How Philosophy can help us in our everyday life?

The literal meaning of philosophy is “love of wisdom” but to be more exact it would be “love of wisdom with friends”. The word philosophy was first used by Socrates who invented Dialectic method and developed the idea of moral virtue. Socrates called himself a philosopher to distinguish himself from sophists (wise men). He didn’t say he was wise, instead he said he loved wisdom. Sophists were like today’s politicians and lawyers who would use argumentative questioning to deceive people and win an argument at any cost where as philosopher wishes to be honest. Nowadays, people commonly use the word philosophy to refer to the way of thinking or an attitude, but philosophy is more than that.

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and language. Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument and systematic presentation. To be a philosopher is to have a questioning mind, taking everything with a grain of salt and accepting the most reasonable opinion possible. To refuse to be philosophical is to love one’s own opinion rather than accepting the most reasonable opinion possible. This makes us dogmatic and increases the odds of being fanatical. To be philosophical one must develop two virtues :1) Appropriate Skepticism 2) Appropriate open mindedness

Appropriate Skepticism : It requires finding a balance between being gullible and being skeptic. We should not only be skeptical of beliefs of others but also of our own beliefs.

Appropriate open mindedness: Open mindedness is the tendency to believe or to take other’s ideas seriously. An open-minded person will be willing to consider what others have to say but completely open-minded person will be gullible and would believe anything whatever he is told. People who are gullible don’t need good arguments to believe something and people who are close minded don’t have a reason to listen to other people because they already know not to trust anyone’s opinion. Without these two above mentioned virtues people would have no use of philosophy.

Philosophers are the ones who have revolutionised the world for example : 1) Aristotle gave the idea of golden mean (Moral behaviour is the mean between two extremes- at one end is excess and at the other is deficiency. Find a moderate position between these two extremes and you will be acting morally) ,logic and developed empirical science . 2) Plato’s allegory of cave and the theory of tripartite soul. 3) John Stewart Mill’s theory of utilitarianism explains why certain actions are good and bad . The best decisions have good consequences for the largest number of people i.e. the greatest happiness for the greatest number. 4) Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative – As human beings we have certain moral rights and duties. We should treat all people as free and equal to ourselves and our actions are morally right only if we can apply them universally. 5) Voltaire proposed the idea of the separation of church from the state because according to him number of problems in the present society is because of church / religious denominations. 6) John Locke’s idea of life, liberty and property etc. Thus, we can say that philosophers have played significant role in shaping our present life. 7) Friedrich Nietzsche most famous quotes:

“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost anyhow.”

helped in solving the existential crisis by advocating the philosophy of will to power (overcoming your inner dark side) that is still the problem with majority. There were many important philosophers who were also mathematicians, scientists, doctors and astronomers in the past who helped humanity to take giant leaps towards progress.

By studying philosophy, you can find out what philosophers have already thought of and it can help you think of ideas that have never been thought of before. In philosophy we mainly study the nature of reality (metaphysics), logic (argumentative structure), ethics (morality) and epistemology (knowledge). Philosophy doesn’t guarantee that we will attain absolute truth, infallible certainty or a complete understanding of reality. Instead, it merely helps us to be more reasonable, creative and ethical because it helps us attain justified beliefs and justified beliefs are more likely to be accurate than unjustified ones. It is not “people making stuff up” in a haphazard way. It requires justifications and proper reasoning. Philosophy tells us how we should argue and how we can be free to think for ourselves to improve our own lives, relationships and the world. By learning about the answers people have thought of to life’s greatest questions (Is there a best way to live? why do we exist? etc) opens possibilities for new outlook and a better understanding of our problems which helps us being more creative, reasonable and ethical.

In a nutshell, Philosophy helps us be more :1) Reasonable and learning to be reasonable is of utmost importance because we all have to make choices and accomplish goals. Being reasonable enables us to make better choices, accomplish our goals, live a better life and become a better person. 2) Ethical – it is important because our decisions and actions can have a powerful impact on ourselves and others. We want fewer criminals, more people to help the poor, fewer corrupt politicians and cops and judges who accept bribes etc to make the world a better place.

