It was attributed to Angus Young, member of band AC/DC. Think big arena rock, throbbing bass, and screeching vocals. You could identify an AC/DC song in first few measures by its distinctive bass line and ribald lyrics. Many fans have smirked in recognition of adolescent angst celebrated in songs.

So here’s quote attributed to Angus: “I don’t listen to music. I stopped listening 25 years ago when I started making my own.”

Oh, Angus. Wow. That has got to be most radically conservative thing I have ever heard.

What’s so amazing about this is that we all do same thing. We establish certain ideas and opinions about things and we get attached to them. They become part of our identity. We build our lives around ideas we may have had when we were in our twenties. If we’re aware of these ideas at all, we might notice that we’ve changed our minds over years, but for most part, we tend to hang on to our opinions for decades. It’s just easier that way—no need to go there and think through that again!

This thinking and rethinking is what philosophy is all about. Socrates said that purpose of philosophy is to help us become “excellent human beings”. Our experiences help shape our philosophies, but our minds give us ability to think logically and apply our knowledge.

Socrates himself always said that only thing he knew for sure is that he knew nothing. He was fond of saying that there are two categories of beings that do not engage in philosophy—the gods or sages, who are already wise, and senseless people, who THINK they are wise. A philosopher is a person in middle, someone who is not yet wise but at least knows it.

That’s not a bad place to start.

The best philosophers are those who inspire us to think for ourselves. The French philosopher, Rene Descartes, really zeroed in on that idea. He was a brilliant mathematician who later became known as father of modern philosophy, and his “Cartesian Method” remains an integral part of mathematical studies as well as a time-tested approach to scientific research. It basically breaks down process of inquiry into manageable pieces.

Got a problem? First, you break it down into smaller pieces. Then, you arrange these pieces from simple to most complex. Next, you analyze each one, beginning with simple ones and moving on until you tackle most difficult concepts. Finally, his approach required investigator to keep analyzing tough notions, even when they seem unfathomable. We use this approach all time without realizing we’re being so Cartesian.

But most revolutionary concept Descartes introduced was that of universal doubt. Since times of early Greek philosophers, field of philosophy was generally regarded as study of theories of great thinkers, and required a whole lot of discussion around which thinker had most profound ideas.

Descartes came up with a revolutionary notion—that each of us should approach philosophy from scratch. In other words, we could study great philosophers if we wanted to, but then we had to throw out all those ideas, stripping everything down to its most basic elements, and come up with our OWN ideas. This seemed preposterous to many at time. What…we should think for ourselves? But, why? HOW?

The pebble splashes in water and affects surface surrounding it. A circular ripple spreads outwards and in turn produces another and another and so on. Have you noticed also, that just how far this effect travels is dependant on magnitude of impact of that initial pebble? As you read this, take a moment to consider yourself as being that pebble.

You may make more of an impact on people's lives than you think. When I say "people's lives", you can include your own. The impact you make in any territory, whether it be yours or that of others around you, helps to determine what I would describe here as: circles of destiny.

You may perhaps have seen a photograph portraying ability of flash photography to capture movement and freeze it in time. I am thinking particularly about a photography that shows something being dropped into a pool of milk. That initial impact of object being dropped causes a "crown" to form as milk splashes upward with a ridge having milky "jewels" suspended above it. As that "ridge" falls back to surface, radiating circles begin to commence their motion. This is more dominant radiating force, but in meantime, milky jewels also land back upon surface with each of those giving birth to their radiating existence. Such results commence a dance with multiple circles of destiny.

Logically, before you were conceived in womb, you had no effect on anyone or anything upon this earth. From moment you were conceived however, your very existence began to cause an impact not just on other people, but on life and human development too as interaction, cause, and effect, began. During such early years, you of course, had little if any control on such interactions and reactions of those to your existence. You might have protested with odd kick or two, but that was about your lot until you were born.

As years passed and you grew to point where you could readily communicate with those around you, your impact on society took a more earnest stride, but let us leap forward to another time...now.

How do you feel about impact you have on lives of others from day to day? Do you recognize that impact? Are you happy with impact or effect you have on others? There are those amongst us who would like to be considered as more significant and yet others who would rather not be in limelight and just quietly live out their lives. The odd thing is, that even by quietly living out your life behind scenes as it were, you still have an impact on those who know or who are aware of you. There is no getting away from it - we are all at centre of our own ripple effect. How much of an effect we have though, is dependent on two factors: force and resistance.

If I were to drop a "Water Boatman" insect on surface of a pool, it would happily scoot around on surface and not sink once! If I jumped onto surface of same pool, I would do very little scooting around unless it was on bottom of pool! My impact on poor Water Boatman would be pretty severe!