Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning

This post is about nothing specific, so ignore the title. It is not referring to any theme on The Silver Cord, nor does it pertain to anything deep and meaningful in concept. I merely wanted to time-stamp this moment, which is the first month anniversary of this blog. It is my intent with this time-stamp to look back at the ramblings posted in February, and to resolve to make better sense of the ramblings in March, and so on. It looks like we're off to a bad start already, because I'm not entirely sure of how much sense I just made.

I want to thank everyone who have taken the time to read through at least one of the posts on this blog. I especially want to thank those who chose to comment. I've been surprised by how mature and concise some of your responses have been. I'll admit I was expecting comments that looked more like, "Come to Georgia!" and, "How did you guys get signed?"

As it turns out, those of you who follow along seem to be a solid group of thinkers, and I'm humbled and inspired by that. Thank you for challenging me and in turn (I hope) allowing yourself to be challenged. This blog is lucky to be a microscopic blip on the radar of the greater blogosphere, but I love it and I wouldn't mind if it stayed that way.

Excuse me while I work something out for myself. I may go off on a bit of a tangent here...

I am not an Albert Einstien or an Isaac Newton. I may have scored a 137 on an online IQ test once, but I doubt that certifies me as a genius. And even if I was a genius, I've spent most of my life dumbing my brain down, numbing it with whatever comes my way, trying to render it useless. I guess I'm about as inquisitive as the next guy, but I couldnt imagine the Theory of Relativity or Space-time, and I couldn't even read
Principia, let alone imagine it. When I learn about the true mad geniuses and scientists, those who were blessed with the types of minds which can explain the interconnectedness of creation, I am saddened that my life has been as futile as it's been at times. I am saddened by how narrow and unmotivated I've been. By how unimaginative, unappreciative, and selfish I've been. 

Imagine a guy like Newton, who upon swinging his feet out of bed in the morning he would reportedly sometimes sit for hours, immobilized by the sudden rush of thoughts to his head. He was strange, solitary, distracted and otherwise joyless, but he was completely fascinated by creation. Imagine Einstein, with such a noggin that he rarely wrote things down. He essentially thought up the Theory of Relativity without using a notebook. His paper called "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies," published in 1905, is incredible because it contains no citations or footnotes, almost no mathematics, and made no mention of any work that had influenced it. He essentially just thought it all up. 

These guys must have lived each day in sheer wonder and amazement of everything around them. We take for granted the air we breathe, the veins and nerves and blood cells and organs that work tirelessly day after day without so much as a thought on our behalf. Isn't that crazy? We don't even need to pay attention to it and our heart pumps blood, sometimes for over a century straight. My heart, the relentless servant of an abusive and thankless master. I guess most of this stuff could be for another post.

I think the point of all of this rambling is that it's taken me 25 years to realize that I'm pretty much a normal guy. I used to think I was different, but the truth is I'm not that different. I'm not too tortured an artist or too deep a thinker to lack the ability to relate or function in society. I'm not going to stick a long leather stitching needle in my eye socket to "see what happens" (as Newton once did). I have questions like everyone else, but like most people I resort to seeking peace of mind through conversation and community. 

I think we've had some great conversations since this thing started, and I hope to have many more with all of you.

11 comments:

  1. COME TO MICHIGAN! Haha, just playing.

    One thing I thought of when I read this post was about the scientist. I have studied them in school and what always stood out to me is that they weren't the mainstream scientist of the day, were not thought as brilliant, and their ideas were thought to be moronic. When it comes down to it, the people around them were completely wrong and Einstein for example was one of the smartest people ever, more brilliant than we could ever imagine to be.

    The point of this is to just realize that the people who are labeled the smartest, or the coolest are often the opposite, and the people with the labels as losers, and failures can be the ones who cause change, and can be the most brilliant.

    Like Einstein, we must never give up, even if we are or our ideas are thought of as wrong, it does not mean they are. Just because we are labeled as something does not make it true.

    Sorry about this rant.

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  2. Well, this post really made me think about what I am, what I'm trying to be.
    I'm seeking "fame", I want people to know me as a good writer for what I do in my blog, in my texts. It's not so bad, but I think I'm looking in a wrong way. I want to be know for what I'm doing/writing instead of what I am.
    And I'm losing what I really am in this mess.

    You put me right in front of myself with this post, it's now up to me realize what's wrong and fix it. Thank you so much Matt. (and sorry about my english, I'm brazilian and not such a good student as I'm supposed to be)

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  3. matt- thank you for taking time out of your (probably busy) life to share some wisdom and stories with us. Every time I read your blog I come out of it realizing something new. I'm with you, Im definitely not as smart as Newton, it takes me an hour to sort through my thoughts and come up with one solid idea, I could never think up a paper/book in my head (I have trouble with paper sometimes haha)
    Thank you for everything you do.

    ps. Come to Massachusetts :)
    (kidding)

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  4. You don't have to look very far off or very deep within to be amazed. But it's nuts how many of us distract ourselves and rarely look around in wonder, ignoring the beauty of life at its finest.

    Seek and you'll find, eh?

    I know I'm fairly normal, as in non-genius. No biggie. It won't change with all the effort and strife in the world. So I choose to be inspired in the simple things everyday, and I hope that I can be a positive force in this existence.

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  5. Haha, I'll have to definitely agree with you on this post. We are all the same, aren't we? I used to think that I was the only one thinking, but it seems that everyone is stuck in their own world... just lost and seeking conversation (as you said). And happy anniversary! I look forward to reading your posts; every time I read one it somehow challenges my ideals, opinions, etc. For a teenager who thinks she knows everything, this is a little humbling, but good for the soul : ) Keep up the good work. Haha, and come to California!

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  6. Matt, thanks for putting yourself out there with this thing. You have held nothing back, and I hope you never do. Keep bringin' it, bro!

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  7. Well, my comment was just gonna be "Come to Alabama" For comedic purposes, but someone else seems to have beaten me to it.

    Dang.

    I've really enjoyed readin the blog, and gettin to understand you a little better.

    I really do hope to see you guys live someday.

    I have a friend who's in Seattle right now, and with my luch, she's probably ran into you, and not have known who you were.just because thats the way things work in my life. haha.

    Keep the posts comin, I'll keep readin. Who knows? I may even make my own blog.....but, I think I'll just stick to facebook for now, haha.

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  8. I agree with what Nich said in his that mostly people whoare the smartest end up not being smart and such. i totally agree. recently at my shcool we were given our class rank. everyone kept going up to me and people were talking about me saying i was the smartest guy in our class according to rank. this one kid said to me "Damn Mike. you are the smartest guy in our class." i replied back to him "So what?" life to me is more than school, life is more than being smart. im getting a little off topic but i think that id rather have a nice conversation with someone then be rich and not happy with it. Life is more than school and being smart. to me is being a caring person willing to help the next guy. ok now im really off topic. well im sorry if i annoyed anyone with that rant. the comments i read up there ^ ^ made me think about it.

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  9. Thanks so much for posting all of this. Like some other people said, I am learning so much just from hearing what your beliefs are, and what you think about generally everything. I think that we all (at least some time in our lives) want to be labeled as something good. The smartest, the best athlete, the best at this and that, etc. But I'm just coming to realize that none of this matters. For me, I've always wanted to be the best at everything. I get really competitive, but now I'm just kind of realizing that what is the point? Whether I win or lose, what is it going to matter? I shouldn't be focusing on just myself and being the best at things. Who is that going to help?

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  10. I'm kind of late on the whole blog situation, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm slowly reading all of your posts, and I'm taking much from them. :) You are a very inspiring man, Matt.

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