#1 Philosophical Thought of the Month: Do You Ever Feel Insignificant?

Do you ever feel insignificant?

Welcome to the arena… The crowd consists of 7 billion people, and those who hide at the back who remain undiscovered. In the red corner we have you, a human with an average weight of 70kg, and in the blue corner we have the Observable Universe, with a size of 46 billion light years in radius. And that isn’t including the expansive size of their sidekick, commonly known as: The Rest of The Universe.

Now let me take you to a scene you may remember. It’s about 3 o’clock in the morning; you’ve been tossing and turning all night. Your mind has decided to take part in a mutiny. Your mind is against you in every way. You close your eyes, you change positions, put one leg out of the duvet. But whatever you do you can’t help but feel a sense of dread, worry and insignificance.

It is in those moments where distraction is absent that the curiosity of the mind takes over, and you nearly always lose.

Now I’m trying to keep this post from being a snore-fest. But at University I studied Modern Liberal Arts, I won’t go into it all now. However, I wanted to tell you about a single word that clung to me throughout my entire 3 years at Uni.

Dialectic

There are many basic meanings that may pop up when a quick Google search is done. 

Define: dialectic

1. The art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions
Synonyms: reasoning, argumentation, contention, logic
2. The art of practice of arriving at the truth by the exchange of logical arguments

I don’t want to get ‘messy’ with this word. I want to stick to the basics of how it probably is attached to your very being without you knowing it.

Let’s think about what worries us (generally):

·         School/college/university life

·         Family and friends

·         Jobs and careers

·         Health/Mental Health

·         Death and Dying

·         Body Image

Keep those worries in mind and that sometimes they feel like they fill every fibre of your being.

I’m taking you to Ancient Greece now, so prepare yourself.

Welcome to about 400BC, and let me introduce you to Socrates. Now personally I think Socrates was a humble man with an incredible mind, and was probably before his time (I may be slightly bias). I don't think the first thing Socrates would say to you would be "hello!"; instead he would great you with a question.

And so we enter a world of constant questioning. He would question, and question usually until you doubt. And without getting complicated, here lies the 'dialectic'.

I urge you to read up about Socrates it is so interesting. But let me get back to how this relates to YOU!

The point is we all question things constantly, usually about the worries I mentioned before. And the constant arguments we have with ourselves, until we doubt and feel lost in uncertainty and worry.

So how does any of this help? Well it's the knowledge of knowing that it is inevitable to question yourself and doubt yourself. Whether it is self-image or your place in the universe.

I think it is healthy and sometimes fun to question, it is essential to THINK.

So now Socrates has highlighted the inevitable questioning. Who can teach us how to live with it?

Well her name in Gillian Rose. She simply says you need 3 things to be a philosopher, but I think you just need these 3 things to live contently!

Attention    |     Acceptance   |     Eros

Now what I say next is what I think, not necessarily what Gillian Rose thinks.

Attention: Having the attention with the things that matter in life. Positive attention. If you have the attention then you have the time and dedication to apply positivity to the places in your life that need it.

Acceptance: Accept pathlessness. Accept the things you know you will never know for certain, accept that your worries will happen, they'll be bad days, there will be good days.

Eros: Passion! Don't forget to have passion in everything you do. Having passion makes it even easier to have attention and acceptance.

I really think that we really are all more similar than we make out to be. The business and distractions of life make us all fit into a bubble of unity. But when we're alone that's when things change. I hope this (rather long) post has given you some enlightenment. I hope it helps!

Please comment with your thoughts!

xxx

(P.S. If you would like to know more about Modern Liberal Arts please click here)