[MD] question: MOQ, Pirsigism, passionate emotion

[david buchanan]

Dan said to dmb:
I think that is so cool. Really. I am proud to know a guy like you, Dave. Not that we really know each other, being as we never actually met... but I feel we do know each other in a way.   It is a wonderful experience to find one's passion... that thing that makes life worth while... that thing that you'd rather be doing than anything else. It is different for all of us. Some people seem to find it in the regular work-a-day world but I've never been that fortunate.

dmb says:
Thanks, Dan. It's a very lucky thing and yet it seems like the path was always right in front of me. Just didn't see it. I guess "philosopher" just doesn't register as a realistic option if you're a working class boy from Detroit. When it finally dawned on me, it was like the whole world went from grainy black and white to supersaturated color. It was like coming out of a gloomy, grey fog. 



Dan said:
For me.. it is writing. Not just any writing... I write fictional stories. And if someone takes them as real life... all the better. I've known my passion for writing for a long time but life always seemed like it had a habit of getting in the way. I've never gone to school to study writing but I know what is good and what isn't. And slowly, over the years, I've learned ways to write better.   And now at this stage in my life, I've been able to slim things down enough that I can work part time and devote most of my time to reading and writing. Writers read, of course. And I find the more my writing evolves, the more I read. And the more I read, the more I write. It is all a cycle...



dmb says:

There is the view that the mind is like a muscle. It can be strengthened and developed. And there is also the very plausible idea that genius is like that, it is something that can be earned by putting in the time and effort. Practice, practice, practice. They say it takes about ten thousand hours to master just about anything. 40 x 50 is 2000 hours per year. If you can do it full time, it takes at least five years. I'd bet a gazillion bucks that its not just about putting the time in, otherwise anyone who's ever held a job would be some kind of master. No, I'll bet it's gotta be ten thousand good hours, each hour full of absorbed, focused time. You know, real un-coerced devotion.

So, did you ever get to the point where you felt compelled to do something big, like maybe a philosophical novel? Ever feel like you're working up to something? Some vision you'd like to put out there?