Prologue: This is Why I Write
Mar. 31st, 2025 11:36 am
Often while I am going about my regular work or doing some mundate chore around my home, my mind begins to wander and I dive into all sorts of subjects, issues and ideas. In these moments I feel as I am out of control of my mind, as it moves along some path or quest unknown to my immediate conscious mind. Over time I have come to understand these seemingly random thoughts to be part of a broader whole of my own working out the world around me. These are the thoughts that form the river upon which my understanding of the world is drawn from in my day to day experiences. And I am the type of person who drinks readily from this river and seeks to add to it whenever possible.
This is why I want to write. Hemmingway says that in order to write about life you have to live it and this is very true indeed. And in my own way of explaining and understanding this idea, I can only envision a river upon which my experiences, thoughts and perceptions mingle together to form mighty waves alongside reflective glass like surfaces. Incomplete however these pithy words of mine might be at describing this tremendous force at present.
And just as Orwell reminds us that a writer requires a certain degree of arrogance, I think that it is having access to this river-- a deep well of knowledge, understanding and perception-- that gives the writer the arrogance to share their ideas with their fellow human beings. And it is the truly wild and exhilarating sensiation of experiencing this river that motivates any writer to actually go out and share what they have discovered. It is like carrying fire in one's pocket and trying to hold back the burning sensation.
This is why I need to write. Because I often feel that burning sensation, not just when I write but especially when I do not write. When I force myself to stay silent or back away or worse hide my own thoughts and ideas behind a veil of secrecy. These things are death to a writer.
I am not an expert in anything. And yet I can write as if I am a master of everything. And this is why Churchill could lead an entire country and fading empire through war while not being able to boil his own eggs for breakfast. And the writer relishes in this out of nessisity but also because this is in fact the comedy of writing. For what one spends their whole life focused on lifelong study can be wiped away with a few strokes or equally ratified by the writer. This is the power of the pen and it's might not just against the sword but against the very light of human knowledge.
This is why I'm made to write. Because gathering up and being able to articulate out the perceptions of the world around us is the foundation of human endeavour and reason. It was what the Greeks called the Logos, the invisible seeds of knowledge and understanding scattered all around the world in what we could experience, learn and share with others. The essence of culture. And the writer alone is the keeper of this most precious asset to humanity.
This is why write.
This is why I want to write. Hemmingway says that in order to write about life you have to live it and this is very true indeed. And in my own way of explaining and understanding this idea, I can only envision a river upon which my experiences, thoughts and perceptions mingle together to form mighty waves alongside reflective glass like surfaces. Incomplete however these pithy words of mine might be at describing this tremendous force at present.
And just as Orwell reminds us that a writer requires a certain degree of arrogance, I think that it is having access to this river-- a deep well of knowledge, understanding and perception-- that gives the writer the arrogance to share their ideas with their fellow human beings. And it is the truly wild and exhilarating sensiation of experiencing this river that motivates any writer to actually go out and share what they have discovered. It is like carrying fire in one's pocket and trying to hold back the burning sensation.
This is why I need to write. Because I often feel that burning sensation, not just when I write but especially when I do not write. When I force myself to stay silent or back away or worse hide my own thoughts and ideas behind a veil of secrecy. These things are death to a writer.
I am not an expert in anything. And yet I can write as if I am a master of everything. And this is why Churchill could lead an entire country and fading empire through war while not being able to boil his own eggs for breakfast. And the writer relishes in this out of nessisity but also because this is in fact the comedy of writing. For what one spends their whole life focused on lifelong study can be wiped away with a few strokes or equally ratified by the writer. This is the power of the pen and it's might not just against the sword but against the very light of human knowledge.
This is why I'm made to write. Because gathering up and being able to articulate out the perceptions of the world around us is the foundation of human endeavour and reason. It was what the Greeks called the Logos, the invisible seeds of knowledge and understanding scattered all around the world in what we could experience, learn and share with others. The essence of culture. And the writer alone is the keeper of this most precious asset to humanity.
This is why write.
