I've decided to write an informal, casual-style essay in response to that
>question. That's cos I write enough formal, serious, much too stilted
>essays throughout my year in university. Ugh! Anyway, you did want
>something spiffy (which has no dictionary definition), so I'll try my best.
>Here goes.
>_______________________________________________________
>
>Now, Socrates, a most highly respected, noble, courageous, upright (and so
>on and so forth) philosopher in Ancient Greece, went to the trouble of
>making a truly profound statement that has us mere mortals scratching our
>heads (like we had lice, but it always looks like one is actually thinking)
>pondering its deep meaning. "The unexamined life is not worth living."
>Gosh, that came out with such philosophic flair that I find myself
>seriously thinking that I have some semblance of knowledge after all.
>
>Meaning of life. Knowledge. Truth. All basic terms frequently propounded in
>many philosophical and multi-layered (a jazzy word for cryptic and vague)
>assertions. So as not to disappoint, most of these words will also be
>utilized in the analysis of this multi-dimensional statement. Really, once
>you pull this sentence apart and stare at every word for an hour so, the
>possibilities, questions and issues that each give rise to may span the
>entire globe. But of course, I will reluctantly have to fit these infinite
>avenues of thought into the pre-allotted meagre word limit.
>
>First, let's just determine the meaning of the words before we evalutate
>the entire statement. One small step for philosophic evaluation, a giant
>leap for my overtaxed brain. What I would like to humbly put forward is
>that examining life means examining the self. How do you really live if you
>do not know yourself? Each person can question his life by questioning
>himself. Put another way, you cannot examine your life, down to your
>deepest subconscious desires, by interrogating someone else.
>
>The next question is - what is examining life/self? What does it entail?
>Well, perhaps it could be a slight understatement to say that the answers
>may be complicated. Examine means to inquire into the nature or condition
>of something. It is therefore clearly logical to follow that examining life
>is to inquire about it. To question its adequacy, to confront its
>disappointments, to seek its goals, to test whether certain aspects of it
>have succeeded or failed. By aspects nowadays, in such a complex society,
>we could mean the financial, material, personal, spiritual, etc, aspects of
>life; all of which converge to form that unique individual life which each
>one of us call our own.
>
>And then lastly, the bit about "worth living". One can ask to what extent
>self-examination would lead to a fuller, more worthier life? Beyond that
>extent, there is perhaps the regret or even the despair of having committed
>wrong acts or leaving things undone in the past. Would that make life more
>worthy for living? What if you examined yourself to the depths of your soul
>and you didn't like what you saw there? Will the possible resulting
>self-hatred, hopelessness and ugly depression make living of more value?
>(Ugh, so it is true what people say about philosophical statements, they
>generate more questions than answers. And sadly, I cannot answer any of
>these.)
>
>But then, I also believe that there is a danger in not examining oneself.
>It is the danger of apathy, of superficial living, of surface engagement
>with others. Surface without substance, that's the phrase. Without thinking
>about our lives at any point in time, all actions, reactions and
>counter-reactions are mechanical, driven by the dictates of society and the
>laws of biology. All knowledge has become banal.
>
>At any point in your life, have you ever transcended social and personal
>inhibitions to really think - what do I want, what do I really want from
>life? In the current rat-race where relationships and behaviour are
>dominated by your peers, has the thought ever occurred to you that your
>life is there to question? Not by others, but by yourself. Don't accept it
>as it comes, take it by the horns and look it straight in the eye (it may
>be clear or it may be bleary and red-shot) but at least you have looked at
>it, examined it, questioned it, and taken action to either continue or
>remedy it.
>
>Your life is in your hands. You have only one life that you are conscious
>of. So thoroughly examine it, and take positive action about it. That will
>be what makes life worth living. As impassioned fervour drains from me
>right now, I am reassessing my view of Socrates. To have such an impact on
>21st century thought is certainly no mean feat. Perhaps thinking about his
>words will make more well-rounded human beings of all of us.
>_______________________________________________________
>
>NB: Anyway, all the above was written by the flow-of-thought technique with
>some small pauses in between to gather certain mental threads (you do need
>some structure, after all).

>Dallah El'helan
>Sister of the Red Ajah