“To whoever may stumble across these words, I thank you, for granting my thoughts release”.
I have always been a day dreamer and a deep thinker. As a child some would label me (comically, but not incorrectly) a space cadet.
In recent times I’ve found strength in what I’d earlier perceived as weakness. I am, and always have been, a philosopher.
That’s not to say that I am our generation’s Aristotle. In fact I delight in the knowledge that I am, more often than not, a complete idiot. There’s a certain humour and humility that comes with that label and I love it. I’ve often said that if you can’t laugh at yourself, then who can you laugh at?
I once read a quote that stated “the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits”. I choose to take that school of thought to mean that my thinking has no limits.
With that said, rather than declaring that I am the next great thought leader of our time, I take the terms “philosopher” or “philosophy” for their literal meaning: a love (or lover) of wisdom. You can be a devoted fan of the Tour de France, but only squeeze into Lycra for your weekly Sunday morning café ride.
So why, then, have I created a public forum through which to indulge my thoughts? The answer for me is straightforward.
“This, I hope, will be the intellectual enema to relieve my cognitive constipation.”
I am a deep thinker and a slow thinker. Over time this condition has given me a chronic bout of what I can only describe and cognitive constipation – an insatiable urge to get these thoughts out of my head, but no means by which to pass them.
When I board a train of thought I am passenger, not a conductor. I can’t slow the train down nor disembark at will. It becomes consuming to the extent that I struggle to focus on the important things at hand – my wife, my kids, my friends, my family, my colleagues.
I’ve always written things down. On scraps of paper, in notebooks, and anywhere else that might accept my penning. But those writings have been impulsive, incomplete and ineffective in expressing what needed to be expressed.
Publishing will expose my thoughts to the public domain and invite opinion. This compels me to complete my thoughts and convey them with clarity.
This, I hope, will be the intellectual enema to relieve my cognitive constipation.
It’s outside of my comfort zone and requires courage. It will extend me. It will free me.
And so, to whoever may stumble across these words, I thank you, for granting my thoughts release.
With gratitude,
Harmen Wordsmith.
Harmen Wordsmith 
Leave a comment