This to me is a very important part of life. It’s not always as easy as it seems. Mostly, we seem to stumble along in life, avoiding disasters and navigating obstacles. The big job of finding who you really are and where you really want to go, seems to get put on the back burner as we just “survive”.
This comes to mind here at the beginning of the school year for most kids lucky enough to get to go to school, (not a given in much of the world). This right of passage for so many, is the first step on “a” path. It starts you off on your next journey of doing what others want and expect of you. It is a necessary part of life. It is also one of those things that may do as much to put you into a box as it does broaden your mind with knowledge and possibilities.
How is one supposed to learn to be well socialized, while remaining free?
How is one supposed to live fully in the present moment, while planning for the future?
How is one to learn from the past, while letting it go?
Finding your path, your way, to navigate these questions is, life. It is the answer to the question, “Why am I here”.
That is the first major question, I think, we as humans come up with and one that we work to answer the whole of our existence. It goes right there with, “Who am I”. Mankind has come up with many ways of answering these questions and many more like it. Philosophy is, at its core, our word for what we are doing while trying to come up with answers to the fundamental questions.
I have this thought about this and I would like to share it with you now, before we go further into one of my favorite subjects, (perhaps the only subject). People are people no matter where they are from or what they believe. People are individuals and as such each has a personal philosophy that they live by. Not everyone can articulate it. Some seem to have never given it a moments thought. It does not change the fact that just going through life you develop it. It shows in the choices you make. This is the reason the phrase, “Know thyself” is at the heart of philosophical thinking. However, even if you don’t have or take the time to get to know yourself. Your personal philosophy is shared to the world through what you do and say.
As I write this, it occurs to me that I would like to share mine. To use this platform to express through different examples all those things that make up me. Who I am, why I am here, and to know myself better by sharing with you.
Though my early school days are far behind me, the learning continues.
D.
