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Philosophy ToDAY


Today is the World Philosophy Day, a friend reminded me in the morning. That friend is a philosopher. He has been a professor of philosophy for most part of his life. Great man he is like Immanuel Kant. The only one great person in my life who knew me from my infantile adolescence and stayed with me until now, the autumn of my life.

UNESCO observes the third Thursday of November as the World Philosophy Day, I learnt after I received the message from Prof. What does philosophy mean to ordinary mortals like me? [And you, may I dare to ask?] Philosophy died long ago. Poetry died a little later.

Prof and I were students of philosophy together at The Retreat in Yercaud [Tamil Nadu, India] in the early 1980s. My early twenties. His too. But he was a mature person unlike me. I was silly. So I didn’t learn much philosophy while he learnt too much and became a Doctor of Philosophy. What surprises me is that he has continued the friendship till this day in spite of my congenital silliness in contradistinction to his acute maturity. I wonder why he continued to take interest in me in spite of all the falls I had on my way.

Is he the real philosopher? Like Socrates.

He may prefer a comparison with Jesus perhaps because he is a Catholic priest. Was Jesus a philosopher? If Jesus was born in Greece, he would have been a philosopher, I think. It wasn’t easy to be a philosopher in the Jewish-Arab world, especially in those days. Even today can we expect any philosophy from those places where Jesus grew up and preached and teached [let me take this Shavian liberty with linguistics if only to honour Shaw on this day of philosophers – ah, I love to see Shaw turning in his tomb]?

My life is reaching a Shavian dramatic climax and there is no romance of the final Judgment Day in my philosophy. But my nights get disturbed by what happened in my past. That’s natural, I think. In our old age, we look back and wonder why we were like this. Does your philosophy agree with me, Prof? You can tick me off saying this is psychology. My problem is that I dabbled in too many things and lacked what you all call a focus.

I should have focused. On what?

Egolessness, I guess.

And I missed that. That’s my failure. The failure of the particular spermatozoon that won the stupid race which was clapped on by ignorance about contraceptives!

Shaw would tell me that it was a scientific problem with a nanosecond… a competition in which you won and millions lost out. And Prof would call it a miracle. My philosophy begins with the loss of millions and the idiotic miracle  that won…

 

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanNovember 16, 2023 at 10:21 PM

    Hari OM
    Ah, my friend, the minute one starts to ask the questions 'what? how? why?' one is entering the realm of philosophy. It all begins with determining the logic, or lack, in a matter then deconstructing it, exploring each detail, then reconstructing... we are all of us philosophers at some level on any given day. If we do not ask the questions, then we are merely existing. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalNovember 17, 2023 at 7:06 AM

      Yes, most of us are philosophers except that we don't use big words like hermeneutics and so on. But those who are only 'existing', without asking questions, seem to be happier. Lucky ones, I'd say.

      Delete
  2. Liz A.November 16, 2023 at 11:09 PM

    I don't think philosophy is dead. It just doesn't look like it once did back in the old days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalNovember 17, 2023 at 7:07 AM

      As Yamini says above, as long as there are people who raise questions there will be philosophy. But not the Aristotle type.

      Delete
  3. J. S. VilaNovember 17, 2023 at 1:09 AM

    The philosophie is a world with a lot of ways. And It is one of the first science in the thinking of people.

    ReplyDelete
  4. magiceyeNovember 17, 2023 at 8:01 AM

    One can never be egoless. Philosophy is a way of life where you question everything you see and listen to.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shalet JimmyNovember 18, 2023 at 12:07 AM

    Please don't say philosophy and poetry are dead...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalNovember 18, 2023 at 4:54 AM

      I don't want them to die. But so many unthinking people, so much hard- heartedness...

      Delete
  6. CloudiaNovember 18, 2023 at 1:34 AM

    Thank you friend for sharing this philosophical post. Aloha!🙏🏽

    ReplyDelete
  7. KayNovember 18, 2023 at 11:00 AM

    Thank you for your visit, Tomichan. I confess I've not been a good student of philosophy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalNovember 18, 2023 at 4:14 PM

      That doesn't matter, Kay. I'm kind of dilettante - of many things.

      Delete

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