Some years ago, it may have been 15 but it doesn’t matter, Claus Kurt Nielsen told me I was not an advertising copywriter and that I had to stop calling myself that.
“So, what am I, CK?”
“I don’t know, but it’s not that.”
‘Philosopher’ means ‘lover of wisdom’: philo (loving) + sophia (wisdom). To call myself a philosopher doesn’t mean I have wisdom. It means I love it. What does it mean to love? And what is wisdom?
If you want better answers, you need to ask better questions, and I find those pretty good. They are the sorts of question I spend my time thinking about, writing about, and discussing.
I hire myself out to individuals, schools and organisations interested in asking better questions and seeing where that may lead. I’ll throw you one now, with my compliments: “What is the point of you?”
You’ll find some of my thoughts below, in the form of essays. More will turn up later. All at once, probably, like London buses.
“So, what am I, CK?”
“I don’t know, but it’s not that.”
If you ask me my name, I’ll say ‘Nick Berry’. That is what people call me. But that is not what I am – my essence – any more than the word chair is the essence of chair. We sit on the essence of chair, not on the word ‘chair’.
Realising that I am a philosopher, and have been since I was 12, felt like coming out. I can see the sadness in mum’s eyes. “Oh, Nick. I thought you were a fireman, and now this.” “Sorry mum, but it’s who I am.”
What is a philosopher?
The essence of life is how we live it.
The essence of philosophy is how we leave it.
Cicero wrote that “to study philosophy is nothing but to prepare one’s self to die.” That is what we are doing. Learning to let go of that thing we call ‘life’, which is not the essence of life. The essence of life is how we live it. The essence of philosophy is how we leave it.
Essays
J’essaye – “I try.”
Michel de Montaigne coined the word ‘essay’ to describe his writings. 1st person singular, present tense, of the French verb ‘essayer’. I try.
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Essays
Reflections on film
I made the first courageous decision in my life aged 26, and it scared the shit out of me. Here’s how it happened, and what happened after it.
On Truth, capital ‘T’
Is there such a thing as Truth, or only truths – your truth, my truth, and everyone else’s truth? If there is Truth, what might it look like?
Anima 1
What is the fear of death and what happens to our souls after we die?
From the stove
The 68(?) classic French sauces and their relation to Goethe’s desire to plant an apple tree.
Good Friday
When your beloved niece drowns at the age of 20, it can take a while to find peace.
Anima 2
Where does the idea of an individual soul come from and what is the point?
For the record
The Norwegian ‘myk’ got absorbed into English as ‘meek’; as in “the meek shall inherit the earth.” They shall not. Not in the common understanding of the word, anyway.
