Question: Will philosophy stand the test of time?

Sri Chinmoy: Let us speak about the power of philosophy. I strongly feel that in former times — thirty, forty, fifty or even one hundred years ago — people studied more philosophy than now. Nowadays people spend all their life in exercising their supremacy: how we can go and drop a bomb on your country. Now people are not inspired by philosophy, they are no longer interested in philosophy.

Anything under the sun, once it has come into existence, will last. But sometimes it only prospers in a few places. In those days there were the Greek philosophers. Now where is that Greek spirit? There were many philosophers in the Renaissance era. Where can we find another galaxy of immortal philosophers like those?

I do feel that philosophy as a subject will last, but the question is whether people will give it the same kind of importance as they gave it one hundred or two hundred years ago. Now we do not give philosophy the same importance. Poetry has suffered the same fate. In those days the world used to give more importance to poetry. Now the world gives more importance to music. Every kind of music has become important. You can see how many people are drawn to music, whether it is spiritual music or devotional music or classical music or rock and roll. Music draws people because music is closer to us. Some music stimulates our vital. Some music brings to the fore our own divinity. But the music-world has become more prominent than any other means that we use to express our divinity.

So philosophy will continue to remain for two hundred or four hundred years, but the question is, how much power will it have at that time? That is another subject altogether. But philosophy will not be deleted from the tablet of world history.