Memories and Musings of an Unfinished Philosopher
Toward an Examined Life
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
When I began these reflections, I'd already put to rest doubts about the significance of such a project. Absent celebrity, notoriety, or major accomplishments, we can't be assured even one's descendants would find interesting a memoir which asks, "How did I become the person I am?" Why, then, this exercise in retrieving and connecting remembered fragments of my life? I considered an alternate title—In Search of Meaning—when I realized we create meaning as often as we find it. To the extent we can create a coherence from the raw materials of inheritance and random events, our pursuit of self-knowledge ceases to be a subjective or self-absorbed meditation. I think human selves aren't so unique we can't share stories of self-knowledge, because the personal isn't synonymous with the private. The jewels of Indra's net are intersecting points along our unique itineraries, encounters with our fellow beings which illumine our interconnectedness.
Select Format
Book Details
About the Book
Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Through ninety years of travel and study, Audrey Joseph has striven to ensure her days were well spent. Here are life lessons, authored by her own experiences and culled from the wisdom of the scholars she studied. A “boundary-crosser” not only geographically but philosophically, her story provides a fresh perspective on the human experience; the common threads which bind us together, as well as the unique ones which make for such a rich global tapestry.
About the Author
Before she was eleven years old, Audrey Joseph, only child of a Naval NCO, had criss-crossed the continent four times and spent a year in Hawaii. So much travel so early set the course for her life; an insatiable attraction to other places and the people and ideas they held. Despite beginning academic studies later in life this late-blooming scholar, who entered college at age 31, earned Master’s degrees in History and Philosophy and a Doctorate in Philosophy, becoming a university academic and touring other countries as often as possible, including two treks in China, three to Italy, along with travels in France, Germany and Switzerland.