Why Do I Read On Medium?
It’s where modern thinkers flock
Whenever a diverse group of people assemble, facts and opinions on life, science, philosophy, religion, social/political/economic conditions, food, cultural practices, celebrations et al. are enthusiastically shared and dissected. We can’t help it, it’s the innate curiosity in us which drives us to explore the unknown and challenge the typical. We are agents of chaos. We love stories, and anything from obscure tales of yonder to fantastical myths of lands far away regales and excites us. We sniff out the realities masked by fiction. We are seekers of knowledge. Among us humans, ideas spark when truths are exchanged in the form of worldviews and perspectives rising out of a thousand different lives lived. Truths resonate in our bones and blood. Truths of human existence. And every now and then, some daring human or the other decides to see the realities as they are, and also peer through another’s eyes. Ideas spark when truths clash. The truly extraordinary ideas uplift the human condition. They usher in ever modern ages of humanism. New ways of living, hopes and thrills of inevitable progress, betterment of self and in effect, others. Once birthed, ideas, like dandelion seeds, take to the wind. The daring humans? Thinkers, and doers. The pollinators of good ideas.
You can find a similarly eclectic crowd here on Medium. (You can find similar pools elsewhere too I guess, but I haven’t checked and I don’t care.)
Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think. Benjamin Disraeli
Over here, I come to read the critical thinkers. More specifically -
- What they say about themselves, their worldviews, their lives
- How they frame/package their truths and opinions for public eyes
Who’re these thinkers? These are your run-of-the-mill
- doomsday predictors (the fatalists and nihilists are increasing in numbers, and why not. They’re ruminating on the ways to avert the inevitable. They’ll show you raving stats and displace your imagined cosy reality with hard-hitting, grim worldviews related to the looming extinction of humanity and humans, leaving you gently simmering or breathlessly gasping for air)
- encouraging soothsayers (the hopeful ones, who have been walking the walk they’re talking about. They actively try to coax you into realizing YOLO and therefore carpe diem. They know that someday you will have to pay heed to these topics, and they’re imploring, why not now?)
- hard-hitting pragmatists (they assimilate painstaking amounts of information to uphold their analyses and insights as facts. They challenge you to do your own homework before airing opinions. They’re practical, realists like the doomsday predictors. But they nudge you to find your own data and unearth your own insights. In this sense, they’re catalysts)
- unaware therapists (they’re all about nature, arts, animals… The bohemians and hippies who are on their way to carpe diem-ing. They’re out to find their tribes and sing and dance along their way to the sunset. Any resulting entertainment is a by-product)
- habitual grumblers (they rant, and speak in satirical tones. They‘re somewhat passive aggressive - sliding in sniggering comments, agitating the calm ponds. They find it hard to digest that the rest of us have not yet bothered to read Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hume, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche etc. A bunch of instigators)
- unabashed revellers (in life. They’re not showing off, preaching, urging, instigating. They just are. And that’s tantalising to the rest of the crowd. The revellers simply find themselves blogging on Medium instead of commenting on Reddit or posing on Instagram. They might be doing those as well, and more. I won’t know)
Note that I called all of them run-of-the-mill. This is not to call any of these writers and authors mediocre.
I simply want to illuminate the uneasy fact that they used to be as common as to be called run-of-the-mill thinkers. There used to be these hordes of crazies, randomly assorted groups of culturists, bands of poets and painters and performers and storytellers mingling amongst themselves both before and after the day’s work. That was not ‘escaping from rote learning and hazy office work for 1 hour of relaxation and 7 hours of sleep’. That was how life was lived. And life was lived to its fullest, it seems. Just like earning a livelihood was never out of fashion, because it’s a simple matter of social construct, thinking for one self and acting according to a set of good morals and fundamentally benevolent principles was a norm as well — because that put the spring in our steps, and the rosy flush on our cheek. That strengthened our purpose, and gave us hope every new day.
All in a day’s honest work and honest play. The latter seems to have been fading in fashion. You can blame technology, pandemic et al. But that’s just an uneducated comment. Physically, we’re unaltered. Psychologically, we’ve let ourselves unravel at the mercy of distractions and diversions as we chase rainbows and pots of gold at the cost of everything that is truly, truly dear to us. Self awareness, self respect, brotherhood, compassion, empathy, duty, enlightenment. The drive to build ourselves up into a worthy human being.
As a result of our collective and individual decisions over the ages — the progress we find ourselves to be mired in, has only made it increasingly difficult for much of the general population to even begin to think for themselves. Few control the fate of many, and since force is on the side of the masses, the ones in control are left with control of opinions (1). And that’s a big, BIG price the masses pay for the sake of convenient lifestyle and a fragile sense of security. We easily forget that we think, therefore we are (2). When we stop thinking for ourselves and subsequently (yet naturally) for others, we are dislodged from our intrinsic sense of belonging and purpose.
We wildly look around for guidance, for magical and mythical paths leading to our salvation. We shove others out of the way without a second thought. That’s when we start feeling lost. We chase after unicorns and keep conditioning ourselves — there’s gold in them thar hills! But there’s no other life, no other land than this (3)! Are we kidding ourselves, or others? We plot to dump money and fame on the darkness that stares back at us when we look inside ourselves. We find our own time dissolving in front of our helpless, desperate selves. Our own choices lead to the inequities of the selfish and the tyrannies of evil men (4). Don’t you know that it’s us, you and I — who carefully build up a despot, a dictator, a fascist, a deluded ‘leader’ to guide us to our own doom? We act like herrings in a shoal trapped among predators, and we act out of fear (5). We live in fear. In scarcity. We live desperate lives (6). We live in the ultimate poverty of our own impoverished minds. We lose our individuality, and the confidence to be self-reliant. This is who we’ve become.
It’s somehow the opposite of progress, don’t you think?
Who are we waiting for? Who do we think is going to rescue us from the dogmas we’ve allowed to take over our very existence? And you blame technology/recession/covid/avian flu/aristocrats/bureaucrats for all this degeneration of our selves?
Hah!
Many people would sooner die than think. In fact, they do. Bertrand Russell
So I find and read the thinkers here on Medium. It helps immensely to have easy access to a social platform that enables seamless exchange of meaningful banter and explosive ideas, and some magical algorithm pushing the best of ruminations and self-affirmations on top of recommendation lists.
I’m not here to clap for your articles because you clapped for mine and other such mindless drivel. I’m here to follow the trains of thoughts of those who think for themselves (established through what they say and find interesting) and are adept in their styles of storytelling.
The latter skill I find interesting because I’m a student of the art of writing. And all those gloomy doomsday predictions, hopeful melodies, blatant realism, soothing cocktails, bitter medicines and adventures of a lifetime? I see past them. I look at the critical thinker behind the craft, and his intentions behind spinning a masked or blunt tale.
Because figuring that out is part of my mission to find my tribe. And to learn that I’m not alone. And to sharpen my sword.
I have abundantly borrowed ideas from great thinkers for this essay -
(1) Political philosophy of David Hume
(2) “Cogito, ergo sum” — the first principle of René Descartes’s philosophy
(3) Henry David Thoreau’s argument for living in the present
(4) Ezekiel 25:17
(5) Paraphrased from Netflix’s White Noise
(6) Thoreau
& here’s a list of articles that I highly recommend.
Wait I have more recommendations!
Do check out these writers here at Mind Talk who’re great at what they’re doing -
