Well, I studied philosophy a lot in university, doing a Ph.D. in it. But I was philosophical and countercultural even before that, thanks to a withdrawn, melancholy temperament and to some talent for visual art.

We're less self-aware when we're immersed in some exercise, but when we're withdrawn for some reason, we can become more objective and introverted. We shift our perspective and start to interrogate all perspectives.

For me, practising drawing at a young age helped because drawing trains you to study things carefully. One of my grandfathers had some artistic ability, which seems to have transferred to me. So it started from a genetic accident.