an incomplete post...

Usually we classify people as ‘the haves’ and ‘the have nots’. But on what basis do we classify them. I have been telling a lot of my friends that I am a changed man after the year 2000. It did really take me years of introspective analysis to realise that a person’s character hinges on the set of beliefs and concepts that he subscribes to. Hence true poverty is not materialistic poverty but conceptual poverty. The fewer ideas that there are in a person’s vocabulary the less likely would be the person’s ability to explore life. The fewer ideas that are within a person’s grasp, the more narrow and prejudiced will be his outlook on life.

Every thinking person is a philosopher in a way. The sole purpose a philosophers statement is abstract I think is to create as much idea and perception about the subject that the philosopher is trying to convey. Either an idea can be experienced or can be conceived by logical thought. The thinker is dependent on his imagination and prejudice when trying to stretch his ideas to fit aspects of reality that he has never experienced.

This opens up another dimension of philosophy – the relationship between philosophy and psychology. I found this one from the internet when I was trying to understand both these Ps.

Psychology works with need.

Philosophy works with truth.

To explain the above consider this question “Why do we exist?” (What is the meaning of life?) Our consciousness doesn’t even understand if this is a scientific question or philosophical one. Considering that science doesn’t attempt to deal with this question we can say there are two pertaining questions that arise for a intellectual understanding of the question –why do we exist?

What is the psychological motivation of the inquirer?
What is the philosophical answer to the actual question?

I think the best way of answering a lot of these questions is through a question
Both factors have to be explored if wisdom is to be attained. Only by answering Q1 first can we be assured that the answer to Q2 is not supplied just by the imagination. It is not easy to state the difference between need and truth, and in practice it is very hard to separate them. In fact there is only one way to separate them, and that is to be committed to finding a first-hand answer by living one’s ideas. Such intense life experience usually separates truth from need.