A lot many a times, I introspect and find a question asking of me, as to what would I like to be remembered as?
When I was in my teens, I had decided not to go on the routine monotonous way of living life. But to always do something that I really feel doing. Of course I have had made many mistakes and even learned from some of them.
Some people say, I am like a philosopher ( often with a lot of distaste). But no, I would never like to be remembered as a philosopher. The modern society in which we live in, often sees philosophers with contempt and dislike, that reminds me of the treatment meted out to lepers in the ancient era.
I read it somewhere in Fountainhead, the legendary book by Ayn Rand that philosophers become philosophers because they have nothing better else to do. ( Something like that, I can't recall the exact lines but Toohey speaks them).
With age and experience, I too feel not very good to be called a philosopher. It is often insulting than being a compliment.
Being an intellectual, is something quite different from being a philosopher. My humble self doesn't like people praising me with the word, but if I have to praise myself in one word, that it being a person with intellect. This especially because I have met and come across so many ignorant people. People proud of their ignorant self. I don't like ignorance. Even if too much knowledge is always harmful, still one should be adventurous, open to new ideas, to learn new things. And most of all, acknowledge that their is a world out there to explore, fragrances to be smelled, people; strangers to be-friend.
More about intellect in the next post.
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