Philosophy has changed my life because for me, philosophy is not just abstract ideas. Abstract ideas can make me think abstract thoughts, but not much more. Philosophy can change life because philosophy is also an attitude.

Or, maybe we should say: Philosophy CAN be an attitude. It CAN involve not just my thoughts, not just my smart words, not just my intellect, but the depth of my being. This is an attitude of opening myself to the vast ocean of reality – not trying to capture it with my little formulas, but resonating with its many shapes and colors. This is a philosophical understanding that is not just ABOUT life, but WITH life.

Philosophy, after all, reflects on the most basic issues of life. It is not about this detail or that detail, but about the entire ocean, all the way to the bottom, all the way to the sky, all the way to the farthest horizons. And if I reflect on all this seriously, If I don’t treat it is an amusing logical game or as an advice for solving personal problem, then I must stand differently in the world. I can appreciate this awesome ocean only from a serious attitude (just as I cannot understand beauty if I am silly). This is the attitude of the little wave to the big ocean – the little wave that resonates to the entire ocean, is continuous with it, and is animated by it.

The problem is that philosophy is often turned into logical games. If my philosophical reflection comes only from my smartness, then it remains confined to my intellect – it becomes an opinion, a theory for collectors, an entertainment. But when my philosophical reflection comes from my inner depth, from the center of my being, then a little miracle happens: Then the philosophical ideas become alive, and they open me beyond my little self. They make me bigger than my usual self, they open for me forgotten dimensions of life within me, and outside me.

In order for this to happen, I need to do philosophy FROM a different “place” within me, from a “dimension” of myself that is usually asleep. This is the “place” of silent reflection, the “place” of “wisdom,” the place within me that resonates with the bigger horizons of life. What matters is not just WHAT I think, but FROM WHERE I think.

This is, essentially, the basic idea in contemplative philosophy. Contemplative philosophy helps me philosophize FROM my inner depth – and therefore WITH the broader horizons of life. When I contemplate (by myself, or in a philosophical companionship), I learn how to go beyond my psychological structures, beyond my self-centered needs and my automatic opinions. But it is not enough to awaken my depth for one hour of philosophical companionship. I want it to influence my everyday life as a whole – when I work in the office, when I walk in the street, when I buy food in the supermarket, when I talk with friends or with my neighbor.

This is why philosophical contemplation is not just a one-hour experience. It is also a process of education. Little by little it teaches me how to maintain my inner depth throughout the day. Little by little it transforms myself in my relationship to myself, to others, to life.

Of course, I will always remain a human being with worries and angers and desires and needs and biases. I cannot hope to transform myself completely. I cannot be in my inner depth fully, all the time. I am a human being, flesh and blood. I have my psychological structures, my automatic mechanisms, my needs. And fortunately so; after all, I need to live life.

But I am not just one thing. I am not one-dimensional. Other dimensions are acting in me too. To a large extent, I will always have my superficial opinions and childish worries and automatic reactions, but at the same time I can also be – a little bit, perhaps – in my inner depth. I can think and feel and behave from my little self, and at the same time from my inner dimension. I am a multi-dimensional being.

This, then, is what philosophy is for me: It directs me to the fundamental issues of life, and in this way it connects me to the reality that is bigger than my small personal worries. And if I reflect on these issues from my inner depth, then I become more than my superficial self. I am then part of the big ocean of life – together with my companions, together with my fellow human beings, together with my society and my planet and life in general. I am a little wave, but at the same time I am also continuous with the big waters, I resonate with the ocean – in other words, with myself, with you, with us, and with all the rest.