The examined life.

Socrates, after learning that the oracle named him the wisest of all, he went in search throughout different notorious Athenians for someone that was wiser. He was convinced that he was ignorant and had nothing to teach, since he was certain that he had "no wisdom great or small." After his journey seeking a wiser man, he realized that he had a wisdom that the others did not had; an open understanding of his own ignorance.
What I believe he found out in his searching, is that an individual can never know enough, that is why he felt ignorant, for the lack of all the things he still had to encounter and experience in his life; The sense that one life is not enough to comprehend the things around us. Wasn't he correct then to defend his cause? To talk to young people about what they can expect from life once they open their minds and listen deeply to what it can come up out of them? Well, if we look back in history, we will realize that he in fact was more than correct. It is true that sometimes thoughts and ideas have turned into uncontrollable facts, but the important part is that those first ideas were developed and searched for. Those ideas, good or bad, have made the world we live on the way it is nowadays. Some things are good some things are bad, but the advancement and development we have reached today, would not have been possible if the people in the past had not been able to open up their minds and question what was around them, as Socrates did.
Many psychological concerns have raised the last century. If we look into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, we will find a large list of psychological disorders. Many of those like depression or stress did not occur in the past. Perhaps here, is where we can understand the point of the 'Greater Goods Defense'. To leave the suppression behind and reach to the collective intellect that we have accomplished in this era, perhaps it is true that the world had to go through a series of catastrophic events. We indeed need types of evil in order to achieve a greater good and mental awakening. I find myself the 'Greater Goods Defense' theory to be right if I apply it in my life. Looking back, there are many situations that I would change willingly, but I wonder at the same time that if I erase them out of my past life, would I be today in the mental state that I am right now? Without those bad experiences and bad choices would I be the woman that I love looking back at the mirror? The answer is probably no. Those facts in my life had pushed me to search within and beyond. I am still in the path to comprehend all those questions I have in my head, but I am certain that without the suffering, I would not be here today writing this essay in a foreign language in a foreign country.
Can we say that a general mental awakening made the individuals to shift? Looking back, before the so called "awakening era", people would mostly live to survive. They work and follow orders as it was told by a few. They just simply went on with their lives without realizing that they did matter in the plane they were living. The world was a playground for a few and a path to follow for others. Once the feeling of possible mental and expression feeling was spread, there was no way back. We still live in societies where we have to follow certain rules, but the freedom of expression is granted by law. Catching up with those who started to wonder basic philosophical questions, we find ourselves in the 21st century with the same questions. We have the courage and means to ask ourselves what is the purpose of life, or if there is really a God, or if there is life after death... All these doubts nowadays are possible for us to have them and seek out for answers because of people like Socrates encouraged the population to explore beyond the words we hear, and to question our own, or another's ideas.
Socrates' philosophical discussion it is a truth reveled. There is a transcendent moment in my life in which all became clearer and started to make sense to me. Hinduism argued all types of psychological and philosophical questions centuries ago. Their knowledge about how the mind works, therefore, how we human beings behave, is rich in splendor. Their ability to direct the mind without distraction and interruption is accessible to every human being. They argue that understanding the way the mind works, we can control the obstacles that prevent us from recognizing things as they really are. This knowledge is the key to have a clear mind and be able to search within yourself not for given answers, but for answers yet to come. I find Socrates' thinking and Hinduism parallel to each other. Both searched for a unique truth by looking within one self and through reflection as a tool to become more aware of the positions we take in this world. As more you comprehend yourself and others, as more aware you are of everything.
Can someone then not understand that an "unexamined life is not worth living"? I see people walking on the streets, people working fifteen hours a day inside a cubicle, people that do not dare to cry, people that do not love, people that have deeper interactions with a TV than with a person, people that complain and do nothing to change. Those people are the ones that do not understand that an "unexamined life is not worth living".