WE now live in a world which offers endless shortcuts to happiness. Modern technology makes it easy to buy on impulse with a simple phone call or touch on screen.
We express our feelings and thoughts in public spaces in return for thumbs up approval from strangers.
We chase our desires down to the recesses of the rabbit hole while struggling with daily expectations and chores, however mundane, hoping that tomorrow will be better.
Is happiness solely based on materialism? Or is it our psychical need to own, belong, or to long for?
We try to make sense of the world only to be limited by our faculty of knowing our own imperfections. And perhaps now in a world of lost meaning, we become even more trapped in the muddle of our own thoughts. We need a lesson on how to think.
Do think critically. A critical thinker is someone who is sceptical yet open-minded. They respect evidence, reasoning, clarity and precision.
We need such thinkers. Someone who dreams of possibilities, puts forth ideas, argues on position, is adaptive and responsive. All these relate to our unique capability as humans to doubt and enquire — the very essence of philosophical impulse.
With philosophy, we grapple with our very own existence and confront the fundamental nature of reality.
But have we become happier? Some people equate happiness with having meaningful lives while for others, only their hearts know. In sum, we all yearn for a life worth living.
As we celebrate World Philosophy Day on Nov 21, we can only hope to be a bit wiser by turning inwards, searching for our own values and goodness where morals and ethics become our central compass. We look for guidance and that very lesson can be found in philosophy.
Philosophy does not belong to the academia or the elite but to all. And it should be taught to the younger generation.
CHEAH CHUN FAI
Johor Baru, Johor