Karl Popper

I recall myself being first puzzled with the meaning of life as a teenager, some time after I graduated from my secondary school. It was a bewildering, if not exactly painful, experience of mental struggle - for the sensation of understanding if not exactly for finding solutions to the ages' old philosophical problem. Internet was unheard of and I was far from being a avid reader as I now try to be. In hindsight, I was doomed as I found no enlightening learning process.

If I had come across philosophy at my disillusioned and restive ages, could things have turned out very different for me? Would I have solved problems with smarter solutions for myself? Would I have been a happier person? Of course, these are just few of those "if only" kind of questions one can never find answers to.

Perhaps coming across too sophisticated thinking, as manifested in too sophisticated forms of writing, at too young an age, might only confuse my ignorant mind more than it already was, making adaptation to life a more painstaking process than it needed to be. Of course, this is just a defeating thought of devil advocate. I wish I could have been guided to think critically when the urge to quest for the meaning of life first grew to consciousness.

I wonder why philosophy, or, more precisely, a "basic understanding" level of it, as of many other scientific subjects and social disciplines, is not made a fundamental part of school curriculum. If learning is about the acquisition of knowledge, shouldn't enlightened minds - with some critical thinking process  - be better equipped for the quest of understanding of new things?

I wish I was introduced to the thinking of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and many other renowned, and not so renowned, philosophers in the historical quest for the meaning of life and all things, not least Karl Popper. If not exactly solving my adolescent misgivings, knowing that there were great minds way before my existence already addressing all life mysteries that I could possibly conceive of would have consoled me - that I was not alone, that it was no big deal to be puzzled, that I could continue my quest for enligtenment as I find ways to get on with my life. Though I hardly understand all the concepts, the sea of wisdom is fascinating and inspiring; and to be fascinated and inspired is also a sensation of happiness in life.