I believe that Philosophy is the systematic examination of our fundamental beliefs. In philosophy, you should question everything and never take anything for face value. There are always two sides to every coin as there are different ways of looking at things. In philosophy, you must throw off all the limitations you have set on yourself when dealing with how you view things and how things seem to be. .
Reality is a big topic of discussion in philosophy. How you view things may not be how they really are. A schizophrenic's reality is different from the reality of a sane persons. Therefore I deem reality to be based on experiences, and perceptions. Something you deem to be wrong may be the same thing your friend deems to be right. So does this mean that there really is no one true reality?.
In Philosophy, we learn that it is okay to doubt things that occur in our lives. It is not only okay but it is a natural response to something you are unclear or uncertain about. Sometimes, though, the build-up of doubt becomes too much for someone to handle so they become suicidal or just give up trying to think about it all together. When this happens, there is a tendency to become cynical, and this is a tragedy because then you feel like nothing is really worth trying to figure out.
Most of philosophy deals with the self. People are always trying to find out who they are; why they are here; or how things relate to them. All of our lives are spent on a road of self discovery, seeing what the world has to offer us, and where our place really is. If we were to actually look closely, we would see that we knew who we were all along, we just didn't realize it. It's just like The Wizard of Oz, when everyone spent all that time looking for things that were already there. They just didn't realize that they were there because they were too busy looking in other places. We can spend our whole lives on this fanatical search for self-awareness when all we really have to do is listen to ourselves and see that everything is right where it belongs.