Julia Schwartz
September 2, 2003
To define “philosophy”… what is it to be a “philosopher”… I can think of many roads to take with this question, but the one that comes to mind at the present moment is the concept that by defining philosophy, we are ultimately forced to think enough on the topic that we actually enter the state of philosophizing ourselves, and do enter the realm of philosophers. I personally think of philosophy as any form of deeper or higher thought that goes beyond the simple thoughts that enter and depart our minds every second of our lives, for as we live, we think about so many things, but only every so often do we dare to enter a higher level and think about why we are thinking these things, or why we are doing the things we are doing – or even why we are living as we do as a species.
I can think of many names of so-called “great” philosophers that I do indeed admire – Aristotle, Emerson, Thoreau – but there isn’t anything these men or so many others had that the ordinary person doesn’t possess. Thinking is a gift afforded to every functioning human being, and one that we can choose to foster or deny. Personally, I’ve made a conscious decision, as have many people, to foster my mind. With this choice, we learn to question, to think, to take in as much of the world as we can – be it through school, jobs, interactions with other people, or merely by spending some time alone in reverie.
With this thought, we are granted the gift of life that so people never find; when we find the beauty of taking in the world, be it all at once or one snowflake at a time, we can ultimately begin the journey on a trail that leads us to a place where we get so much more out of our lives than the ordinary person who never stops to analyze or cherish his. Philosophy is, I think, something that oft extends beyond this initial stage; philosophy is the next step, where once we begin to observe what happens in our lives, we begin to wonder why – why we live the way we do, why life proceeds as it does, and all the whys until infinity.
Some people think that if we think upon all the whys of the world, we will eventually come to a stage where everything disappears, where nothing matters, where we know everything, but have no need to know anything – Enlightenment, some call it. Nirvana. Arcadia. Whatever name it goes by, for those of us who are not content to merely live life– for those of us who seek to find meaning and purpose for our existences – this is what we seek. Philosophy is just one of the names some call the means of finding that piece of utopia that exists in every person’s life when she comes to a place where knowledge is no longer relevant because all that matters is the very concept of being.