"The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing." - Blaise Pascal
"How aloof and uninterested a parental figure must usually have been for someone to grow up deeply charming." ~ "Reputation is a bit like a table: one or two marks and everyone notices, a whole host of scratches and it all blends in" - Alain De Botton
"The classical virtues are all decision making heuristics to make one optimize for the long term rather than the short term." - Nakal Ravikant
"If the meek ever inherit the earth, the strong will take it away from them." - Gustav Hasford
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." - Voltaire
Long ago, when I first started out on this odd journey of mine, I was a fool. I still am, but in different ways. I hope they're better ways, but probably not. Forward movement doesn't always mean progression though if you have an earnest desire for improvement, maybe it'll help.
This initial, specific foolishness was at the beginning of my journey into "knowledge for the sake of knowledge", better known as part time trivia wizard or full-time learner. Imagine a wild eyed young man with unruly hair. He's a heavy set heavy smoker and he's pretty aggressive. I thought I was normal at the time, but I've since learned a lot of my behaviors were (and are) nowhere near normal. Hindsight has also taught me that I wasn't seeking much actual education in the same sense as most folks. That's why I skipped the boring classes and just showed up for tests. I didn't mind learning what I was supposed to be learning, but it wasn't engaging so it wasn't worth my time. Perhaps it should have been, but I had other priorities.
One such engaging pursuit at the time was philosophy. It's still engaging now, but it's not quite so new and fresh these days. I discovered all kinds of things to occupy my thoughts and ultimately help find myself. I thought "existentialism is cool" and I decided that I wanted to be an existentialist superhero. It's basically just this idea that brutal honesty would be the only way to cultivate the life you'd like to lead. As it turns out, an existentialist superhero is just an asshole.
Lately, I've been putting these down like a bed ridden octogenarian with osteoporosis playing whack a mole at the local arcade. With hands like butter, fresh from the freezer, I strike true but few. I'd like to say I've been excessively busy living life to the fullest, but it's just been more of the same. Or has it?
Does it matter? I've struggled with the concept of anti-progress in the past, even wrote about it a few months ago here. Movement solely with the purpose of movement, eventually being forced to make actual progress at some point but essentially wasting time in the here and now.
And wasting time is the worst thing there is, right? Well, that was a bit rhetorical, or at least a little more complicated than I used to think.
New year, new you? New year's discussions typically take place closer to the beginning of the new year but, which? There are many ethnic and antiquated calendar options that mark the beginning of some new time period or another. So, let's just say that this here is inspired by one of those and not another personal lap around the sun.
