I feel like I could reasonably split my life into three phases (so far).<\/p>\n
The first phase is the phase of accumulation. We’re talking from early childhood to adolescence- the longest phase yet. Calvin and Hobbes, Enid Blyton. Science. History. Language. Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses. Playing in a band. Getting a girlfriend. I’d say this was my dominant phase up until I was about 19. Of course, I’m still accumulating new ideas and perspectives all the time, but that’s become a sort of backburner- something I do subconsciously. I think it’s something we can easily go overboard these days- obsessing about acquisition, getting tonnes of books, movies, all that stuff. Information overload.<\/p>\n
The second phase is the phase of reflection. I think this had its beginnings when I really started writing (or slightly before), around secondary school- when I was 13 or 14. There’s some degree of overlap with the first stage, of course. I think you can only really call yourself reflective when you start to acknowledge your own mistakes and shortcomings. I started blaming others less and blaming myself more. I thought I became a little more sensible about things, a little more fair and even-handed. Sometimes, though, I was a little hard on myself and had moments of despair and self-loathing. Thankfully, I managed to overcome that, and have been able to steer away from that particular pit of quicksand. This provided me with a greater understanding of other people, their motivations. I became more aware of how I came across to people, of how I was being perceived, stuff like that. I started to realize that I was far more naive than I thought I was. I started to get to know myself better, to figure out what I like, what I believe in. I suppose this was when I started to dive into philosophy and stuff like that.<\/p>\n
I’m still accumulating information, of course- in fact there was a bit of a revival towards the end of my JC life and for the earlier part of my NS life when I found myself getting re-acquainted with information at large- learning new things altogether, broadening my horizons. It started to feel necessary, important- I felt like I didn’t know enough- reflection made me more aware of the gaps in my knowledge.<\/p>\n
So there’s acquisition of experiences and information, then there’s reflection and restructuring- rearranging and making sense of that information. Then what?<\/p>\n
Creation! Being creative, generative. That’s the third stage. Of course, I’ve created stuff before- writing music could be described as vaguely generative, though I thought that was more of a side-effect of me playing in a band, rather than the main intent. But this is when I really feel like I’m ready to contribute to the world. I’ve seen and heard plenty, and I’ve thought about all of that and what that means- enough to spend the remainder of my life simply discussing what I’ve acquired and reflected. of course, I’m going to do more than that.<\/p>\n
Life is far too complex to be split into distinct phases. But I think it’s worth having provisional ideas (with the intention of replacing them with superior ones once they become obsolete) to give you a rough idea of things, to figure out how to act. Acquisition, reflection, creation. It’s like unlocking a new level, transcending your prior circumstances, reaching new heights, having a bigger arsenal. There’s more to my life now. This is where I create. I am ready. My life’s work is ahead of me. Let’s get cracking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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