Michel de Montaigne once said, “Mon metier, mon art, c’est vivre.” (“Living is my profession and my art”) . (Courtesy Photo)

Michel de Montaigne once said, “Mon metier, mon art, c’est vivre.” (“Living is my profession and my art”) . (Courtesy Photo)

Coming Out: Making philosophy

Philosophy is biography, nothing more.

  • Jane Hale
  • Friday, November 18, 2022 2:54pm
  • Neighbors

“Mon metier, mon art, c’est vivre.”

(“Living is my profession and my art”)

—Michel de Montaigne

In memory of Sol Neely

Philosophy is biography, nothing more. It’s not some abstract theory about metaphysics or ethics or aesthetics, and it’s not some systematic intellectual framework. We make philosophy with our lives, or we don’t.

The college mentor who has meant the most to me over the 40-plus years since I studied with him was a professor named Anthony Padovano, who I have mentioned before in these pages, a world-renowned theologian and, before I met him, a Catholic priest and the director of the Immaculate Conception Seminary in New Jersey, the seminary attached to Seton Hall University.

Padovano’s theology changed his life.

It led him to question those rules of the priesthood that deliberately place the clergy apart from and above their congregations, the regular women and men whom the clerical vocation is meant to serve—as if the clergy were more godly, more pious, more better.

Padovano’s theology ultimately made him doubt the spiritual value of things like the Catholic clergy’s faux heroic posture of celibacy — something that we all know now is indeed largely just a posture. These ideas led him to question any of the ways we separate ourselves as different from everyone else.

Having abjured those aspects of the priesthood that separate the clergy from common humanity, Padovano had something happen to him that happens commonly to men and women.

He fell in love.

It cost him his priestly vocation. But it gained him a partner and a family.

Padovano’s theology changed his life. And it changed mine.

What impressed me most about Padovano was that I could see his theology reflected in his life. All of my professors had big ideas about life and literature and poetry and philosophy, but Padovano lived his big ideas; he lived his theology, which was rooted firmly in how to behave like a human being.

I was intent on living my inner life before I studied with Padovano. Having joined the Navy at 18 to avoid being drafted into the Army, I still could not reconcile military service with my opposition to the Vietnam War, which was still going on at the time. I sought a discharge on grounds of conscientious objection. Six months and some 75 pages and innumerable legal hearings later, I received my Honorable Discharge as a Conscientious Objector.

I say I was intent on living my inner life, but that kind of misstates the case. I simply didn’t know any other way to be.

When I got to college after getting out of the Navy, I discovered in Professor Padovano an example of how to do it. He too seemed intent on living his inner life. I became a fan. And I became his student. And I learned a thing or two that stuck with me, ideas that I am still trying to live.

In these columns and in my life I am looking for the freedom to expose and explore those aspects of my character that our culture defines and often derides as feminine, as effeminate — a softness, a tenderness of heart, a more robust emotional life, sewing.

It’s a quest for a creative personal aesthetic that has nothing to do with wanting to be a woman; it’s my wanting to be free. That’s the transition I am trying to effect: to live my inner life, to make my life my philosophy, to live the way I see things, and to do it in a way that matters to others.

Philosophy is biography, nothing more. We make philosophy out of our lives, the way we choose to live, the way we act — deliberately, consciously, purposefully.

I can’t imagine any other way.

More in Neighbors

A rainbow spans the University of Alaska Southeast campus in September of 2024. (University of Alaska Southeast photo)
Sustainable Alaska: Reading relations

For the program’s 14th iteration, UAS’s One Campus, One Book committee selected… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire File)
Community calendar of upcoming events

This is a calendar updated daily of upcoming local events during the… Continue reading

(Photo provided by Gina Del Rosario)
Living and Growing: Holy Week

Filipinos are known all over the world for their strong faith in… Continue reading

Mary’s extreme bars, ready to slice. (Photo by Patty Schied)
Cooking For Pleasure: Mary’s extreme bars

For at least 20 years, my sister Mary Watson has been making… Continue reading

The downtown Juneau cruise ship dock on a clear March day. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Living and Growing: Seeking joy during times of great uncertainty

“This is the greatest act of power I have come to know:… Continue reading

Sabrina Donnellan and her family attend a community luncheon for federal employees at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church on Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Living and Growing: Choose empathy during these difficult times

“It is your concern when your neighbor’s wall is on fire.” —… Continue reading

On a nice day it’s always safe to talk about the weather. (City and Borough of Juneau photo)
Gimme A Smile: What to say when you’ve got nothing to say

It could happen, right? Despite your very best efforts, you could find… Continue reading

Braised carrots with garlic and thyme, freshly cooked. (Photo by Patty Schied)
Cooking For Pleasure: Braised carrots with garlic and thyme

When I was growing up, my parents never, ever served cooked carrots… Continue reading

A black bear sow and her cub walk along the Trail of Time at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Living and Growing: The bear

The folks of Southeast Alaska are fortunate in that we sometimes experience… Continue reading

Laura Rorem is a member of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (Courtesy photo)
Living and Growing: Practicing true patience

“Have patience, have patience, Don’t be in such a hurry, When you… Continue reading

Just-baked cinnamon rolls ready to serve. (Photo by Patty Schied)
Cooking For Pleasure: Easy cinnamon rolls

My father really loved cinnamon rolls. In his later years I would… Continue reading

The Rev. Tim Harrison is the senior pastor at Chapel by the Lake. (Courtesy photo)
Living and Growing: The numbers tell the story

I love numbers and math. One of my first career aspirations was… Continue reading