“Political,” in Patočka’s thought, means caring for the polis, tending to the conditions that make life in common possible. These conditions are not political in the ordinary sense of the word but have to do with caring for that part of ourselves (and our neighbours) that cries out for truth, for meaning—in short, care for the soul. This is why, for Patočka, the life in truth is a political life: it is forged in times of uncertainty, when assumptions about the nature of what is and what is possible come undone, so that the question of what we want our lives to be like is raised anew, or perhaps for the first time. One begins wandering. A community is formed within this activity of unsettlement: the “solidarity of the shaken.” In this account, the foundation of political life and solidarity with others is not identity, of whatever kind, not the natural affinity we feel toward people like us, not the securing of rights, nor rational self-interest, but a shared experience of crying out for meaning and refusing easy answers.