We must write and write well, think and think deeply, and say but say less.
Conjecture: To voice my thoughts or viewpoints (to myself) through a story is to create my meta-human clone, who holds me accountable for all my actions. And the upshot of breaking a story into arguments is that writing even a single well-put case helps me to clarify my thoughts and articulate them sincerely, honestly and accurately.
And why exactly must I do that?
Because if I’m writing to figure out what I think, then I’m going to use what I think to guide my action, and the consequence of that is going to decide how my life turns out to be.
Therefore, I must be serious about what I write (or think) because I know what the pathway is. It can hold me accountable for miscommunicating because if I do, I’ll warp the very structure that guides my action, and I’ll eventually suffer for that.
Let’s better understand it with an example:
Supposing that it is essential to my understanding of the kind of person I believe myself to be that I am punctual. I also have decided that I am the kind of person who does not miss deadlines. And so it follows that my seeing myself as an engineer, a writer, or a knowledge worker is also valuable because if I am not writing, working, and learning, then I’m not “earning” that image.
You can see why being vegan quickly becomes part of people’s identity too. The diet would be tough to adhere to if it was just about choosing not to eat any animal products. But because it is a lifestyle and an ideology is attached, vegans are willing to push through all that. They don’t see it as a choice but as the right thing to do.
One of the things I’ve learned is that I can never get away with anything untrue. Ever. The chicken always comes home to roost. I can never get away with a falsehood. And I can never get away with weak thinking any more than I can get away with improper action.
If I tell the truth, then I have reality on my side. And therefore, I’m very careful with what I say and I’m very careful with what I write.