The Caption is from a brochure I received in the mail a while back.
Item #1: This is a question to which I seriously desire an answer. Research is what it is. This may not be the last time I ask this question, and it is as follows: Have any of you ever used writing to work out the meaning of something you read? If so, what technique did you use, and anecdotally, what was the result? I ask because I would like to learn how to do this.
Item #2: In the caption to this blog I say that I will "pull a thought at random from those swirlling 'round my mind." I've been a little uneasy about this caption only because I wasn't completely happy with the way those words together sound. I was very gratified the other day therefore to find that Chesterton uses a similar phrase in Orthodoxy. On page 85 of my edition he says that he will give instances of his argument "at random," which is exactly the part of the phrase that was bothering me.
3 comments:
As usual, I'm not answering your questions directly, but I thought I'd just point out the humor and charm I see when I consider the lofty thoughts swirling 'round your mind whilst you go about mundane matters such as shopping, changing crib sheets, and cooking spaghetti squash.
Some of this probably comes from your father, who is also a great mind. Your mother may be that way too, for all I know, as I wouldn't have known any of this about you had Wes not mentioned in passing that you had a blog.
Some of what you are reading and considering is beyond my scope, but I enjoy getting a taste of it anyway. You're a wonderful person. I'm sure Michael is very glad he married a partner who can meet him intellectually.
Speaking of squash, I have a butternut squash waiting for me in my refrigerator at this very moment.
I hope it hasn't spoiled yet.
About working out what you read by writing about it, yes, I do that all the time at work and on my blog. I usually do not really understand my cases, until I've written something about them. The process of writing forces me to look up and nail down details that I do not naturally keep in my head. It also forces me to explain the evidence, which first requires me to understand it. Usually, after I have written something on my cases, I know whether I will win or lose.
On a personal level, I've not had much experience processing things I've read in traditional written communication, except through blogging. The public nature of blogging, and the ability for others to comment, alters the process in a significant way. It gives me the advantage of being able to process my thoughts through writing and combines that advantage of getting the input of others. Often, I don't really know what I think about something until I state my initial thoughts in very strident terms and then see what comes back to me. The back and forth exchange refines and develops my thoughts.
I really don't know what I think about anything until I've both written about it and received feedback about it.
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