Dancing with Ideas

I strongly suspect most of the people who read this blog — at least most of those who read it on a regular basis — are more stimulated by ideas than by, say, celebrity gossip.  I think most of my readers like to think, in much the same way they might like to do other things — such as play a sport, paint a canvas, or tinker with a bicycle.

In other words, they belong to that world wide minority of people who often think for the pleasure of thinking.

So far as I know, those of us who enjoy thinking, often think about things we don’t really need to think about.  Asking one of us why we are thinking about the fascinating Mosu people in China is a bit like asking an enthusiastic athlete why she plays sports.  The question is a bit absurd in the sense there doesn’t need to be a reason beyond she plays sports because she likes to play sports.

I have not yet mastered writing to the point that I can express the lightness of my spirit when I blog, but usually I blog in more or less the same spirit as someone playing volleyball for the fun of playing volleyball.   Yet, I could feel a difference this past week as I wrote one or two of the Miley Cyrus posts.  I was writing more out of indignation than for the enjoyment of thinking.

No matter.  I’ve recovered my good humor.  But the contrast has revealed to me just how much I value my usual approach to ideas.  That is, I think ideas should be taken seriously — I am serious when I think about the Mosu people, for instance — but I do not believe ideas should be taken grimly.

You can be serious, yet still playful.  However, it seems impossible to be grim, yet still playful.  You can be serious, yet still be in good spirits.  However, it seems impossible to be grim, yet still in good spirits.

I think ideas need to be danced with — and lightly.  To do that, we should avoid attachment to them.  That is, we should avoid identifying ourselves with our ideas — just as we avoid identifying ourselves with our material possessions.  If we can manage all that, we can still take ideas seriously, without taking them grimly.