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| The Thinker or a Philosopher in Action... |
Definitely not a cherished topic for many; even utterance of the word ‘Philosophy’ can disperse the otherwise gleefully debating crowd. The trigger to write about this topic was like always a harmless meaningless chat. Some of my modest friends shy away from any debating or thought provoking topics by saying “these high thoughts are simply out of my league” or worse “my pea size brain in incapable of comprehending these thoughts” and every time I am like “what is the matter with you guys!!??” (and that's putting it mildly/nicely). The other day through one such chat I stated "Philosophy is not about explaining things but more about understanding and a way of living..." and instantly came a reply “Kindly explain it in simpler words…. With some examples…”; at least this person showed some willingness to explore the mystical realm so here I am trying to explain the Philosophy of Philosophies.
There are innumerable philosophers and philosophies so let us talk about Socrates, Lord Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi considering my limited knowledge and time.
Socrates[1,2] was a Greek philosopher a giant amongst the philosophers. Coming from the city of Athens and a real humble background wherein his father was a sculptor and his mother was a midwife. I am not aware how he came to trod upon the path of philosophers but somehow he did and his love for philosophy was unmatched. He never wrote anything, most of his work known to generations is due to his disciple Plato who documented all his teachings/philosophies. Anyway coming back to his teachings; his philosophy was that of quest for knowledge. He questioned the very reason of the ‘existence of humans’, the purpose of life not only in the larger scale but also on small terms as what is purpose of his life? What are real causes for happiness? What makes people good? His quest was to find answers to these fundamental questions of life. He lived his life by trying to answer these questions. He was of the opinion that we already know the answer to every question just that we have forgotten them at the time of birth. His way of teaching was not preaching but rather engaging in discussions. His most of the discussions or dialogs are on the ethics and life. And the way of his life became his philosophy.
Lord Buddha[3,4] is venerated by millions and is the originator of the religion ‘Buddhism’. Lord Buddha never called himself a GOD but he rose to that level because of his quest for the knowledge to relieve people from their sufferings. His story goes by as follows:
He was born as a prince and was known as ‘Prince Siddhartha’; at the time of his birth a sage prophesy that this child would become a Great King or a Great Spiritual Leader by finding answer to misery and sufferings. As any caring father would do, the king made strict rules so that the prince is never exposed to the reality of life, the Prince was shielded from all the truths of life about any pain or misery. Anyone growing old or having disease was not allowed in the palace; if the Prince ever left the palace to walk in the city all the necessary preparations were done beforehand. All went fine till the prince was 29yrs old. Once on an impromptu ride to the city the Prince saw a procession carrying a dead body. Since the prince had never heard of ‘Death’ he was curious and asked his charioteer where are these people taking the man when he is asleep? The charioteer told the Prince that the man is not asleep but dead and made him aware of the reality. The Prince was shocked and perturbed with this revelation. He couldn’t understand the reason behind all the misery and sorrow and as predicted years ago the prince left the palace in search of the Truth; in search of an answer which will liberate people from their misery. When he achieved enlightenment he came to be known as Lord Buddha. If anyone sought answers for the misery in their life, Lord Buddha explained them and told them a way of life which could relieve them of the burden of sorrow and pain. As lord Buddha’s followers grew, as people started to accept his way of living, his teachings and his philosophy took the form of religion and came to be known as “Buddhism”.
M. K. Gandhi[5] fondly known as Mahatma Gandhi; used the philosophy of Non-Violence or Ahimsa for fighting against British Rule in the freedom struggle. Though people have different opinions about this philosophy but nonetheless it was used extensively in the freedom struggle of India. Gandhiji lived his life by these principles and believed that there is nothing which cannot be achieved by non-violence. His way of living, way of thinking was adopted by millions and was used to fight for their rights. Though it was not a philosophy developed by Gandhiji rather he lived by this philosophy and successfully promoted this philosophy. He promoted this philosophy so well that it came to be known as “Gandhi’s philosophy of Ahimsa” though it is an integral part of many religions like Hindu, Buddhism, Jainism etc. Not only people of India were influenced by this philosophy but it even created waves in the Western countries. Many leaders of those times adopted this philosophy for their struggle; the best example to quote would be Martin Luther King, Jr.
Now from these few examples if we try to find out the common things then that would be; some people were troubled by certain questions and it bugged them so much that they dedicated their life in search for those answers; (in a way these ‘men of thought’ does not differ much from the ‘men of science’ just the domains are different). When these men got their answers it had already changed their way of life. These philosophies are nothing but the explanations or details of how these men (now tagged or recognized as “Philosophers”); lived their life and by what principles. These men had some problem to which they found a solution and followed it throughout their life. People asked them to explain and when they did, it became a philosophy. Whatever we read as a 'Philosophy’ is just more distilled and refined content of pure knowledge that philosophers acquired through their quest. So any philosophy is more about understanding the relation of cause and effect and finding a way best suited to live with it. So it can be safely concluded that "Philosophy is not about explaining things but more about understanding and a way of living..."After all said and done I have my own philosophy; what is yours?? J J
References for more interested readers:
1 comment:
WEll, don't get me started on philosophy in the first place... Because if I start, i will take entire time, and infinite space to write my views..
Between, in short I would say, every body is a philospher, because everyone would have once, in his/her life asked a question "Why?"
and if you ask that question and probe into the possibilities and probabilities, you are philophising.
Ayn Rand's character, Howard Roark, was not a philisopher, because he never questioned 'why' and like we know, he is too perfect to be personified in real life, lets live with a fact, that every one gives some or the other gyaan and act hypocrites by calling themselves non-philosophers.
Everyone has their own philosophy and at the end of the day, in a society, we live with it!
Intriguing post, dude... Wish there was a discussion here!!
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