Examined Life, Fear And The Desire To Know The Truth

If you believe that a life that's worth living is an examined life, then the first thing you have to ask yourself is: do you desire to know the truth? If your desire to know the truth is genuine, then you will need to question your beliefs. You can be certain that some of your beliefs have not been examined.

A long time ago, I knew of a person who enjoyed questioning people's belief in God. He liked to quote atheistic philosophers and to make known that God's existence did not rest on evidence. The irony was that when his first child was born, he said to me that he wanted to believe in a God. I asked him, 'why?'

He replied, "Because God's existence would ensure me that there is life after life." He must be imagining his pain of the possibility of losing a child. If he had not had a child, he would not have wished for God's existence. Apparently, his reason for wanting to believe in a Supreme being is selfish, but understandable. Since then he never talked about God. He buried the issue deep within himself. But, it was all clear to anyone who knew him that he lived with the physical and psychological pain caused by an inner struggle between his irrational wish for there to be a god, and his rational thinking.

Every time we are confronted with situations that call for self examination, we take the course of least resistance. Ironically, this course of least resistance creates more resistance, more inner struggle, and it haunts anyone who forgets how the struggle all began. The more we shy away from self examination, the more we avoid knowing the truth. And, the more we avoid knowing the truth - pretending that if we just forget it, it would just go away - the more we are haunted. The more we are haunted, the more fear builds in us, imprisons us.

To be able to live a life worth living, our desire for the truth about ourselves must be sincere. The desire for truth is the fundamental attitude towards facing our fear. For by facing our fears, we come to know the truth about ourselves. For that moment, the inner struggle ceases to exist. And for that moment, there is liberation. Perhaps, this is what was meant by the phrase "Truth shall set you free".