Thinking Otherwise

The irony of ignorance is that you only know it after you are past it.

Competence Vs. Pretention

You can't judge competence by charisma or confidence. You judge it by what they actually accomplish.

Loud fools lead the ignorant; steady hands steer the future.

Your judgment without a basis is imitation.

Significant error one can make is pursuing the illusion of competence, the reason being it's tricky to distinguish between genuine work and mere pretense. Many blur the lines between the two.

When pretension becomes the major goal, the world becomes the theater of the absurd.

I don't have labels for you. I don't have labels for me. Lenses were the cause of blindness, With them broken now I see.

Of One's Shadow

One walked the path where shadows grew, Hidden specters one carried through. Echoed in whispers, claiming one's name, And in their dark, one played their game. One turned, one burned, one chose to see. As One awoke, "These forms aren't me!" The shadows fled, their power undone, At last, One stood, "The Only One"

In the gap between what one wants, and what one thinks one wants One is lost. One pays the price nonetheless. One with a dying soul, another forging it.

The Foundation

You should ask yourself, honestly and brutally: To what degree am I deceived by my own beliefs, and by the reasons I claim to hold them?

If you cannot articulate a solid, coherent foundation for what you believe, then you're standing on sand. That reveals voids that will eventually make themselves known, often in ways you least expect and least want.

The solution? Take on the responsibility of educating yourself. Read widely. Read deeply. Expose yourself to ideas that challenge you, unsettle you, even offend you. That's where the truth hides.

Competence is hierarchical, and genuine progress begins with a truthful assessment of your current skills in relation to the hierarchy, rather than fixating on where/what you aspire to be.

Set your sights low enough to build a foundation; accept your present situation without letting your ego hinder you, and then embark on your climb.

In truth's pursuit, one's soul did yearn. Yet burden baggage one refusing to adjourn. As blind they walk, with clear sight. Struggling souls, in endless night.

Most of us have at some point questioned: what is the meaning of life? But let's re-frame that and ask ourselves: if life is the answer, what is the question?

Uniqueness one craved, seeking truth one forgot. Drowned in a commonplace, the answer never sought.

Who are you to curse the path, when your feet chose every stone? You, the map, the myth, the traveler—

Seek inspiration (if at all) cautiously. One Day you might end up in their shoes, only to realize that you have been betrayed.

Being lost the way was found. Had it been a hallucination. We'd never know, were we even travelling?