Get up in the morning
Go to work, watch TV, go to sleep. Get up again, go to work, stare at the screen of a different device, go to sleep.
Go to parties on weekends.
This behavior eventually makes people feel uncomfortable and concerned.
Essentially, what am I doing here? In this world?
For what? What’s the point?!
Spiritual emptiness is a worldwide disease!
In San Francisco, there’s a famous farmers’ market.
It’s a bustling place, but recently people who frequent the market have been complaining.
“Everyone’s looking at their phones, and you can barely walk through.
It’s as if they each think that they’re the only people at the market.
There are no manners and the feeling of community is gone.”
Even if you don’t intend to chat with the people around you,
The feeling that no one even sees you arouse a sense of loneliness and even alienation.
These feelings quickly lead to genuine questions about life, and the experience of emptiness is palpable…
As I mentioned before,
Spiritual emptiness is a worldwide disease!
In this situation, there is a classic mistake that many people make,
And that is turning to “general logic.”
Philosophy, wise people, some of whom lack faith in the Creator of the world, seem to be the “starting point.”
What is man’s intellect for if not to clarify the truth?!
This is what happens when we ask the average philosopher the following question: “Is it normal to be a philosopher?”
His immediate response to us will be, “Yes, of course, it is.
Every person needs to be a philosopher because that is the natural way of thinking.”
It seems that he’s correct.
Philosophy expresses the desires, hopes, and questions that occupy and motivate society during a known period.
This is how Francis Bacon described it…as did Kuno Fischer.
Moreover, the spirit behind philosophy generates political and social action
And aspires for matters to be determined according to its way.
It began with the Pythagoreans, who convened at a Greek colony in Italy.
The Neoplatonists tried to found a state for themselves according to their theories and even received permission to do so from the Caesar, who later rescinded his permission.
This trend continued in modern governments according to the approach of Thomas Hobbes as explained in his book, The Leviathan. There is no faculty of political science today that doesn’t teach this fundamental work.
We see this trend express itself noticeably in the socialist revolutions of the past century, In the Russian states and the movements that were influential there, According to the philosophy of Hegel.
The socialist phenomenon, which influences movements throughout the world to this day, based on the unique outlook of the ancient philosopher Heraclitus.
He said that the basis of everything is moving (movement.)
That movement, motion, activity – is what leads to revolutions and new theories.
[By the way, that was the core element of the battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Do you identify with the Democratic movement or the Republican?! Who do you connect to more? Who do you feel more similar to?]
We haven’t yet mentioned the new “movement” that is essentially expressed by the electronic revolution, Making information accessible and influencing the lives of the individual, society and all of the nations.
If the words of the “philosopher” are true, and I suggest calling him “the important person,” we must deal with a few embarrassing questions:
-Why aren’t all people philosophers?
-Why did philosophy begin its existence at one period in history among one nation out of all of the nations?
If it’s so natural, it should have existed among all nations, in all ancient cultures throughout history, and we know that this is not the case.
From here we understand that philosophy, Together with the intellectual insights that are “so clear and sharp,” in the words of the “important person,”
Are just one specific style of human thought.
Not all people are philosophers.
Not all cultures produce philosophers!
It’s not that we are anti-philosophy, but we must understand that philosophy leaves something out.
What does philosophy deal with? Which questions does it claim to answer?!
Three questions that bother every person:
- Where did I come from? How did I get here?
- Where does everything go? What is the purpose of life? What is my purpose in life?
- Is there a higher spiritual power that controls the world?
By the way, every child asks these questions once he starts to speak,
And we adults have the tendency to make light of them… After all, he’s just a little kid…
Once our hectic lives get rolling, we forget to find serious answers
To those questions that we asked when we were children…
What misery. What emptiness.
Spiritual emptiness is a worldwide disease!
Didn’t we mention that already?!
Essentially, as one of my teachers defined so precisely,
The problem is not what philosophers say.
The real problem with the different philosophical schools of thought
Is what they don’t say, what the philosophers leave out.
For example, they will never deal with the meaning behind things.
Aristotle, and the greatest philosopher of the modern era, Emmanuel Kant,
Both agreed that we will never have a full picture of reality.
We will never directly know anything about the phenomena that we witness. We may look at the world, see an amazingly gorgeous sunset,
Watch people walk down the street, see buildings, roads, and cars.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, can be truly understood or comprehended.
What can we understand?
We can know things about the world of phenomena, only about what we experience with our senses.
Consequently, certain aspects of what exists in the world will always be beyond our comprehension.
Is that it?
Are we doomed, as human beings, to eternally live within “our own bubbles”?
Will we never succeed in breaking through that inner ring of our personal feelings?!
It’s no wonder that TED talks that teach how to listen to others have become so popular. Maybe this is the key to breaking out of our focus on ourselves, to encounter others?!
When we think about this seriously, Philosophy isn’t rejected, it just doesn’t supply the goods. Answers to the existential questions about the meaning of human life – are not to be found in philosophy.
Who does the philosopher ask?!
Himself…sometimes his friends… But let’s think logically. Let’s try to be the “important person” for a moment. One of the questions that bother us is “where did we come from?” We don’t even remember the moment of our birth.
Perhaps we need to ask the One who gave us life, “Where did You create our lives from?” And – “Why did You give us life?” Or even – “What do You want us to do with the life that You have gifted us?”
“Why is the sky blue? Why does the sunshine?” No just in the technical, physical sense. Rather, what is the significance behind these phenomena?
Is it possible?
Can we talk to the Giver of life?
Is it possible to know the meaning of every element of our lives? Why it is here, and what it teaches us?
Of course, it is!
That’s exactly what the Hebrew nation has been handing down throughout history, Transferring from generation to generation, as their internal tradition.
We invite you to get involved and be a part of it, with us. To learn and teach others in order to create a better world.
Click here to learn: Who deals with values, ethics and the human spirit? [Part 2]
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