Who Judges An Examined Life?

I think I told everyone that I am reading a book called The Practicing Stoic. Seems like people have been writing about stoicism since the early Greeks. Last night, as I read this week’s chapters I thought about all the pages in print that are devoted to improving oneself. Then beyond that, how much of our economy is dedicated to self-improvement, becoming a better person, etc. In fact, The Hubbell Pew, although hardly part of the economy, is meant to have its readers think, meditate, and improve.

I think it was Socrates who said, “an unexamined life is not worth living.” which got me to thinking — are we good judges of ourselves?  We all engage in asking abiding questions. We hold up a mirror to ourselves and become both the looking-glass and the eye doing the looking.

Maybe it is my age, my recent surgery, or a lifetime of a person who has engaged in self-improvement to come to the conclusion a little differently than Socrates. Self-examination is a worthy endeavor, self-improvement is something we should all strive for, but we are not good judges. We tend to be too harsh on ourselves.

Every now and then we need to lighten up.

About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.

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