I’m one of those people
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” -The Philosopher
“Why do we bother asking ourselves about these things? Life is short. It’s better to enjoy it than to explain it.” -The person annoyed by philosophers
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” -Socrates
“The unlived life is not worth examining.” -Sheldon Kopp
Some people bother asking abstract and “annoying” questions because they enjoy it.
For some people, contemplation, speculation, and philosophical analysis, are life-giving enterprises.
For some people, thinking is seen as an extension, not an enemy, of exciting experiences.
For some people, making an effort to explain things, even if it’s difficult or impossible, is part of their own personal definition of a passionate and fulfilling existence.
I am one of those people.
Just reading a book called “Freedom of Thought”
by J.B. Bury. This covers the history on mankind’s
oppression of independent thinking and freedom
of expression. And how short-lived our time has
been in this struggle and the mind’s liberation from
tyranny. (Repression, bloodshed, martyrdom.) Till
the 19th century! And only in parts of the world.
With this release came breakthrough discoveries,
and heroic individuals who changed the way we
look at the world, many times at risk to their own
lives.
The world moves ahead on the shoulders of very
few minds. Let’s hope that number increases. We
sorely need as much of it as we can get.
For those who don’t get the benefits of thinking:
For sure they have had to rely on someone else’s
thinking! It is more than abstract thought and
analyzing. It is the lifeblood of a human being
and a nation. And the survival of man as man.
It ought to be the natural human condition. And
not “annoying.”
“I am one of those people.” You sure are. And
we’re better off for it. T.K. Glad you’re out there.