It is important to develop your own life philosophy in order to find and live from a place of individual authenticity.

Philosophy is the critical study of basic principles and concepts of a particular branch of knowledge. There are three main branches of philosophy:

• Natural philosophy
• Moral philosophy
• Metaphysical philosophy

To have a purposeful philosophical approach to life is to put forth an attitude of composure and calm in the presence of pain, stress, problems, challenges and/or difficulties.

A philosophical attitude and approach to life is the gateway to opening and understanding the rich and wonderfully complicated richness of all that is paradoxical.

Grasping and holding the paradoxical realities of your unfolding life experience and ever-increasing mindful awareness is the foundation from which you will be able to build a strong dialectic that is the juxtaposition of conflicting ideas, feelings, thoughts, or experience. A dialectical approach to life that is radically accepting of what is, just because it is.

When accept what we know and face the truth of what we know we create the internal non-judgmental space from which real change can be forged.

In Kantianism (Immanuel Kant 1724-1804) a transcendental dialectic is the study of fallacious attribution of objective reality to the perceptions by the mind of external objects.

It is from a vast well of knowledge that is available to us that we can, in and from the paradox of any given transcendental dialectic form the base for a sustainable and adaptable life philosophy that we have autonomy over due to the very nature of how we choose to construct our experience from our minds to our thoughts and emotions and outward to the world around us.

Something that is transcendental, in philosophy, according to Kantianism, pertains to or is based upon priori elements (knowledge that doesn't depend upon sense experience according to rationalists) in experience that condition human knowledge.

Kant is regarded as one of the greatest of all philosophers, particularly in the field of epistemology - "the study of knowledge." His outstanding contribution was his argument that the world of our experience is a world that is a construct of our own minds.

The reality of the authority and responsibility that we hold for what we actually experience, as evidenced by how we think and what reality we, in effect, to one degree or another, construct, for ourselves, is more within our domain to effect than you may think or have thought. This is good news when it comes to reality and process of personal adaptation and change.

We must apply all of the logical and reasoned objective process that we can to the development and excavating of our authentic selves. In this process we come to know much more about all that we are, who we are, what it all means in ways that we can then define what we need, how to meet those needs, what we want, how to accomplish and attain what we want, what our purpose and passion in life is, and how to set the kind of goals and nurture and foster the kind of adaptation and change required to achieve those goals.

The processes of adaptation and/or change both require the implementation of transcendental dialectics, and the grasping of and integration of paradox in a rational thought process that gathers knowledge about self and others that is not at the whim of the information of the senses or the polarization of thoughts based upon experienced or perceived reactionary emotions.

It is vital to apply philosophy, the pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means, along with the critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs to the life schemas that often cause us pain and keep us stuck in habitual reactive ways of thinking, feeling, and experiencing life.

When we can challenge the stories that we have told ourselves about our lives and our history and apply a rational, logical, questioning measure of philosophy to them we can awaken the process of personal wonder that nurtures and energizes our need and/or desire to quest after so much more awareness - knowledge that will foster our seeking to adapt and to change what no longer works for us in our unfolding experience.

It is through the active pursuit of your own life philosophy that you can and will effect the kind of adaptation and change you need in order to detach from the negative core beliefs, negative reactions, self-sabotaging, and self-limiting reality that was born out of the perceptions you constructed in the process of how you experienced and/or perceived whatever hurt you in the past that to this day remains unresolved.

Just as something in the past may have wounded you, the way in which you have likely avoided that pain for years speaks to the disconnect between emotion and rationality in such a way that has thrown you out of balance. When we are out of balance, we are often left to experience the constructs of our experience in polarized, limiting, and painful rigid ways. That which is polarized often separates each one of us from his/her authentic self and from others leaving each one of us emotionally isolated and unhappy.

Resolving past wounds and pain, adapting, and changing, requires increasing your awareness to a point that enables your authentic self to rise up and supplant the false self that the wounds of childhood gave your life over to – effectively abandoning you. Creating your own authentic life philosophy is the pathway to the kind of lasting adaptation and change that will give re-birth to your potential, passion, purpose, and provide you with the understanding and insight to make new choices that will help you move forward in your life and achieve your goals.

© A.J. Mahari, October 24, 2006