I can’t really remember a time before; I was reading theology and religious philosophy from a young age. I do remember when I first started reading philosophy outside my religion, however: I found a book on Buddhist meditation and really enjoyed it. I tried some of the meditative practices in the book and found them really useful, and started seeking out more books on meditation, which led to me reading “Meditations” (the Marcus Aurelius one) and finding that most of the personal practices I already had were hallmarks of Stoicism.

In college I was exposed to a bunch I hadn’t yet come across on my own, Plato and Kant and Augustine and Nietzsche; and started reading more fiction with a philosophical bent: Eco, Dick, Hesse… mostly to impress girls. I also got to take formal logic classes in the Philosophy Department as part of my CS degree. I continued to be involved in religious philosophy and theology, too, volunteering with the Interfaith Alliance to organize guest speakers and working as a student leader in the campus chapel. This was back when “social justice” was really gaining ground as a guiding philosophy among the more progressive Christian denominations, and we were all thinking and talking about it a lot.

Since college, I’ve continued to work through my personal beliefs and practices, but Stoicism, meditation, and Christian theology are still at the core. I’ve spent a lot more time thinking about political and civic philosophy the last decade, as well. Halfway through my life, I’ve got a handful of philosophical points I wholeheartedly champuon, and a vast sea of possibilities I’m happy to both critique and defend depending on my interlocutor.