It's getting to the point where I'm forgetting too many ideas! I have too many and like a kid with too many toys, I don't appreciate them all as much as I should. My Dad made me realize this when we talked about how he started writing. He said creativity is something you can lose, and I never realized it. I've never lost it! Now I'm going to start writing all my ideas down, some place, some where. I hope that by doing so I'll get better at conveying my ideas and processing them.
What does it mean to be better at conveying ideas? My objective is to share. I have learned much from exposing myself to a constant stream of new ideas and information--from people sharing their ideas. Why should I care about sharing? Think about this: The difference between humans now and humans tens of thousands of years ago is virtually nothing, and then think about just how different we are. Many people are unaware of how difficult and insanely violent life was up until very recently. Always on the hunt for safety and food. In some cultures and times infanticide was socially acceptable because new children would but a drain on resources. Women were treated like property and everyone behaved much more like a wild animal than we do today. What changed? We didn't evolve better brains. The main difference is ideas--memes. Our ideas make our society and our civilization. Our ideas have evolved and created this relative paradise we're only just now experiencing and only in some parts of the world.
But I'm not saying that it's just the good ideas that spread. The ideas that spread the best spread the most. Cults are examples of spreadable ideas that are not necessarily good. So for millions of years life evolved and life was not in control. For thousands of years ideas have evolved in humans but we were still not in control because we still have dangerous and violent ideas spreading like viruses. And now, for a variety of reasons, namely a distinct lack of environmental stresses, people are turning more and more to rational thought for determining the ideas that control them. My goal is to have every thought and every action arise from a consciously planned and cultivated framework of ideas because I think this offers the most freedom from suffering and confusion. If I share my ideas, maybe I could help someone else be less confused.
But why help people? Why is it good to care? When you get used to questioning everything you believe and think, you will invariably come across some virtue and be forced to question it. I have my answer but I don't want to give it all away too soon. If you're reading this, it's because I want you to think about it yourself. I've learned the most effective and permanent way to share ideas is to share them like seeds. Seeds are undeveloped, tiny, simple little things that grow differently depending on their environment. It's also much easier to give someone seeds and have them live longer than it is to give them a picked flower.
I'll stop here for now.
