This is why I take the “Don’t prepare, don’t think” approach to many things I do. Does it ensure a great result? Nah. Does it keep me from going mad? Sure does.
It’s an iterative process. I first read read the novel Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco 15 or 20 years ago. I glossed over the stuff I didn’t understand, and loved it anyway.
Two decades later, I’ve read a lot of the stuff referenced in the novel; it’d be a whole new experience to read it again, and I hopefully will at some point.
Switching gears slightly, I’m finally reading Don Quixote, which has to be one of the most-referenced stories in all of literature. I’ve probably missed dozens or hundreds of Quixote references in my past reading. Oh well! I’ll catch them going forward.
At some point you have to just take what you know and have learned, and trust that you can further learn what you need, or leverage what you already know.
“A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?” - Robert Browning
This is why I take the “Don’t prepare, don’t think” approach to many things I do. Does it ensure a great result? Nah. Does it keep me from going mad? Sure does.
It's better than being frenetic and scatterbrained. Low effort is better than choice paralysis.
I had a weird double-reply, double-delete, so I’ll try it again.
I know it’s self-serving, but I wouldn’t call it “low effort.” When I do something, I go all out. I just don’t overthink the prep phase.
Makes sense and is more viable for sure than being stuck in limbo.
It’s an iterative process. I first read read the novel Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco 15 or 20 years ago. I glossed over the stuff I didn’t understand, and loved it anyway.
Two decades later, I’ve read a lot of the stuff referenced in the novel; it’d be a whole new experience to read it again, and I hopefully will at some point.
Switching gears slightly, I’m finally reading Don Quixote, which has to be one of the most-referenced stories in all of literature. I’ve probably missed dozens or hundreds of Quixote references in my past reading. Oh well! I’ll catch them going forward.
I love how literature is a great, ongoing game.
At some point you have to just take what you know and have learned, and trust that you can further learn what you need, or leverage what you already know.
I completely agree, sometimes it's even liberating to some degree. Knowing I have so much I can read still, but also put aside.
Playing "Disco Elysium" though, may prove more educational and inspirational than reading Hegel. Certainly, Derrida and Deleuze.
Did the Rhizomes write this? Lmao.