life is surely worth living, but is the unlived life worth examining?”
This is how the psychoanalytic writer Adam Phillip begins his book Missing Out.
“The unexamined life is surely worth living, but is the unlived life worth examining?”
This is how the psychoanalytic writer Adam Phillip begins his book Missing Out.
Examine, what does that really mean? Is it self-reflection, a vision quest or a sweat-lodge ceremony, or is it psychoanalysis conducted by another
person using analytical tools of a commonly agreed upon methodology? Either
way, such a process is a lengthy undertaking and usually one lifetime does not
seem long enough.
Within the modern Western approaches, Lacanian psychoanalysis (named after the French Freudian Jacques Lacan 1901-81) has a unique approach to the length of the analysis. Instead of the clock, what the patient says determines the length of the session from five minutes to ninety minutes.
Within the modern Western approaches, Lacanian psychoanalysis (named after the French Freudian Jacques Lacan 1901-81) has a unique approach to the length of the analysis. Instead of the clock, what the patient says determines the length of the session from five minutes to ninety minutes.
The why
of such rigorous analysis, self or the lying on the couch kind, needs a fairly
strong justification.
What
do I get if I examine my life? Psychology, or any approach
for that matter, cannot guarantee a certain pre-determined outcome for a
process of self-discovery, which is never easy. Whoever gives guarantees such
as “Get to know yourself, and you will be
happy” or “Know yourself and all your
dreams will come true” better be prepared for being sued heavily.
In physical illnesses, ‘cure’ is generally
understood as the (almost) complete eradication of symptoms, pain, suffering,
restrictions and inconvenience associated with the condition. In the cases of
the psyche, usually cure aims to place or restore the human being to a state
that s/he can function and be beneficially involved in society without serious
hindrance and thus live and enjoy a satisfactory life.
How
Does One Examine One’s Life?
The social-psychology theory of self-verification claims that people want to be known and understood by others
in the same way as they feel and believe about themselves.
Self-concept (answer to Who am I?) and self-esteem (Own beliefs e.g., I am worthy or I am competent) are part of this self-view.
Self-concept (answer to Who am I?) and self-esteem (Own beliefs e.g., I am worthy or I am competent) are part of this self-view.
A Google search of the terms “Methods of
self-examination” gives more than 13 million hits. The majority of them are
about breast cancer and how to examine the breasts to detect cancer. Here also
self-examination has to be related to the opinions and experience of other
people.
This reveals a pattern of self-examination: it is always in relation to other people and can never be a stand-alone act.
This reveals a pattern of self-examination: it is always in relation to other people and can never be a stand-alone act.
Whether we choose to consult the I-Ching oracle,
read tealeaves or Tarot cards or use modern psychoanalysis, we can never escape
constantly reflecting our actions, experiences, emotions, views and beliefs
with those of others.
L’enfer, c’est les autres (Hell is other people), the most misinterpreted quote by the French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80) describes the ceaseless ontological struggle as one is forced to see oneself as an object within the world of another consciousness.
L’enfer, c’est les autres (Hell is other people), the most misinterpreted quote by the French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80) describes the ceaseless ontological struggle as one is forced to see oneself as an object within the world of another consciousness.
How
to Live an Unexamined Life
- “I don’t have time for such idle thoughts”
- “What’s the use of thinking what I could’ve become!”
- "Can't you see I'm making a living for my family!"
These are some typical sentiments busy and
often not so busy people give as reasons why they shouldn’t examine their
lives.
Yesterday at our local grocery shop, a
Muslim lady wearing a veil, possibly from Somalia, was shopping. She was not
accustomed to walking (at least not inside a convenience store with narrow
corridors) and moving around was slow and cumbersome. At the checkout, she had
problems opening her Louis Vuitton handbag to pay for her purchases. Then her
phone rang out loud. She stopped paying for her purchases and produced her
state-of-the-art smartphone and began fumbling with it. This took a while and
resulted in people in the queue fidgeting nervously but not shouting as no one
in Finland wants to be caught "harassing" minorities and being called a racist.
Now, from her unease, we could deduce that she was not used to shopping in a modern city store, which surely is different from her native environment and thus requires different skillsets. We do not know how much anxiety this caused the person, but surely quite a deal. But I wondered what was the motivation for acquiring a Louis Vuitton luxury bag, which she found to be cumbersome, and a state-of-the-art smartphone she couldn’t use (yes, we all use only a handful of their ample features and fumble sometimes).
Now, from her unease, we could deduce that she was not used to shopping in a modern city store, which surely is different from her native environment and thus requires different skillsets. We do not know how much anxiety this caused the person, but surely quite a deal. But I wondered what was the motivation for acquiring a Louis Vuitton luxury bag, which she found to be cumbersome, and a state-of-the-art smartphone she couldn’t use (yes, we all use only a handful of their ample features and fumble sometimes).
Was it self-examination that had
prompted her, after arriving in a new country, probably as an asylum-seeker, to
promptly acquire the luxury bag and the smartphone so that she would blend in
or feel equal?
Marketing makes us believe that we need
certain products in order to be acceptable. Is the ultimate motive of such
self-examination of perceived status through acquired symbols essentially
different from that of rigorous psychoanalysis?
“Buy this and you will be happy!” is the mantra used by all marketing while “Do this and you will be happy” is the mantra of analysis, shamanism or any other method of self-improvement. The disclaimer that you may become less happy than before is never uttered.
“Buy this and you will be happy!” is the mantra used by all marketing while “Do this and you will be happy” is the mantra of analysis, shamanism or any other method of self-improvement. The disclaimer that you may become less happy than before is never uttered.
Spick and span, busy, ultra-efficient, prosperous
and shining Singapore ranks rather high in the United Nations Human Development Index, above France, Finland and Liechtenstein yet paradoxically Singaporeans
are rather unhappy. Singapore ranks first at 46% as the lowest positive emotions worldwide.
In Singapore, at 27% of all deaths, cancer
is the number one killer. There is a lot of research to support the idea that
repressed anger, hate and resentment are the root emotional causes leading to
cancer. The US Adult Mental Illness Surveillance Report shocks by saying that 25% of Americans have mental illnesses while 50% are predicted to suffer from mental illnesses during their lifetime, according to US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Does it then mean that while pursuing their glamorous and affluent lives, Singaporeans do not examine their lives or live as they would like to and it makes them unhappy and then cancer kills them or that trying to live the American dream Americans are getting slightly mad?
The recipe for living an unexamined life is
vast and endless. One doesn’t require very much imagination to get caught up in
the game of being busy, sick, tired, angry, miserable, unloved, cheated,
abused, deprived, victim of injustice or racism. The list of ways how life gives
us an unfair hand is longer that all the rivers of the world combined.
If we really wanted to live life fully, we
wouldn’t really have to do much. It’s not a shortage of information. We have
all the information, instructions and teaching we ever need all around us. But
we need to work with ourselves. Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, the Persian mystic
(1207-1273) provokes us.
"Do not be satisfied with
the stories that come before you. Unfold your own myth."
No government, no parent, teacher, spouse, boss or
guru can make us examine or live our lives if we do not want to. Only we can begin living our lives fully.
It would be
very healthy and useful to realise that examining
and living our lives with authenticity
are not mutually exclusive. Rumi puts it elegantly.
"Why should I stay at the bottom of a well, when
a strong rope is in my hand?"
Sources:
- Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life by Adam Phillips Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN: 978-0374281113 224 pages
- Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi quotes from http://www.quotegarden.com/
