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What Is Life Without Examination?

Find Your Voice

Ryan O’Neal Jr
3 min readAug 27, 2019

All aspects of life should be critically analyzed. There’s a quote by Socrates that reads, “An unexamined life is a life not worth living.” Introspection is a task, tool, test, and testament. It provides a wide scope through the eyes of the individual committed to that inspection.

It’s plausible to say “Let’s talk about THE issues.” — meaning speak on other people’s issues or larger topics of life, but a lot harder to say, “Let’s look at ourselves.” I struggle to say: “Here are my flaws”, “This is what hurts me”, “This is what I don’t know”, “This is the hurt I have caused”, and “This is where I need help.”

The bravery to actually ask critical questions of yourself with truthfulness is the challenge.

One of my favorite thinkers and philosophers is Dr. Cornel West. He is a black Democratic Socialist who has spoken heavily on the examination of life through the social, political, and economic perspective of society. He speaks on the heroism of thinking and meditating deeply on the self. Saying the quest to do so is the paramount of human experience.

He also speaks on the funk. The funk of life. The jazz of life.

The process of showing up every day with the…

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Ryan O’Neal Jr
Ryan O’Neal Jr

Written by Ryan O’Neal Jr

M.Ed Creativity, Education & Culture

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