Giving up the em-dash

[nyuanshin]

"Working in philosophy -- like working in architecture in many respects -- is really more a working on oneself. On one's own interpretation. On one's way of seeing things. (And what one expects of them.)"
-- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value (p. 16)
I write to figure things out; things both internal and external. To me, a journal is primarily a

Comments

[sethisalive]

The following is beautiful, and I really understand what you're saying. Go for it, and good luck! :

"I don't think I'll ever be able to say I've "made it" in the sense of having fully realized who I want to be (nor do I actually want to), but in this respect I think I'm ready to give up the em-dash proper, as a symbol of formality and of the barriers I put up between myself and the world."
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Re: my promise to talk about GTD, while the terminology he uses to describe this is a little crass, it's illustrative of something or other...and maybe you can think of what you're doing as going beyond the "runway" and "10,000 feet" arenas:

"Drive Activity Based On What's Most Important
One of the attractions of GTD is its immediate applicability to the moment-by-moment stuff that shows up, that people have to deal with every waking minute, and that tends to distract us from what's truly important. For many, the framework that GTD offers in "Projects" and "What's the next action?" is tremendously valuable. This

[nyuanshin]

Thanks. Always makes me feel a little less crazy if someone I respect groks where I'm coming from.

So far as GTD goes, I've become a little less cynical about that kind of stuff -- the language might be crude, but we should be grateful to get some truth in a clear & simplke format when we can. The great thing about all sorts of "self-help" is that the important lessons really can be expressed simply, even if they're not so easy to put into practice.

[sethisalive]

The respect is mutual; much appreciated. I grok you, bro. :)

Funny, I just wrote an entry on the opposite of simplicity before reading your comment. You're right, though--the most important, useful life and productivity lessons tend to be simple, clear, and devoid of florid language.

[ashaper]

"You're right, though--the most important, useful life and productivity lessons tend to be simple, clear, and devoid of florid language."

This is a valuable lesson I've recently learned as well.

[csn]

I love that little guy in your picture. I have notebooks of him and his friends I bought in a Japanese stationary store.

[nyuanshin]

Normally I don't go in for cutsey little Japanese things, but something about this one just reached out to me.

[ashaper]

"I started this journal as an act of autopoiesis; at some level I realized that there were a lot of changes going on in my life, and I'd decided it was time to shed the old skin I was outgrowing and attempt to recreate myself in a shape more like the person I wanted to be. When it comes to the peculiar human kind of self-creation there's always an element of "faking it until you make it,""

Aye. I've tried to 'remake myself' more times than I care to mention. It has been a recurrent theme in my life. I've only just begun to understand why every attempt has failed: I always tried to work from the outside in. I was far too concerned with appearing rather than just being. I made the fatal mistake of monitoring progress from the third person.