A Beginning

Here it is. My very first post on my new blog. I suppose I reveal a certain naiveté at drawing attention to this fact, but hey, firsts are important, and so far as naiveté indicates a certain lack of experience with blogs, I suppose it's true. What's this blog for? Well, it'll hopefully be a way of letting my friends and family, who are now spread out all over the world, see what's up with me whenever they want to. They'll be photos, tales of trips, etc. I also think that it might be a good way of putting up some useful information. I'm constantly doing research, and I'll probably let people know about some of my most recent recipes, where to drink the best espresso, and where to go to get good Greek poetry. I suppose I also have slightly higher ambitions as well. It occurs to me that this might prove a valuable way of expressing a certain style of thinking that is more often expressed in my travel journals or in one-on-one conversations. Really, the more I study philosophy, the more I realize that deep conversation, really deep conversation, probably only happens between one or two people. One, you might ask? How can one person have a conversation? I suppose that conceptually there is a difficulty here, but what is this blog but a conversation between one? I mean, I might have someone in mind as I type, I might even have you in mind, but no matter how much I use my imagination to bring you to this room late on this Thursday night, the fact of the matter is right now it's just me and the keyboard. Do I have ambitions to occasionally have a very deep conversation with you? Probably, after all things get awfully boring without a serious thought every now and then, but of course I'm not making any guarantees. And life is too important to be taken too seriously. As for deep conversations with larger groups of people, I suppose threesomes sometimes work, and on chance occasions a whole room will feel capable of simultaneous communication, but I usually find at these moments that there is a bit too much interference. I mean, everyone comes to the table with slightly different viewpoints, and even if everyone leaves in agreement, there will be all sorts of connotations and innuendoes that are missed. This is a fine thing in ordinary conversation, but missing the finer points of communication spells havoc if someone wants to consider a thought or idea seriously. And having a slightly philosophical temperament, I do like to take ideas seriously.

But this will hopefully come in time.