I never studied philosophy. I wasn’t interested in it back in school. To me, philosophy always seemed like something pretentious that pseudo-intellectuals did in college while smoking a pipe. My only exposure to what I thought philosophy was, as a teenager, came from watching some stoners get high and wonder whether “getting high” would still be called that if you never came down again.

When I got older, I realized two important things: First, my idea of philosophy wasn’t philosophy. Second, if you don’t take the time to explore and build a real philosophical framework for yourself, someone else will impose theirs on you—without you even realizing it.

The Philosophy of Philosophy

The official definition of philosophy goes like this:

The use of reason in understanding such things as the nature of the real world and existence, the use and limits of knowledge, and the principles of moral judgment.

Doesn’t that sound like something everyone should care about?

The problem is, most people don’t. I didn’t either. But that’s largely because philosophy is often presented the wrong way. It is taught as something abstract, boring, and pseudo-intellectual, pursued by people who’ve never had a “real” job and don’t have to deal with real-world problems.

Yet philosophy is everywhere. It’s in everything we do. It is what we are.

What you eat for breakfast reflects your philosophy. What you wear, read, and watch does too. Whom you vote for. The job you have. The friends you attract. Philosophy shapes how you think and dream—it’s who you are.

And when we don’t take the time to define our own philosophy, we leave space for others to define it for us. They can shape us into what they want us to be—before we ever have the chance to become who we truly want to be.

The First Step: Ask Questions

Most things I do in daily life happen on autopilot—driving, brushing my teeth, eating, even parts of my work. The same goes for many people’s political beliefs, life choices, and everyday conversations. I’m not an exception. Sometimes I say things I haven’t thought through. Sometimes I believe things without knowing where they came from. Sometimes I make choices I can’t fully explain.

My interest in philosophy began when I finally asked myself: Why? Why did I do that? Why did I think that? Why did I believe that?

That’s where philosophy begins—with the question why.

The answer isn’t a complex definition from a dusty college textbook. The answer is what makes life better. Why do you believe that a specific politician deserves your vote? Why do you read that book instead of another? Why do you have these friends? Why do you work at the job that you have?

Most people don’t have answers for these questions. We are simply spoon feed the answers the system wants us to swallow via TV, public schools, colleges, religion, mainstream books, and even our friends and parents.

When we start asking questions again, we can define a philosophy that’s truly our own, not one created by others. Only then can we live the life that we want to live and not the one the system wants for us.