Truth vs Belonging

Many people (including myself at one time) are very skeptical and cynical when it comes to philosophy.  Part of this is very legitimate considering that the worlds intellectuals have let us down over and over again.  But not all philosophy can be clumped together and called nonsense or be rejected.  No, I believe there is something more to this mass rejection of philosophy then people being let down in the past.  Rather I believe most of us avoid philosophy because we don't want to look in the mirror and honestly ask ourselves  the vital questions of life. Instead we usually turn to religions, self help books, bible camps, and new age nonsense that never truly improve our lives but rather give us a sense of purpose and belonging. It is exactly this sense of "belonging" that holds us back.  This fear of being alone.  Because then we are loyal to a group, and a false sense of purpose rather then truth its self.

The only way to truly improve your life is to try to understand truth and what your relationship with it is.  This is the point of philosophy (even if many have forgotten). To do this requires a great deal of honesty.  But not so much the honesty that you learn about in Sunday school about not lying to your parents but rather a self honestly.  To honestly look in the mirror and ask yourself "do I believe what I do because its true? or because I want to". It is very possible that this is the most important question you can ever ask your self.

Self honesty is a difficult thing to do... but why? Like I said before it is the sense of belonging that holds us back.  A loyalty to the group is always at the expense to loyalty to truth. If you are patriotic then you can't question America, if you are part of a religion you can't question that religion, its always the same, they offer you a sense of false purpose and belonging in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

And here is where we be to heart of what Individualism is. Being and individual isn't how you dress, "sticking it to man", or going to punk rock shows.  Being and individual is setting everything aside and truly looking at the world as a single human being.  No Gods, no governments, no cultures.  Just you and the universe. This is not a physical state where you are a hermit who lives in cave, but a psychological one.  And it is an on going endeavor between truth and belonging.

I believe that this is what it truly takes to improve your life. Its a fairly lonely path but you relationships with people will mean so much more because you will have let go of those that put you in the position of "either you pick me or truth and happiness, you can't have both".  It is with those people that you are truly alone.