Write Stuff Down

I've been writing regularly on this blog for four years now, primarily for myself. Writing stuff down clarifies a lot. It puts order into things. All sorts of connections can be found and documented this way. As a result, I've built a better understanding of the world and myself. The world has become a less confusing place.

I've not changed much as a person from this. I'm still the libertarian that I always was. If anything, I've simply rediscovered myself and become more aware of my world view and how it differs from other world views. However, my writing has improved. My thinking has become clearer. To this end, I've been influenced by others, most of them libertarians.

A consequence of this is that I now regularly come across articles that closely resemble my own writings. This article in Zerohedge is full of ideas that I've expressed myself. The only difference is that I'm more optimistic about the soft secession movement. I expect it to succeed without much conflicts. This other article, posted in Zerohedge only hours after I wrote a similar post, is in my opinion inferior to my own. I describe the deflationary consequence of current monetary policies in a more direct way.

I find this very encouraging. It means that I've reached a level of competence that rivals that of other libertarians. My ideas are as clear as those of many others, which goes to show that the apprentice often end up as competent as their masters. What I've done is not all that different from how people used to learn a craft in the olden days. Focus and attention, combined with dedication, made the apprentice both skilled and unique while true to the general form. I write libertarian stuff with my own personal angle in much the same way artists make unique art that's true to a certain style.

However, the aim never was to emulate or surpass others in this particular style of writing. I write to figure things out for myself. The fact that it comes out similar to that of other writers is merely a comforting aside.

I can highly recommend this type of writing to anyone considering writing a blog of their own. Keep in mind that key to writing freely is to keep it relatively private and anonymous. Don't push it too much on social media. There's no point in upsetting friends and family with thoughts that go contrary to their own. Rather, share your blog selectively with people you already agree with, and let search engines do the rest.

I like to read libertarian thoughts, so feel free to promote your blog through comments to my posts. Don't worry about quality and originality. The important thing is to get started. Then, as things becomes clearer, the quality and originality comes on its own. Also, don't shy away from the difficult questions. Home in on them, because that's where the interesting stuff is hidden. It's when we look into things that confuse and baffle that we have the most chance of coming up with truly valuable insights.

Rococo cup with handle

By Vincennes Porcelain (France, circa 1739–1756), Francois Binet (France, active 1750-1775, born 1731) - Image: http://collections.lacma.org/sites/default/files/remote_images/piction/ma-31852871-O3.jpg Gallery: http://collections.lacma.org/node/229367 archive copy, Public Domain, Link