                                                                                                           

 

Dry Souls

Once upon a time, there used to be an oasis in the desert of Rajasthan, India. The village was abundant in everything, had good agriculture and businesses were flourishing thanks to a Caring Water Spirit that used to reside in a well. For them the well was sacred as it had the purest and sweetest water like an Elixir, they even made good money by selling water to other villages. It always helped villagers meet all their demands and brought prosperity to their family and businesses. However, the Water Spirit became fearful of the dry seasons as they began exploiting it often more, without ever worrying that it could go dry.

Always the well had abundant water for those who were thirsty but not for their greed. It was their greed and ungrateful attitude which made the well go dry. Their playful corrupt ways of exploiting the well for all their selfish businesses especially wine making made the Caring Water Spirit leave and never to return again to the well and the villagers.

Many Seasons passed by, the well remained dry and became oblivious to the people. The villagers became desperate for water and eagerly prayed to the Almighty. The Caring Water Spirit was in heavens but not as much happy as she had hoped. She was in her own world, aloof from other spirits and deities as they always used to talk about how much they are worshipped and loved by the people. The Caring Water Spirit had made her mind that she would never trust and care about the Earth dwellings again.

But the Almighty had something else planned for her. It was all going to change when the water spirit would fell in love. As the time passed by, the villagers were dying of thirst and their fields were not producing grains and therefore, they desperately prayed to the Almighty for a miracle. While the water spirit became more aloof and gloomier in the heavens because all Deities kept their distance from her. They feared that she would bring bad luck to them.

Then one day she met the Rain, who cared about her and never flaunted how he is worshipped by people like other spirits. She gradually fell in love with the sweet personality of Rain. She was curious about him and wanted to know everything about the rain as she was madly in love with him.

When she understood the world of Rain, she began to have a change of heart and gradually became willing to return to Earth so that she could she the Rain more often. She would do all sorts of things to gain the love of Rain and was even willing to die for him. But most of the time Rain used to live on Earth and she missed him like crazy. Whenever the Rain returned from Earth, he used to have a big heartfelt smile and the Water Spirit loved him more on those days. Rain began telling stories of Earth when she started asking how was the Earth? The stories of flora and fauna, the happy farmers dancing in their fields with their families. Rain described how happy they were whenever they met rain after a long dry spell.

The Water Spirit changed her mind and decided to return to Earth, to the people who she abandoned and to reside in the well again. The Villagers quickly noticed the Well filled with pure sweet water like before and thanked the Water Spirit and the Almighty. Now the villager became careful in ways of using the Well and always expressed gratitude to the Water Spirit. She now became fearless of the dry seasons as she knew that the Rain would always be by her side in every dry season.  

 

Moral: “Love can you make do all sorts of things which you thought    you will never do again.”

“Never take anyone’s benevolent actions for granted.”

A Silver Lining

When your life gets unbearable and awfully painful because of your decisions and unlucky circumstances for e.g.  An epidemic, natural or man- made hazards, or you have been victim of a crime etc, then you are left with only 2 choices i.e. either to succumb to your bad fate or to desperately ask for help from anyone who can rescue you from this horrible situation. Let’s say you choose the second option but nobody is willing to help you, God had left his/her grace a long time ago and your friends and family have left your side because of you or their cold and abusive behaviour have made you alone or they are no more. Imagine you are on the verge of dying, and you want to survive but not with your present circumstances, then a DEVIL comes for your help and will grant you wishes as well but in exchange it wants your soul or a sacrifice of your loved one. What will you do?

Here is the story of two of the best anime and a drama, I ever watched i.e. Dororo, Black Butler and When the Devil Calls Your Name. Why you should watch them and after watching them you will be left with some moral questions that you will have to figure out yourself.

