"The Examined Life"

“Let a [man] examine himself, less he eateth and drinketh unworthily.” (NKJV)

            “The unexamined life is the life that is not worth living.” First articulated by Socrates in line 38A of Plato’s Apology, expounded upon in the academy by continental and analytic philosophers alike, further unpacked by contemporaries Cornel West and Emilie Townes, the unexamined life–simply put–is the life not worth living. It is unassuming, it is privileged, it is disingenuous, duplicitous and it is complicit. The unexamined life, I reiterate without fear of contradiction, is the life not worth living.

            The daunting reality is, at some critical juncture in all of our lives, we have failed to examine the depths and dimensions of who we are, existentially. Beyond the facade of our public presentations, the Louis Vuitton, aside from the Michael Kors, behind the Ralph Lauren, besides your picture perfect family, with three and half kids, dog, and picket fence and even beyond the pedigree of your Harvard education, the Universe is yearning for us to evaluate our authentic selves.

            I recall visiting the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2013, and seeing the Obelisk under construction because of an earthquake that had hit a few weeks prior to my arrival. I was puzzled that the obelisk was being renovated because it looked fine on outside; however, my tour guide soon informed me that even though the obelisk looked picturesque upon first glimpse, the architects had to go in and re-examine the infrastructure that was destroyed on the inside.

            Beloved, no matter what we portray on the outside, it is necessary for us to interrogate the inner most complexities of who are we on the inside. For it is precisely the unexamined life, or the failure to wrestle with our individual, and consequently collective, selves that would allow for state and local officials in Flint, Michigan to conceal the led contamination of their colored citizens without repentance or remorse. It is the unexamined life that allows for presidential candidates to publicly denigrate the worth of immigrant lives and privilege Protestantism over against other religious traditions. It is the unexamined life that allows for communities of people to defame the portraits of black law professors here at Harvard University and continually profile black lives that underscores police brutality.

Thus, as we venture into this liturgical season of lent, the text before us reminds us to examine ourselves before partaking of the bread and wine, less we eat and drink ourselves not so much into eternal damnation, but rather existential damnation. Paul, that prophetic prototype, that paragon of peace, that ethical exemplar from Tarsus, formerly referred to as Saul throughout Biblical literature, offers a remedy and a profound solution to counter the unexamined life. He offers, very simply in this periscope, that if we are to take seriously the charge of examining ourselves, there must be internal investigation.

    It is then our responsibility to be both conscious and critical of our engagements not only with others, but first and foremost with ourselves. When we examine the silos of our sanctuaries, the crevices our of consciousness, the haughtiness of our hearts, and the temperament of our tabernacles, it is then that we may achieve a state of equanimity and equilibrium within ourselves. We must call into question the complicit nature of our privilege and question our premeditated assumptions that have perpetuated bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia, religious hate speech, ecological disinterest, and the like.

    The examined life allows us to actualize the beloved community that Dr. King preached about, that Maya Angelou wrote about, that James Baldwin dreamed about,  that Alice Walker prayed about, that Mahalia Jackson sung about, that Toni Morrison thought about, that Bayard Rustin talked about; that Malcolm X fought for, that John Lewis marched for, that Gandhi fasted for, and ultimately that Jesus died for. Beloved, it is necessary and incumbent upon us to examine ourselves in this lenten season, less we eateth and drinketh of the bread and cup unworthily.