Philosophy is an integral part of "the path of meaning,"—my term for a life that is lived with a self-awakening, cultured, unfolding (bring forth inherent intuitive abilities) and altruistic purpose. As most everybody knows, philosophy comes from the Greek language, and means, "love of wisdom." It is an artful and very compelling concept. It is certainly among the most key conceptualizations of the human mind—in its rational and intuitive or spiritual expressions. To the Greeks, and other thinkers of the ancient world, philosophy really was a pursuit of wisdom: knowledge that informed of the bridge between the world and abstract thought or etheric spirit, and often formed a means of crossing that bridge. This was done through brilliant, often systematic, reasoning coupled with intuitive sensibilities of the countries of mind and being beyond the physical.
A particular philosophy was reasoned through debate, teaching and writing, systematized, and became a path of inquiry and action for its followers. Or served as a stepping stone for other philosophies to arise out of it, or as reactions to it.
Throughout history people who come into a certain perceptive change in their lives become philosophical, and live philosophical lives that in turn affect people and events around them. Henry David Thoreau is a well-known example of this process. Every philosophical person affects those around them, for there is a core power in philosophical inquiry and living that speaks to every person's sense of humanity's best dimensions.
That process continues today. Many people, from pre-teens to the baby boomers and seniors, are seeking a philosophical center, a way of thinking philosophically, conversing in the elements of philosophy and acting from the wisdom of an established philosophy. Or learning to craft their own philosophy of the cosmos and life, and abiding by it.
