To gain some perspective on the inner path,
I'd like to share a couple of quotations with you.
The first one is by Socrates,
And it says,
An unexamined life is not worth living.
An unexamined life is not worth living.
So let's see how we would examine life.
Let's see what Socrates means.
How do we examine life?
I guess we examine life by asking questions.
We look at our experiences,
And we try to make some meaning out of them,
To get the meaning.
Was there a lesson?
Was there a reason why I saw what I saw,
What I did,
I did what I did?
Or with some people who think that life is happening to them,
That life happened that way.
Well,
We'll be talking about this,
And life doesn't exactly happen to you.
There are different ways of looking at life as,
Instead of thinking that life is happening to you,
Which means you have no control.
But so what would be some of the questions?
I mean,
If examining life means asking questions,
What would be a typical question that we can ask ourselves?
Like,
If we think about,
Have we ever wondered about a deeper meaning in life?
Our day to day life,
Is there a deeper meaning?
Does it lead to something?
Did it come from somewhere?
Is there a deeper meaning?
Or is the meaning just the surface?
I come here,
I live,
I make a living,
I do certain things,
I fail to do certain other things,
And then at some point I leave the body and that's it.
So what was the purpose of all of that?
So that's where to start.
What is the purpose in this life?
And then when we think about the purpose,
Is the purpose something that we try to come up with ourselves,
Or we look at somebody else,
Or we ask somebody else,
Or we try to,
You know,
See purpose in how other people live their lives?
Do we try to keep up with the Joneses?
Do we see the meaning of our life in competing with others or to living according to how they live by emulating,
By following?
So that's one way to start thinking about examining our life.
The idea is probably to go inside though and see what we come up with rather than trying to get our values from books,
From the advice that we get,
The unwanted advice that we get all the time,
Or by trying to do what others do,
Because that's not ultimately going to be very meaningful because we,
At some point we may find happiness on the outer life,
And we may completely forget the inner life.
Which brings me to the second quotation that I want to share with you,
And that is by Carl Jung.
Carl Jung,
As you know,
Is the famous psychologist,
The contemporary of Freud.
And here is what he said.
He said,
Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.
One who looks outside dreams,
One who looks inside awakes.
So the second half of this quote is more my focus.
One who looks outside dreams,
One who looks inside awakes.
Carl Jung.
So we are trying to distinguish between the outer life,
The outer path and the inner path,
The outer journey in life and the inner journey in life.
And at least according to Jung,
When we look outside,
We are dreaming.
Which means what?
Which means we are basically on autopilot,
Which means we have forgotten that we are responsible for every thought,
Every feeling,
Especially every feeling which arises from every thought,
Every action,
Every reaction,
Everything that we do or we don't do.
And if you're looking outside,
We are living a life of conformity,
Not a life of individuality.
And if you are familiar with Emerson and Thoreau,
The American Transcendentalists,
They're basically philosophical foundations of individuality,
Of living an independent life.
It's basically conscious choice is the beginning of individuality,
Of living consciously,
Of living purposefully.
And that is,
I think,
Down deep inside once we start asking questions about what is this life about,
What makes me happy,
What am I here to do,
Where did I come from,
Where am I going,
I think the conscious choice is going to be front and center in any questions that we ask when we examine our lives,
Which according to Socrates gives meaning to our lives.
So the things to think about are,
Well,
Is there another way of looking at life than the way everybody else does?
Is there an individualistic way of finding happiness or seeking for expanded,
More expansive experiences than what the society says you are limited to?
And so you can think about your past experiences and you can think about,
Have my past experiences supported me,
Supported me in my goals,
Or have they been impediments?
And if you want to expand that,
A generalization of that is,
Is the universe as I see it for me or against me?
Those are questions that you basically need to ask yourself.
I will be of some help in future segments,
But this is a good way to start.
