What is this blog anyways?

So, I was thinking... about how thinking itself is an art.  The mainstream culture that more and more of the world is subscribing to, unfortunately, does not encourage thinking.  Most aspects of this culture nourish--in fact, depend upon--fast-paced reaction, instead of pondering and meditation.  In various parts of the world and in various times throughout history, asking questions about our universe and using deep reasoning and logic to answer was a common pastime.  In order to refute the reasoning of peers, and for the sake of truth (because people believed there was such a thing), thought was nourished and cherished as an art.  Effort was applied.  The fingers of the great minds plunged into the big bowl of beans of thought and rummaged around in them : )

The reality for most anyone who will read this blog is that we live in a world where images and sounds, snippets of ideas, signals and symbols flash by us--through us!--almost everywhere we go and the time ordinarily allotted to sitting and thinking deeply is very minimal.  Seeds of thought come to the minds of all of us many times in a day, yet the onrush of our cultural demands blows the precious seeds away and impedes them as we find ourselves in hard places where they will not grow and are soon forgotten.  It seems that not much these days comes to fruition unless it is a product for sale or an  advertisement for one. 

I have had the privilege of meeting a few oak trees in my life-- oak trees of truth with branches growing upward and pushing their leaves toward the sun, with strong roots of principal that reach deep into the soil and anchor the trees.  Yet these trees are becoming fewer and fewer.  They are slowly dying off, many in retirement homes or being ignored by their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  They grew up in a world that turned slower and there was more time for thinking.  They grew strong, doing physical work that set the stage for an inner mental exertion to match.  How can we expect this kind of growth in a world with so much noise?  Saplings that would have been oaks are being choked--suffocating themselves in tangles of bright-screened, button-backed weeds.  I have decided to use mine to create a space for thinking--to nourish the seeds of thought that come to me, for only in exploring them deeper and applying effort to help them grow can I ever hope to reach for the sun and become an oak tree myself.

I don't know if anyone will be interested in my thoughts-- that's okay!  It's mostly for me.  For the record, I don't think my thoughts and ideas are more important than anyone else's.  I do this, in part, to encourage all to nourish their owns seeds of thought.  It will make the world a more interesting place, and life, more fulfilling for the thinkers.