1) Dororo

It shows some of the true aspects of samurai period in Japan. The story revolves around Hyakkimaru who is the first son of Lord Daigo Kagemitsu whose kingdom is on the verge of dying because of failure of crops due to continuous Droughts. He and his kingdom always prayed to Lord Buddha but all their prayers went unanswered. Thus, to save his kingdom he goes to Hall of Hell(temple) where he makes a pact with 12 Demons to save his kingdom but in exchange he has to sacrifice his first born son Hyakkimaru. So, when Hyakkimaru is born he has no skin, no limbs, no eyes, no ears, no nose and yet he is alive. Why? Because her mother desperately prayed for the protection of her son to the Goddess of Mercy. On seeing Hyakkimaru for the first time everyone is shocked and scared but her mother still embrace him dearly. When Hyakkimaru’s father sees him, he decides to abandon and sacrifice him to the Demons.  The baby is set adrift in the river and left to its fate. Sixteen years later he is now a young man, travelling alone, wearing prosthesis made by Dr. Jukai. While hunting a sludge-like demon Deiki, he encounters Dororo, a young petty-thief being beaten by three men who she cheated out of their goods. The demon attacks and devours the men, but Hyakkimaru saves Dororo by slaying the demon with blades inside his prosthetic arms. Following the death of the demon, his missing skin reappears, and a demon statue in the Hall of Hell is split by lightning. Dororo decides to accompany Hyakkimaru in his journey as he was the only one who she could trust. Whenever Hyakkimaru slays the demons present in the Hall of Hell his parts of body(organs) comes back and he eventually regains his nose, limbs, ears, sound and at the end eyes by defeating his brother Tahomaru who was being controlled by a demon because of his greed. Hyakkimaru’s mother tries her best to avoid the fight between the brothers but it was inevitable and Tahomaru dies in her arms. Meanwhile the last demon statue falls in the  Hall of Hell and Kagemitsu Daigo leads his army against the enemy Asakura who were going to attack his kingdom but loses the battle. Later, Dororo proposes to retrieve the treasure to help the Daigo refugees while Hyakkimaru finds his father wounded but defiant in the Hall of Hell. However, when Hyakkimaru departs without killing him, leaving the Goddess of Mercy statue behind, Kagemitsu realizes if he had not made the pact with the demons, Hyakkimaru may have had the ability to save his land. Hyakkimaru departs alone, leaving Dororo behind, knowing however that they will meet again in the future. 

Dororo presents interesting moral dilemmas :

1)  Neither side is ever presented to be right or wrong, generally leaving up to the viewers to decide for themselves.

2) There is also instances where humans commit immoral acts for their benefit.

For example, people who live in a poor village may allow demons to reside in their village and attack other travellers so they can collect money from  the travellers . This is the only way they can survive. Furthermore, not all demons or ghouls are evil.

3)   War forces good people to make hard decisions with no right answers and that’s a running theme in Dororo. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. i.e. Utilitarianism”

As the powerful commit atrocities in the name of the greater good (like Daigo), the innocents such as Dororo and Hyakkimaru are basically asked to give up trying to better their own lives for the sake of the world that has hurt and robbed them.

Depending on your viewpoint, you may feel Hyakkimaru is just and deserves to get his body back as he never agreed to the deal and was robbed of what is rightfully his. However, from a Japanese point of view, it’s best to put the group over the individual. From this viewpoint, it is fine for Hyakkimaru to sacrifice himself for the good of the land and his people.

 2)   Black Butler

The series follows Ciel Phantomhive, a thirteen-year-old boy head of the Phantomhive household, an aristocratic family known as the Queen's Watchdog. He is tasked with solving crimes in London's underworld. Ciel has formed a contract with Sebastian Michaelis to seek revenge against those who tortured him and murdered his parents. Sebastian is a demon who has taken on the disguise of a butler, and in exchange for his services, he will be allowed to consume Ciel's soul.

3) When the Devil Calls your Name :

The series is about a man (Seo Dong Cheon) who sold his soul to a devil (Ryu – A fallen Angel)  ten years ago to save his son and to obtain fortune and fame. As his contract is soon to expire, he tries to make a deal with the devil using his life as collateral. The protagonist is Seo Dong Cheon who becomes a famous artist after selling his soul and makes Kim I Gyeong,(an unsuccessful singer and writer who only knows bad luck)life more difficult and miserable as she is a kind person who always sacrifices herself for others. The series has beautiful songs, good characters and great plot so you should watch it.