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Life is full of questions about right and wrong and good and bad that stalk our conscience throughout our brief sojourn on this earth. The important questions are not those we ask of the world but of ourselves, the questions that prompt us to look inwards and embark on a journey of interrogation and self-exploration.
The essence of self-enquiry and the importance of personal reflection heightens our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. While external queries and pursuit of knowledge are important, the questions that prompt us to look inwards are crucial for understanding our beliefs and motivation and an awareness that makes for meaningful choices and a fulfilled life.
Socrates was philosophy’s patron saint. The King of the Question. To him “the unexamined life was not worth living”. He was forever asking questions and eliciting answers, an unsparing auditor who held people accountable for their beliefs and lives. We must question our existence, our purposes, our values, our decisions and the moral and ethical dimensions of our actions, which would result in increased self-awareness, better emotional intelligence and improved mental health.
Through self-dialogue, we can confront our fears and doubts, understand our desires and look at our goals with more clarity. Socrates believed all wisdom starts with wonder, and in the childlike wonder where a child has a million questions, we need to ask and answer our own questions to become better individuals. Why am I doing what I am doing?
As Ovid says, “In all creation nothing endures; all is in endless flux,” and today’s certainties may well be tomorrow’s misgivings. To see things in the proper perspective, we need to examine the right and wrong of our intended actions before we embark on them. Many times we may be proved wrong, but that would only teach us to be more circumspect or thoughtful the next time round and be more accountable for our actions.
When Socrates was sentenced to death by an Athenian court on
charges of impiety and corrupting the youth around him, he left us with a question. “The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways – I to die and you to live. Which is better? God only knows.”