Thursday 19 September 2013

UPDATE: A Bet I Had, oops.

Hey Everyone!

So this is a not so brief update on The Life Of Me. Last week my English teacher gave my class the essay title of ''The unexamined life is not worth living'' which is a title of one of my blog posts recently. I jokingly said to my friend of Maeve's Fashion that ''If I got an A1 in the essay I would post it on my blog!'' as I was expecting a B or a C as it was such a tricky and difficult title.

So, to my shock and delight, I actually got an A1 on the essay and I'm staying true to my word and posting it on my blog. (Even though I found out that practically everyone in my year knows I have a blog but oh well!)

The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living ~ Aveen Edition!

''The unexamined life is not worth living'' is a famous quote by the Greek philosopher Socreates. Socreates was a man who discovered a great wealth of knowledge and will have his actions echo in time and live on after his death. As a philosopher, Socreates was generally not hypocritical in his words, therefore he claims to have lived ''The examined life'' as he believed than living ''the unexamined life is not worth living''. However, what does he mean by an examined life and an unexamined life?

First of all, everyone has a life. Everyone has a past, present and hopefully a future. Our lives are constantly changing with every decision we make. For example, you are given homework in a certain subject. Unknowingly, you have a number of options to take, to do the homework and achieve a good result in a future exam. Another option is to not complete the homework and possibly fail an examination in the future, why? You made the decision not to do your homework, this slightly changed your life path and life experiences. 

However there is a different between living whilst making both good and bad decision, but having new and utterly surreal opportunities due to these decisions, and just merely existing in this world. In other words, being a normal human being who makes mistakes, or trying to be perfect and living without questioning. Only existing in the world is something which should never befall a person. Existing means just being on this planet doing the exact same thing daily, never questioning your thoughts and actions and never wondering about what would happen if you did something different for once. It is living in ignorance, or a lack of knowledge. Obviously when you are in school you do the same thing daily, it's what you were told to do, getting an education is the key to your future and how to leave the state of existence and actually live your life, on your terms. 

However living is different to the state of existence on this planet. Living is taking risks, obviously not ridiculous ones, and accepting that they will change and edit your life path and future in unfathomable ways. Living is like the ''Dauntless'' in the book Divergent by Veronica Roth. They do absolutely anything they want. They jump off fast moving trains and they learnt not to be fearless, but how to keep their fears under control. Nobody is perfect enough to be fearless, that would merely be existing, not facing your fears, not feeling the simultaneous rush of adrenaline rush through your body and mind. Also no fun or chaos in their life.

The Dauntless inspired the protagonist, Beatrice (later known as Tris) to join their faction. Tris was born and raised ''Abnegation'' faction, they are selfless, help others and aim to be invisible and not disturb others. They live in a state of existence and Tris' will to live overcame that. The Dauntless are happy and free, something which so many people are not. They do not live to exist, they are living, questioning, expanding their wealth of knowledge, breathing oxygen and adrenaline and excitement swirls in their veins. The Dauntless are examining exactly what the small world around them has to offer. They lived in one small dilapidated city in a dystopian fantasy world, so why can't people live and not just exist in our society?

Our world is huge. There are so many different lands, seas, cultures and nations to visit. To broaden your horizons is to live. Living life on the edge gives you opportunities you never thought were possible, until they materialised. With merely existing, those opportunities would never occur. As only existing on this planet, you would go to school, work hard, graduate college, get married and have children, end of story. You would not question anything or attempt to find your true inner self. What a lonely and depressing existence indeed. If you're living and not just existing, you would begin to question and discover your inner self by making decisions, accepting imperfections like fears and expanding your wealth of knowledge by learning life skills, about diversity and culture, not just what you learnt off by heart in a school textbook for a test. That is the difference between living your life to your utmost potential and just merely existing, never pondering or doing anything unusual or different with your life.

You are a human, along with everyone else, and you have one life. (Unless you believe in reincarnation, however I'll stick with having one life for the time being) It is up to each and every individual to live the best life possible and not just a miserable existence. Mark Twain once said, ''Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do, than by the things you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover'' This quote is very strong and effective, it makes one realise what may happen should they only exist in the world or lead an unexamined life. Such thought would not occur of you lived an examined life, as you would have fulfilled probably everything you had wanted (within reason) for you and your future.

I believe the unexamined life is not worth living. Once you realise you have only been existing you become filled with regret. Over what would have been. Everyone should aim to live an examined life and to dream impossible dreams. It is not too late for anyone my age to begin leading an examined life, to be remembered and to live on after your death is a beautiful thing. However should you be older, it may be too late as you've lived an unexamined life, and an unexamined life is not worth living.

*** So, I guess that's my essay! I hope you enjoyed it or if you're confused on any part of the essay just ask me about it, I'll be more than willing to answer any queries!

**************Hi to everyone in school who has found my blog and never told me. Awkward moment this week when I found out the majority of my peers knew about my ramblings!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen xx



2 comments:

  1. It's brilliant sorry I didn't read it earlier :D I think like half my year know about my blog now but oh well feck it ! It has it's pros and cons ;) xx

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    1. It's grand! :D I was chatting to some people in my year and they told me basically everyone knows about my blog. Oops! It gets more views and I'm being pressured into making more YouTube videos wahey! xx

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