I first became interested in studying philosophy when I moved into my first apartment several years after high school. My first introduction was Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. I didn't know where to start so I just dove right into that book. I remember it as a mind opening experience, so much that after hours of reading, I left my apartment and felt like a brand new person. All of my senses were alert and on fire, and I was feeling the whole world in new ways.
I'd always felt that, in order for me to build my confidence and find some direction, I would need to form ideas of my own that would define me. Kant's ideas were based around practical needs and he was so thorough in describing his system that it quickly secured itself as the basis for my own logic. Since at the start I didn't establish my own system of philosophy, I can use this as an example to prove that nothing is new. All ideas are borrowing to form other ideas. I also can't state this with complete confidence as experience has taught me that I'm likely to stumble on it so, I'll say that I can't entirely agree. Internet technology has changed the landscape again, where philosophers can go and play.
If you've been keeping up with the posts on this blog you'll realize that my approach is broad yet, since I've had years to patiently absorb life experiences and survived a million potential deaths I am now humbled and feel that I have secured my philosophical estate on a robust foundation that will secure anything built on it. Being humbled however, I will build with caution.
With that being said, I've been started with the beginning of everything. Most of the time, when we argue, we bring up the past. How far back in our memory can you go to retrieve useful information to make your point? In "The origin of man, religion & the garden of Eden", I've gone back to Genesis to explain it in the context of Darwinism. With the frustration of the World's current events, I find myself back at the beginning of creation where I can escape them. Seems like I'll be floating around there for the time being.