Essays Written to Define a Basic Personal Philosophy
Why? one might ask.
Strange as it may seem I wanted to do this to explore my own beliefs. I have to
admit it also gave me a chance to be creative, and I have an inner need to be
creative; one way in which I do that is writing - the primary way, in fact.
But for me it has been a useful exercise also in that it opened up for me a vast
landscape of questions that has yielded to further research in many of the areas
(and after all they all do run together), mountains of knowledge, a great deal of
thought on my part, and personal contemplation on what it means and what it is all
about.
Surprisingly perhaps, or perhaps not, even though the essays began almost
twenty years ago, the basic positions have not changed much. What has changed
though is my understanding of what they entail, through the added knowledge to
what I had when I began, humbling me, really humbling me, because so much
thinking has been published about which I knew little or nothing. I have availed
myself of some of it, and continue to search for more.
How life should be lived, and how we could live in harmony here and throughout
the world is not a secret, and the first step is being open minded to the opinions
and knowledge of others - it is vast and deep. Alas, it is also mostly ignored due to
ignorance, indifference and arrogance. We tend to believe what we want to believe
and pursue what we want to pursue for various reasons. The second step is to
gain as much understanding as possible about why people are as they are.
And to what value have I put the knowledge and understanding I have gained -
besides to expanding my own horizons? Regrettably, not much, for many of the
reasons I have discussed elsewhere, but mostly because few are really interested -
at least not in what I have to say. But no matter, I have tried and shall continue
trying, in the process challenging and entertaining myself.
Strange as it may seem I wanted to do this to explore my own beliefs. I have to
admit it also gave me a chance to be creative, and I have an inner need to be
creative; one way in which I do that is writing - the primary way, in fact.
But for me it has been a useful exercise also in that it opened up for me a vast
landscape of questions that has yielded to further research in many of the areas
(and after all they all do run together), mountains of knowledge, a great deal of
thought on my part, and personal contemplation on what it means and what it is all
about.
Surprisingly perhaps, or perhaps not, even though the essays began almost
twenty years ago, the basic positions have not changed much. What has changed
though is my understanding of what they entail, through the added knowledge to
what I had when I began, humbling me, really humbling me, because so much
thinking has been published about which I knew little or nothing. I have availed
myself of some of it, and continue to search for more.
How life should be lived, and how we could live in harmony here and throughout
the world is not a secret, and the first step is being open minded to the opinions
and knowledge of others - it is vast and deep. Alas, it is also mostly ignored due to
ignorance, indifference and arrogance. We tend to believe what we want to believe
and pursue what we want to pursue for various reasons. The second step is to
gain as much understanding as possible about why people are as they are.
And to what value have I put the knowledge and understanding I have gained -
besides to expanding my own horizons? Regrettably, not much, for many of the
reasons I have discussed elsewhere, but mostly because few are really interested -
at least not in what I have to say. But no matter, I have tried and shall continue
trying, in the process challenging and entertaining myself.