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“The unexamined life is not worth living”

Socrates

Since Christmas has finally come and gone, I thought another installment of An Examined Life would get us all thinking about the end of another year and what we’ve accomplished or didn’t accomplish. Maybe these postings can assist us in deciding what our New Year’s resolutions might be. They’re always fun to write and I’ll be posting mine very soon. How about you?

• When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

• You have the power to go any distance into the future and after one year, return to the present with any knowledge you have gained from your experience, but you cannot bring any physical objects with you. Would you make the journey if it carried a 50% risk of death?

• Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as your dinner guest? As your closest friend? As your lover?

• While working late at night, you slightly scraped the side of a nearby Porsche. You’re certain no one else is aware of what happened. The damage is minor and would not be covered by insurance anyway. Would you leave a note?

• If you could choose the manner of your death, what would it be?

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• Do you have any specific long-term goals? What is one and how you plan to reach it?

• For what in your life do you feel the most grateful?

• How do you react when people sing “Happy Birthday” to you in a restaurant?

• What is the worst psychological torture you can imagine suffering? Anything causing even minor physical injury should not be considered.

• Would you like your spouse to be both smarter and more attractive than you?

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• If you found that a good friend had AIDS, would you avoid him or her? What if your brother or sister had it?

• Would you be willing to give up sex for one year if you knew it would give you a much deeper sense of peace than you have now?

• A good friend pulls off a well-conceived practical joke that plays on one of your foibles and makes you look ridiculous. How would you react?

• By controlling medical research funds, you are in the position to guarantee that a cure will be found in fifteen years for any disease you choose. Unfortunately, no progress on any others would be made during that period. Would you target one disease?

• Would you accept one year of life if it meant taking one year from the life of someone in the world selected at random? Would it matter if you were told whose life you had shortened?

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THESE SHOULD GENERATE SOME CONVERSATIONS