![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eric-kim-street-photography-tokyo-0000358-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Anyone can be a philosopher \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you just need to have a love for wisdom.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"MEMENTO](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/MEMENTO-MORI-2-800x500.jpg?resize=800%2C500\")
<\/p>\n
A philosopher isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t having a white beard, discarded all your material things, and meditating in a cave.<\/p>\n
It just means \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lover of wisdom.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
That means that you are seeking after wisdom \u00e2\u20ac\u201d to find the truth in life. To give your life more purpose and direction.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately to call yourself a philosopher nowadays is pretentious. So you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to call yourself a philosopher to your friends and family; just keep the definition in your heart.<\/p>\n
Just treat yourself as a curious child, trying to get rid of bullshit in your life; and finding more truth which works for you.<\/p>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eric-kim-street-photography-tokyo-0000545-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n
Nobody has the answers\u00e2\u20ac\u201d only you.<\/p>\n
To find \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctruth\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and enlightenment in life is nothing but finding what is important to you. And it is following your own gut, following your own conscience, and living a life morally correct to you<\/em>.<\/p>\n I myself am promiscuous. I learn from Buddhists, Zen monks, Taoists, Stoic philosophers, Epicurean philosophers, Christians, Muslim people, Jesus, Judaism, and all the great prophets from the past.<\/p>\n I think that ultimately \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGod\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is love\u00e2\u20ac\u201d embodied in the hearts and souls of everyone on planet earth. I believe in religious understanding, equality, and equal love of all of human kind.<\/p>\n I have a unique set of beliefs, even though I self-identify as Catholic. I think that atheists, agnostic people, and everyone deserves compassion and understanding. We are all just trying to find purpose, meaning, love, and happiness in our lives.<\/p>\n Some things which have worked well for me:<\/p>\n Studying sociology was my first step in philosophic inquiry.<\/p>\n I had questions when I studied sociology, such as:<\/p>\n Studying sociology was great. Most of our classes were just philosophical debates and discussions. Thank you to Terri Anderson and Mark Jepson for opening up my mind.<\/p>\n Be like an annoying kid, always asking \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhy?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 whenever possible.<\/p>\n Also, ask \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d more than once in a conversation. I think you need to ask \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at least 5 times before you really find any truth.<\/p>\n Study master philosophers from the past, to derive a foundation of their answers on life.<\/p>\n But treat them not as masters; but as guides. They have spent their entire lives thinking about love, truth, and wisdom \u00e2\u20ac\u201d why not borrow their ideas?<\/p>\n As my buddy Seneca says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All ideas are common property.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Steal liberally from any thinker\u00e2\u20ac\u201d either living, or from the past.<\/p>\n Then once you have some wisdom from the past teachers; learn how to kill them. To see the fork in the road, and just drive straight and go off-roading. To create your own path.<\/p>\n Once you think you know something; you know nothing (as Socrates said).<\/p>\n Try everyday to be a little less ignorant; and to find a closer truth.<\/p>\n That means to stay hungry, stay thirsty, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever think you have found the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dctrue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 answer.<\/p>\n We can just spend our lives trying to become less ignorant. At least that is my goal.<\/p>\n Honestly if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re reading this; you are probably already a philosopher. Someone who is hungry to learn, and to dispel illusions from life.<\/p>\n Be down to earth, and be a practical philosopher. Try to figure out how to make your life a little less stressful, and more meaningful.<\/p>\n To get started, check out some of my philosophy articles ><\/a><\/p>\n Also if you are interested in stoic philosophy<\/a>, here are the guys I recommend you to read first:<\/p>\n Be strong, Anyone can be a philosopher \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you just need to have a love for wisdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eric-kim-street-photography-tokyo-0000358.jpg?fit=2000%2C1325&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Start by asking \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwhy?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eric-kim-street-photography-hanoi-5-4-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n\n
2. Study the master philosophers<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eric-kim-street-photography-hanoi-0003676-4-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n3. Never be satisfied<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eric-kim-photography-black-and-white-hanoi-0009560-5-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/eric-kim-photography-black-and-white-hanoi-0009910-1-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n\n
\nEric<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"