Introduction

I am a 25 year-old man born and raised in New Jersey. I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home that actively practiced Judaism throughout my childhood. With my religious background and an inquisitive mind, I began a thorough philosophical interrogation on everything around me.

I questioned everything from the morals and ethics promoted by my religion, to the personal problems I found with devoting one’s life to a faith. As I continued to question, some began to refer to me as one who “hates” religion. My mother instead refers to me as “a spiritual individual, but not religious”. I prefer her phrasing of it.

I graduated from university with a B.S. in Computer Science, and was one class away from a minor in philosophy. I worked software engineering jobs throughout my education, and full-time for a year and a half afterwards.

After falling into extreme depression I decided to quit my job and pursue a lifestyle that felt more meaningful to me. I still enjoy the logic of coding, but sitting in front of a screen all day made me feel like I was wasting away. I needed to feel like I was actually experiencing life. And so the soul-searching began.

In my pursuit for meaning I have tried a few different paths, and many different mindsets. I went to therapy, quit weed, and tried my hand at making my own video game completely by myself. I began meditating more, worked a few website developer freelance gigs, and streamed myself playing video games for a few months. And when nothing felt like it was clicking, I ran away from society to hike the Appalachian Trail.

The goal of this blog is for me to walk through my experiences as a man who has officially lived a quarter of a century. To formulate my thoughts and experiences into strong viewpoints and arguments to help me continue to work on my own internal philosophy and perspectives on life.

Plus, it is also an exciting possibility that you, the reader, may take something from this blog to start new conversations, or to incorporate new perspectives into your own lives.