Philosophy and what it means to me

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The Thinker upper body as sketched by me for this blog piece.

Sanjana has set me thinking.  She threw me a wicked googly!  At first, it seems to me that asking the question of philosophy and what it means to me is like asking how significant air is in my life.  Where to start?

Reduction!  There is too much that philosophy seems to cover in my head. I must reduce that to specifics, something that I can actually talk about without lapsing into poetic wonder.  Ah!  A dictionary definition ...

  • a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means

So, I've cherry picked from many definitions available.  Other definitions dealt with wisdom or the specific studies you might see in a class listing, but I've chosen to reduce it to the specific realm of the pure thinker, the mental learner and wanderer.  Science folds in afterward with its processing of observations by theorizing, experimentation and analysis.  It is the philosophical base that is the foundation of the individual search, the determinant of the direction that pursuit of knowledge will go.  Individual philosophy is also the determinant of the level of acceptance to the unexpected making it the gateway to wonder!

A sense of the holy and the poetic and the beautiful can flow through that gateway.  It is also the opening to deep kinship with others and the world.  The deeper you go, the more amazing the surface becomes, the shallow married to the deep in ever changing color and meaning.  The insignificant gains significance, the tawdry transforms to value.  Mundane existence in the isolation of pandemic becomes more tolerable.  Philosophy delivers its rewards.

Separated by many years on the planet and an ocean, Sanjana poses a topic that only would occur to a like mind.  The seed of wonder is in her young mind.  For me, growth continues, but also the joys of harvest for many years of search well spent.  This group is composed of like philosophical minds in that sense.  Why else would we pose topics and write upon them to compare gleaned nuggets of understanding, well grounded observations?  We aren't paid, we are only enriched.  That is why I look forward to see how Sanjana and the other two old men, Ramana and Chuck the Shackman, approach such an amazing topic at:

Comments

  1. Shackman April 29, 2021 at 1:38 PM

    well Conrad this s one of those times where we are on different page od different books in different libraries. I spent most of my college years being belittled by philosophy geeks - both students andprofessors. I was -after all - simply a dumb jock.i battled oneprof- a DrHudson an entire quarter.Whenhepassedout the final he smirkedandsaid I guarantee you willnot do well on this MrMcConvey. A few days later when I went to his office to get my final grade, he threw my bluebookat meand told me toget the hell out of his office. To his credit, he graded fairly and I aced the finaland class. I laughed at him and suggested this grade would jassist me in gaining a nomination for a Danforth Fellowship and bid him adieu. Alas I did not win the fellowship but it was cool to be consicerd.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Old FossilApril 29, 2021 at 3:02 PM

      I didn't expect anyone else to follow the path I took on this one. I'll get over and see what you wrote!

      Delete
  2. Ramana RajgopaulApril 30, 2021 at 4:45 AM

    I am delighted to see an American using the word googly! And, your post has been a wicked one too for me. Being aware of your having ordained as a priest of a church, I expected a totally different post and I am indeed stumped with this one. A very mischievous approach but one that makes sense to me and I eagerly look forward to Sanjana's reaction. That would give a fresh look into how our young react to such lofty ideas/

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    Replies
    1. The Old FossilMay 2, 2021 at 12:17 PM

      I am trying to not go to philosophies as structures to compare, but the meaning of the structural substrate they are for people.

      Delete
  3. SanjanaApril 30, 2021 at 5:41 AM

    What a beautiful post. I absolutely loved it! You were poignant and concise, and I am honoured that you consider me a like mind. Truth be told, I have quite selfish motives for choosing this topic - I've wanted to discuss it for a while now. Wonderful writing as always!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Old FossilMay 2, 2021 at 12:19 PM

      The discovery of your own philosophical matrix is one level, but the joy in it is another all together.

      Delete

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