Going all philosophical…

Sometimes people question my homespun philosophy, even criticise me for it. That’s fine, I can live with that. But I don’t know why they question, after all philosophy by its internally generated nature has to come from an individual and, as I am an individual who thinks far too much, I don’t really have much choice other than to philosophise; homespun or not.

Besides, homespun is such a misused word. It assumes shoddy, made without care, second rate, not as good as the mass produced product you can buy off the shelf. Well homespun may be full of holes, but what is life without an escape route? Let’s not forget the care, the necessity, the practicality, the love that homespun actually is. Homespun means made for individual purpose in so many ways and what’s the point of any philosophy that doesn’t meet its purpose?

It seems that an awful lot of people feel that philosophy has to be a grand affair, only thought about by great minds, immortalised in Greek, swathed in religious or political cloth of one colour or another or taken with a French brandy and a Gauloise on the banks of the Seine. Well, I’ve drunk brandy and smoked a Gauloise on the banks of the Seine, although I have to admit that Greek is a foreign language to me. But I think that gives me some right to label myself a philosopher. As the Dalai lama once said: ' There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples.'

Besides, why buy an ‘off the shelf’ philosophy when you can spin your own? What’s wrong with going through life working out what you think and believe rather than picking up somebody else’s or some cultural organisation’s doctrine? I know that it isn’t very popular in these times of Facebook groupthink and governmental media mind control. But I’d rather think for myself that have my thoughts spun for me.

I like my homespun approach. I like homespun generally. In a simpler world I’d have no problem making do and getting by homespinning what I needed where I could and, as long as I had the basics, I think I could be happy. I like the idea of the Spartan approach but unfortunately, or fortunately dependent on your view, the world I live in isn’t set up like that, so my spinning goes on in my mind. At least my mind is my own and unfettered by religion, football, or political motivation. It’s a place where I can be free and do just what I want and it’s the one thing in my life that I have truly built myself.

Thinking for yourself should be celebrated, not mocked and poo-pooed by minds considered far greater than mine. Of course I’m no Plato or Proust, I’m not as inscrutable as Confucius or as devious as Machiavelli, but I’ve pretty much worked out what I think over the years and, homespun or not, it seems to work for me.

Or that’s my philosophy at least.