Plato said, in line 38-A of the Apology,
"The unexamined life is with not worth living."
What does this mean, exactly? Simply put, it means that we must get honest with ourselves. How do we do that?
There are certain things that are off limits, areas of our lives we are not willing to examine. We look for distractions, various forms of entertainment that redirect our attention when our mind begins wander into these restricted areas. When others pull back the curtain that shrouds these taboo corners of our life we become aggressive and defensive. We are trying to protect something, but what and why?
We are trying to live the life we think we are suppose to live, but deep down something in us intuits that this life is inauthentic—we are mangling our spirit, so that we can become who or what we believe we have to be in order to be loved, successful, and secure. But this facade is unsustainable, because an authentic life is a spiritual death.
The examined life is the limitless life. There is no such thing as out of bounds or taboo. The examined life trusts the gut, the voice of intuition.
Intuition is the ultimate source of accountability. In the final analysis, it is not our teachers, friends, or family that are revealing our deception. It is our inner voice. In fact, deception is first and foremost a reaction to intuition. We are the ones who hung the curtain, so we know what is on the other side. We know that this charade is inauthentic. This requires a lot of bravery because it means that we must, as Joseph Campbell famously said, "Be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
