Binary Bonsai

There is a really article by Colin McGinn on philosophy that I would emplore you to take a look at. Here’s a small sampling that I thought was particularly fitting for posting here:

“Around this time I started to write a diary, chiefly as a way to practice my writing skills. Since there is no need to monitor the quality or interest of what is being written, the diary is an ideal form for developing the technique of writing, and for taking the anxiety out of it. No one will correct your grammar and spelling, or make fun of your naive thoughts and banal phrases, so you are free to get on to friendly terms with the language you speak. I would often try out new words I had learned – the dictionary had become my friend, rather than a standard I was failing to live up to – secure in the knowledge that solecism would not lead to embarrassment. A few hundred words a day, complemented by steady reading, will soon produce a passable prose style. The habit of daily reflection also fosters a critical sense, and an articulacy about what is going on; moral acuity can grow from this, as well as self-knowledge. Yes, a diary can seem like self-indulgent wallowing in the trivial details of day to day life, but it is the form, not the content, that counts. I have never read any of my old diaries, and I haven’t written one for over 20 years, but I do think that composing them helped teach me how to write and even how to think. Everyone should have one, starting young.”

I found it by way of Arts and Letters Daily.