The irony

by Leviathan , Hotel Zanzibar, Saturday, June 01, 2013, 09:40 (4204 days ago) @ Kermit

That's probably the best post I've ever read from you, Kermit. :)

The difference might be that after I got it, I found that philosophical hall of mirrors from which there is no escape to be nihilistic, and rejected it.

This line really resonates. It seems to be a debate (and sometimes the decision) that I make every day. Or hour. My descent into unhealthy over-thinking has occurred in spiraling waves all of my remembered life. Each time, the wave hits worse. In the last seven years, the waves have reduced me to an eternal skeptic in a field of fog with no reason to move, and each time for a longer dose of time. Gorging myself on science or philosophy while in this mode has only ever worsened it. I've found that too often is a truth destroyed by trying to nail it down to exact words, systems, and classifications. That can also be a distortion of our adventure.

But there are things that can be said between words that an essay can never accomplish. Great stories and art, whether they be sentient mattresses from another planet or a 19th century Russian in a duel, can sometimes tell more truth than a whole textbook can.

Reading and interacting with long essay debates in forums have only ever strengthened that perspective. We tear things apart, critique, judge, compare and contrast, and we boil down art to where it ceases to mean anything. So is it surprising that we tend to find fault with a part when we've lost the whole? When I try to use that same language of debate to reply, it's never gotten me anywhere. I can say exactly what I want to, but I'm still left frustrated because I know if I wrote and illustrated a comic strip about what I'm trying to say, it could speak volumes more than my cold calculated essays. Just like how I find truths in Sagan's speeches not just because of what he's saying, but how he's saying it. You can hear the sympathetic passion in his voice. The imagery and music associated with it doesn't hurt either...

So. Anyways, Kermit. I may need to steal this quote from you for one of my silly, escapist comic books... ;)