Welcome to my blog. Have I made you mad yet?
The question, while generally tongue-in-cheek, is not altogether out of place. Let me explain.
It seems that people are alternately either impressed or irritated/offended/horrified by the conclusions of my research into life’s persistent questions. It’s not that I try to be offensive, mind you; it just seems that people are easily turned off by unconventional positions. On the one hand, someone might read a post of mine and conclude that I’m an absolute genius. (This normally happens when a post agrees with a position that the reader already holds.) In these cases, I am typically congratulated for my deep analysis and for pointing out details that the reader may not have recognized previously.
When the reader begins, however, with a post on some other topic–one on which we do not agree–well, that’s when people tend to get mad. In these cases, it seems that, rather than giving me the benefit of the doubt, I’m generally judged summarily as a raving lunatic, heretic, liar, idiot, or even a paid “shill”, secretly supporting some evil cause or organization! In these cases, the same type of deep analysis is rarely appreciated.
Hence, the question: Have I made you mad yet?
There’s the fundamental question, of course, as to whether I should publish my thoughts or not. But having cast that lot already, it is my hope that chance leads you first to read an article or two with which you agree, so that you won’t assume (as far too many do) that I’m your enemy! I, for one, wish that it was easier to find folks to discuss controversial things with, without them getting all wrapped around the axle. Aristotle seems to have had something similar in mind when he penned this thought:
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” ~Aristotle
Thus would I much prefer an agitated onlooker to say, “After having pondered your idea, Jack, I don’t accept it because of A, B, and C.” What seems to be much more common in our society, however, are rebuttals like either of the following two examples:
- “You’re a _________ and I’m never going to speak to you again.” Or,
- (Crickets chirping.)
Anyway, I like to think. I like to examine things and to understand them. I have this crazy idea that it’s probably better not to believe a thing unless the facts or logic behind it have been checked out and prove to be sound. I got a reputation as a thinker way back in high school (if not before), but all I was doing then to earn the reputation was to think a little bit more than I was expected to think. So it’s not like I had to be thinking very deeply, nor about a wide number of things; I just had to be thinking more than the next guy.
There was a huge trap in that, however, and I got stuck for several years where I was not learning at anywhere near the pace I could have been learning, but was instead investing myself in the notion that I know more than the next guy. (This is what I call the “Gap Trap“—caught in the gap between where I used to be and where I could be, and vainly enjoying it so much that I made very little progress toward the latter.) Having finally struggled through enough study to overturn a fairly large number of my previous beliefs and understandings, however, I eventually managed to come to the logical conclusion that I am very likely wrong about a great number of things. (Please see my article on The Super Witness.) Further, I have discovered that the likelihood of being wrong is usually higher when:
- I’m just repeating “what I’ve always heard”.
- I haven’t personally vetted the issue, independently confirming it.
- It’s an issue that something or other has always bugged me about.
- I feel or behave proudly about the particular issue.
I have learned, therefore, to strive to be always thinking, reassessing, and looking for how things fit together (or not) into the “big picture”. Somehow, I managed to survive those early years of thinking that I was a thinker, and to get to this point where I’ve achieved at least a rudimentary discipline of vetting and testing an assertion before I publish it.
And that brings me back to where I started this post: Have I made you mad yet?
I am reminded by this quip from humorist Don Marquis (emphasis added):
“If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; But if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.” ~Don Marquis (1878-1937)
I lived through years of thinking that I was a great thinker, not realizing that a large number of my own beliefs had never been duly analyzed. I’m certain that in defense of my own (perceived) equilibrium, I shrugged off (or even fought off) a good number of new and valid thoughts from others who challenged those beliefs. Now, however, I generally welcome the occasion to have someone tackle one of my positions because it gives me the opportunity either to be further proven right or proven wrong (and to correct myself appropriately).
Welcome, therefore, to my blog, where I write freely about the things I wonder, the objections I have, the things I have discovered or concluded, and the things of interest that I’d like to keep track of. These are the results of my thinking. If they help you think, too, I’m glad for it. And if you can prove any of it wrong, I’m all ears because I, too, am searching to ferret out the facts.
I have turned off the commenting functionality on this site because hardly anyone but spammers seem to make blog comments these days. So if you have a comment for me, just send it to me on the contact form and I’ll respond as soon as I can. And I really mean it—if you find something here to be in error, I’d really like to know about it.
Happy reading!
Jack
