Fulfillment

Fulfillment is Gained Through Philosophical Thought The ability to think philosophical is the ability to truly understand and know ones surroundings and everything that influences those surroundings to the degree that that knowledge becomes the ultimate understanding and appreciation of the surroundings without question. With this ultimate understanding, a philosopher is able to appreciate life and live life to a fuller degree than the average person. Unfortunately, becoming a philosopher or even recognizing a philosopher can become difficult. Therefore, in order to live a philosophical life, one must understand what philosophy is and have a clear perception of why they desire a life as a philosopher and the hardships that ultimately coincide with it. A philosopher is a person that desires one part of something no greater than the other. He eagerly and freely tries all kinds of learning and avidly wants more knowledge at all times. Unfortunately, a "true philosopher" can be confused with a person of similar characteristics, a person of sight and sound. The true philosopher is one that searches for the truth behind something that is, unlike the person of sight and sound that only sees or hears what is and then moves on to the next thing, only viewing and listening to it and only appreciating what they can see and hear. The true philosopher searches for the eternal truth behind what is or what is not in determination of reaching the ultimate conclusion on that which is. For example, if we use beauty as a subject, a person of sight or sound would view or hear something beautiful and know it is beautiful and enjoy its beauty and that is it; they would not however search or desire the nature of beauty itself (476 b-c). This is what separates a true philosopher from a person of sight and sound. Thus, a philosopher not only enjoys the object that is beautiful, but he appreciates the meaning of beauty, comparing it to other beautiful things, desiring and embracing the ultimate nature of beauty along with the physical object that is beautiful. The understanding of this beauty as itself allows the philosopher to fully and ultimately understand, like or dislike, or question or conclude anything that he may further want to comprehend on the subject of beauty. Thus, comprehension of this sort gives the true philosopher knowledge of beauty rather than simple opinion. If someone opines something, or has an opinion on a subject, he finds his opinion as the ultimate understanding of that subject and refuses and disregards any further understanding of it. To further explain, if a person views something that is beautiful and that is all he is capable of understanding, the objects physical beauty, then he does not understand the ultimate truth behind that object and its beauty it possesses drawing to a personal opinion of that object. Thus, an opinion is simply an incomplete truth. An opinion is not necessarily wrong in its idea, rather it is simply not a complete idea or understanding. To be a complete idea and understanding, the idea must be universal. This is a key to philosophical thought. The idea being drawn from a subject must be absolute and universal in its being, thus being the ultimate understanding or idea. Therefore, to conclude, a philosopher is one who has knowledge of something rather than an opinion, acquiring that knowledge through true appreciation of the subject in its universal and absolute state. Being a philosopher is not always easy. Along with understanding how a philosopher thinks and learns knowledge, one must also understand the hardships that coincide with it. But first, one must have a clear perception of why they want to be a philosopher. A full understanding and self-recognition of why one wants to be a philosopher will allow them to completely defend themselves when necessary. Being a philosopher allows a person to grasp a situation, an object, or an idea with an ultimate appreciation and knowledge. Thus, a philosopher is superior towards people of opinion or that do not have an understanding at all. A person of courage, high-mindedness, ease in learning, and a good memory belong to the nature of philosophy and philosophical thought as described above (490 c-d). With this array of qualities, a philosopher is able to view life in a very unique way. His appreciation for an object, subject, or idea becomes concise and complete, allowing him