The most striking line Socrates said in Plato’s Apology was “An unexamined life is not worth living”. I choose this line of Socrates to reflect with not because this is his famous line but because this is really applicable in real life. Life is a matter of choices. We have choices for we have freedom. God gave us freedom but that freedom is not absolute. There are realities in life where in we cannot control or we have no freedom at all. Best examples are the face we have, our skin color, our parents, to be born in a rich or a poor family, to be born in what religion and where or in what country to be born. We have no choice in these things. I agree to Lady Gaga’s song “Born This Way.” That is why we have no right to criticize others whom we think ugly because on the first place it is not their choice to have that face. The one who gave that face to them is God. Criticizing them means criticizing God the Creator.
If there are things in life where in we have no freedom at all, there are also things we can control. We can control our fate. We are not destined to be failures. We can change our life and be successful. If you are born on a poor family, work hard and someday you will become rich. If you feel you are the most evil person living, you can still change and get converted. It’s a matter of choice. There was once a famous poet who said “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” I agree with him. We are the ones who make our fate. Who we are in the present is the product of who we are in the past. Who we will be in the future is both the product of our past and the present. Our past is important but our present is more important. The wrong decisions we have done in the past cannot be change anymore. The present gives us the ability to change our self and our life. The wrong decisions we have done in the past are mostly product of our failure to examine our self. There are times where in we examine our self but still we enter into a wrong decision or maybe it is just the product of our not examining our self well. That is why it is important for us to pause, take time to go deep within our very self and examine our life (Duc in Altum). It is in silence, focus and intentionally taking time for examining our self where in we encounter our true self and God.
An unexamined life is not worth-living as Socrates would say. I can say that He is really an intelligent, God-fearing and a person with high morals because of that line. In life, we have to examine our self for us to know where we are in the present. I mean we become aware of who we are in the present. In that way, we will be able discover both our good and bad sides and we can find ways in changing our self. It is also in examining our self where in we will know what our passions in life are and we will discover the things that make us happy, complete and fulfilled. That is why in the seminary, there are pauses after prayers and there is silentium magnum for us to reflect and discern for our true vocation in life and for our future. Through reflection (with silence and focus), we will be able to know our self more and more and we can have good decisions in life. If we have no time in examining our life, for sure we will not be taking the good path, make wrong decisions that we will surely regret in the future and we will find life meaningless.
As future priests someday (as presumed because I am a seminarian in behalf of all seminarians), it is important that we can make a good homilies in our masses for us to inspire people. It is also important that as priests, we can make good decisions concerning our parish and parishioners and we will only achieve them if we will have a good reflection and examination of what is should and what is ought to be. We will have a good reflection if we examine our self well. Remember, an unexamined life is not worth-living, an examined life is meaningful.
If there are things in life where in we have no freedom at all, there are also things we can control. We can control our fate. We are not destined to be failures. We can change our life and be successful. If you are born on a poor family, work hard and someday you will become rich. If you feel you are the most evil person living, you can still change and get converted. It’s a matter of choice. There was once a famous poet who said “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” I agree with him. We are the ones who make our fate. Who we are in the present is the product of who we are in the past. Who we will be in the future is both the product of our past and the present. Our past is important but our present is more important. The wrong decisions we have done in the past cannot be change anymore. The present gives us the ability to change our self and our life. The wrong decisions we have done in the past are mostly product of our failure to examine our self. There are times where in we examine our self but still we enter into a wrong decision or maybe it is just the product of our not examining our self well. That is why it is important for us to pause, take time to go deep within our very self and examine our life (Duc in Altum). It is in silence, focus and intentionally taking time for examining our self where in we encounter our true self and God.
An unexamined life is not worth-living as Socrates would say. I can say that He is really an intelligent, God-fearing and a person with high morals because of that line. In life, we have to examine our self for us to know where we are in the present. I mean we become aware of who we are in the present. In that way, we will be able discover both our good and bad sides and we can find ways in changing our self. It is also in examining our self where in we will know what our passions in life are and we will discover the things that make us happy, complete and fulfilled. That is why in the seminary, there are pauses after prayers and there is silentium magnum for us to reflect and discern for our true vocation in life and for our future. Through reflection (with silence and focus), we will be able to know our self more and more and we can have good decisions in life. If we have no time in examining our life, for sure we will not be taking the good path, make wrong decisions that we will surely regret in the future and we will find life meaningless.
As future priests someday (as presumed because I am a seminarian in behalf of all seminarians), it is important that we can make a good homilies in our masses for us to inspire people. It is also important that as priests, we can make good decisions concerning our parish and parishioners and we will only achieve them if we will have a good reflection and examination of what is should and what is ought to be. We will have a good reflection if we examine our self well. Remember, an unexamined life is not worth-living, an examined life is meaningful.
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