If you wanted success, fame and glory, go for western philosophy. Western philosophers fill the bookstores with thousands of titles sharing their supposedly secrets on how they were able to hack it. Be it success in life, business, leadership, or enterprise, or maybe a career in politics, mass media, or education, there are a large array of books that provide the tools to achieve them. On the contrary, oriental philosophy deals mainly with the multiple facets of the human soul, and emphasize more on one's search for serenity and enlightenment. Unlike western philosophy that readily opens up to debates and discussions, oriental philosophy centers more on the search, that it is best summed up in the lore that - "he who knows not cannot tell, but he who knows cannot tell." Like the taste of sugar, it can be explained in a lot of ways using words but it is only by experiencing it that could truly make one know its true taste.
Socrates, hailed in most history books, as "The Father of Philosophy" aimed to study the human things - the good life, justice, beauty, and virtue. He did not wrote anything but his able student Plato wrote most of the dialogues and poured in his own brand of philosophy about the immortality of the soul,the benefits of being just, that evil is ignorance, and the theory of forms. Aristotle, Plato's most outstanding student went farther as a systematic philosopher and scientist writing books on physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, politics, and logic. From then on , 300 B.C. until today, philosophers have filled in their own brand of philosophy, and it will never end ...
Ism - a suffix appended to different brand of philosophy. Marxism, Fascism, Existentialism, Feudalism, Maoism, the list goes on, and as long as people keeps on discovering new ideas the pursuit for knowledge will go on. Philosophy is defined as the study of the fundamental knowledge, reality, existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. Sometimes, there is a mix-up between philosophy and religion but the two takes different paths that cannot cross. Religion is a particular system of faith and worship, but some preacher philosophies their beliefs.
For most people who seek gold, fame and glory, they go for western brand of philosophy. They like to believe that nothing is impossible if you just put your heart into it. There are no limit to what we can achieve if we are willing to work hard for it. People find success and always they are willing to share their so called secrets on how they were able to do it. But as many of these acclaimed success stories are, some despite the fame and money that goes with it wallowed in confusion on what to do with their "real" life. Some, are even driven to drinking, drugs and addiction. And at times, the realization that having fun is different from being happy comes in too late in their lives and they find it too late to go back.
I for one have read a lot of books on how to be successful in life but I never got to put them in practice. I have tried doing some of them at work but it ruined my days, dragged me to level with people that I am not comfortable to work with, and hated my self at the days end. I have a career wherein my signature could make a lot of difference to some people I work and deal with. I too have to blend with them, stay at par with them, and pretend not to see some things that are happening under my watch. But that is not me, so I decided to leave, and shifted to a career that better suited me. I have turned my life around, and though I was earning less than my contemporaries, I have relieved myself with the stress and tension that goes with my old job.
For my friends and some close relatives, it was a fatal mistake. I loss a good paying job, bungled my career, burned bridges, and cut my self off from people who could pull me up. But in a way, I became more at ease with my self. It welded me with my family for I got to spend more time with them. Days become less worrisome, and time passes me by unmindful of the other uncertainties that use to complicate our life. I got to do what I love to do, with people I love to be with, earn to make a living, and enlighten myself about a lot of things.
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