For the most part, I think I know why I want to write. I was never sure why anyone would read or care to know what I had to say. But I must write even if I have nothing worthwhile to say. Because writing is a form of creation. And creating something, anything at all, is the most human activity I can think of. I was tempted to say suffering or love makes us human, but that can be another topic. Humans are complex in many dimensions; there can’t be just one thing that defines us as a species.
As for the justification to claim that creating something is the essence of being human: the oldest cave painting is dated to be older than 64,000 years old. We can likely assume that stories have existed as long as language itself. When did our ancestors realize that they could create tales, invent stories from their imagination, and entertain each other? Whatever the case, creating something is as old as our species.
Whatever the evolutionary or scientific reason may be, the main thing is that we are a species that excels in creating. I believe that all of us should be creating something, anything at all. It can be books, ideas, websites, clothing, or painting—anything that you care enough about to work on voluntarily. When you work on something you’re remotely interested in, you become invested in the outcome of your work. This gives you a sense of responsibility and accountability. You also need some level of discipline if you aim to achieve something worthwhile. Perhaps I’m idealizing it a bit, but I believe that when you diligently work on something, the outcome benefits the world.
As for specifically why I would choose writing over any other discipline, I think writing is just so beautiful. The fact that you can arrange characters in some order, and you could take people on an adventure, a journey across dreams and faraway places that you created in your imagination. It still amazed me that mere words, if done right, could touch a person’s soul.Besides, every intelligent man must be able to write I think. It is as much a self-discovery process as a way to put your thoughts into words. It is a deep conversation one has with oneself.
Whenever I write, it seems like I am giving advice. And talking as a person with authority and knowledge, giving wisdom to people. I want to clarify that I am writing even more for myself than anyone else. I would like to take a look back at my life with satisfaction from my deathbed. So I wanna figure things out while I still have time. That is why I write, to discover how to live the best life I could.
Wisdom seems to be accumulated through time and experience. Nonetheless, it is incumbent upon us to not waste our precious life. I don’t want to figure out the answers on how to live my life when I no longer have much time to live.
It is simply clear to me that I don’t have my thoughts and ideas about a lot of things in the world. Most of my beliefs and ideas are borrowed from people that I admire. While I can’t possibly have the time or intelligence to investigate and come up with a sound idea about everything, some ideas, beliefs, and opinions are just too important to leave to anyone else. Regardless of whether it’s a positive or negative outcome, or if I arrive at the same conclusion as others, I want to have my ideas, explore possibilities, and maybe even discover more of myself. And that’s where writing comes in. It is the simplest way I know of how to think coherently and explore complex topics, and most importantly, the only way to sustain rigorous investigation of ideas for a long enough period.
Critical thinking and even creative thinking are something we don’t practice. What differentiates the masters from the rest might simply be a matter of how productive can you use your mental capacity towards a given subject or field. So the notion of ten thousand hours to master skills might simply be the amount of quality time you give your mind to absorb the required mental aptitude.
And I think the best way to master your mind in a general sense is to write. Anyhow, I am going on a tangent here. The point I am trying to make is writing is good for you and society itself at least that’s what I believe in.
There is this magical essence to deep conversations that’s just so beautiful. Talking to someone, if it is with any passion makes the world around you stop. For that brief moment, it is as if the whole world is shrinking down to just between you two, it becomes something manageable, and everything doesn’t look so challenging anymore. At the same time, there’s this universe that you’ve created between the two of you that can be anything and the possibilities are endless. A conversation is a journey that people take together on a path to self-discovery.And that’s what I aim for in my writings I guess.
In the final analysis, these are merely justifications for pursuing something I’m passionate about. To be honest, I would still write even if there was no point at all, even if it was just a waste of time. I believe there’s no better reason than the simple fact that I have a strong desire to write and delve into the ideas and thoughts that occupy my mind. :)