About This Blog

"Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience." - David Foster Wallace

I first came across this quote on the day I graduated college when my father, bless his heart, gave me a copy of David Foster Wallace's now-somewhat famous Kenyon College commencement address. Though, as with all DFW, there's a ton of arguments and observations flying around the speech, the thing that hit me the hardest was the idea quoted above.

One thing that I'm reminded of on a daily basis is of how little I know and how much there is to know. In this age of Total Information, we're constantly being bombarded with new ideas, viewpoints and ways of thinking that all carry with them implications that could change how to live and think. It's a sensory assault that demands constant re-evaluation of one's belief and an open mind. At the same time the noise of Total Information makes it incredibly hard for a conscientious, open-minded person to actually take a stand or make a decision. There's always another perspective to be considered, some new fact that calls into question any firm position.

This reality makes the process of trying to understand the world and live a fulfilled life within seem, at times impossible. My response to this is, as Wallace suggests, try and figure out not just what to think but how to think. Figuring out when to doubt myself and when to hold firm to my convictions, how to see nuance without surrendering to relativism are battles I fight daily. Generally speaking, I'm trying to figure out how to use my limited brainpower to sift the unlimited stream of data that life throws at me and process in a way that helps me somehow lead a better life.

It is in this spirit that I present this blog. I want to use it as a way to talk through the maddeningly complex issues that surround me and, without necessarily answering them, through writing, at least find a to approach them that makes things a little clearer. I humbly thank you for your willingness to join me.