My curiosity as a child extended beyond questions like why is the sky blue. I watched people and wondered why they did certain things or believe certain things or acted in certain ways. Sometimes answers had to wait until I was older. An example of that would be kissing. I understood kissing your mother or grandmother, but why in movies would people want to kiss for such a long time? I understood when I got older – grin. However, there were still things that didn’t make sense even when I got older and what we were learning in school didn’t seem to provide any real answers. For instance, in history we learned about wars, but we only got what felt like half answers as to why they were started. Why would one side feel strongly one way and the other feel strongly in it almost an opposite way. It didn’t make sense to my childlike mind. There was something missing but I was sure I would find the answer as I got older somewhat like I had found the answer to kissing. It started to happen in my first year of college. I was going to the University of Minnesota, Duluth. I don’t remember how I ended up taking this particular course – I suspect was one of the only electives left open I could choose – in philosophy. It was a course that ran all three quarters of the school year, but I was only able to take the first quarter as the course was full for the remaining two quarters.
It proved to be one of the best courses I have ever taken. Looking back, I realize it was an overview of the field of philosophy by quickly going through the history of philosophy.
It wasn’t the specifics of what I learned, but I learned I wasn’t the first person to ask all the questions that had gone unanswered for me. I was amazed at how the pre-Socratic Greek philosophers had dealt with many of the questions I had, and it surprised me even more that they hadn’t agreed on the answers to those questions. This started me on a journey searching for understanding that I am still on today, and I will share what I’ve learned along the way and what I am still learning in these musings.
