prof-hazard-perry:.
Archie had to really focus on his self restraint at the redhead’s answer, the relief in her voice and her words so obvious. He was used to his students reacting like this sometimes, which surprised him, since he thought philosophy should be a subject where you might have to work hard and use critical thinking, but where there couldn’t really be any wrong answers as long as you did. “It did. I think when we dare to ponder on life’s big questions and land on the answers that come to us without judging them, we can always find bits of wisdom we didn’t know we posses.” Archie replied, his eyes going from her to scour the rest of the class, making sure they were all listening to him, or at least pretending to do so. He considered her question for a while, similar ones had popped into his mind more than once. “I do think that humans, by nature, tend to ponder on the reflection they perceive of themselves and how this is perceived in the world. We define ourselves by comparison to others and other things, and we are, at heart, social animals, we need society. Some more than others. So I don’t think we necessarily need to let go of our ego, per se, since it’s no a bad thing, it’s just something we need to take into consecration when trying to make enlightened decisions.”
“If I understand correctly– what you’re basically saying is that we should be curious, ask questions, and try not to box ourselves in on whether the answers we come up with are right or wrong?” She bit her lip in thought for a moment and quickly scribbled something down in her notebook, she liked the sound of the last part. “And if the wisdom I find in myself does not make sense, I’ll probably just come bother you.” Ari offered with a little smile, resting her chin on the palms of her hands as she listened to what the man had to say. She was glad to hear it wasn’t a matter of getting rid of an ego or some parts of yourself, more than it was adjusting them to what could be considered a more “objective” reality. “Does that mean that the idea of defining ourselves really comes from the need to either relate or alienate ourselves from others and not actually self-assessment?” Ariel chuckled. “I’ll first have to work on making any decision before hoping to catch any sort of light to make it make sense.”
