T.T. 23: my First Disagreement with Thoreau's Wisdom?
Vanity or humility? Living to write, or writing to live?
“The process of writing manifests the process of thinking more deliberately.”
That was the essence of my very first Thoreau Thursdays post:
“By curating disorganized thoughts into cohesively strategic action, a well-examined life becomes more fulfilling.”
Okay…
That’s probably enough quoting of myself for now.
NOT exactly the best impression to begin with…
Particularly since I’m attempting to argue here that Thoreau — one of the most iconic writers of all time — is wrong (???) on this point that involves the topics of writing and vanity.
Lol.
Hopefully, though, you can start to see where I’m coming from…
To see what I’m getting at…
Nobody is born a writer.
Life in general existed many millions of years before literacy was even invented.
This truth also applies on a more “micro” scale.
Even the most brilliant prodigies need a few years in diapers before they even learn how to wipe their own asses…
Let alone how to speak words.
And form cohesive sentences. And say interesting things. Etc.
Living precedes writing.
It’s self-evident.
It’s automatic… true by default.
In that sense — the most overly-literal sense — Thoreau is wrong.
That being said…
Thoreau is quite clearly correct in an “expertise” sense.
The “best” at WRITING are generally among the “best” at LIVING.
Better experiences —> better stories
It makes perfect sense.
So how is he both very wrong AND very right?
Resolution via revolutions
To quote “Game of Thrones” at its peak:
“Titles do seem to breed titles”
Success breeds success.
You’re either spiraling upward, or spiraling downward.
Momentum compounds… with positive (or negative) interest.
Accruing “interest” starts by expressing interest
The best way to gain interest from others?
Be interesting.
The best way to be interesting?
Have worthy interests.
Express them. LIVE them. And grow!
The “vain” part?
Expectations.
Speaking of which… I left this draft at this point around 6:30pm.
EXPECTING to only be gone for a few hours…
It was a BBQ hangout — an informal “meetup” — with a few other BTC maximalist “plebs” here in El Zonte.
I had planned to leave early to come back and finish this properly…
Five hours of incredible conversation later, I only just returned.
It’s 11:52pm at this moment of typing this part.
So screw it!
I was too busy living to write about it at the moment.
Getting to the point:
Writing online helped me live better.
Which, in turn, gives me more cool to stuff to write about!
I’ll leave it at that for now.
Yesterday, I finally published the first post on my other Substack.
That one will be a bit more normies-friendly, with more of a purely positive focus for the most part.
The initial post was about how a Twitter joke turned into a Food Blog idea.
“Experience beyond survival”
Here’s the link to check it out if you’re at all intrigued!
“The revolution will not be centralized”
JeThoreau@getalby.com
(For optional tips… NOT a functional email address, just FYI)
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Enjoying you Salvadoran adventures! Look forward to more..