2020 First Post

2020 is here finally. I took a long break away from writing or blogging and only just now decided to write with only a wee bit amount of time before work. 

The retail gig is going alright but somehow I'm finding myself more and more willing to quit and do something else. It's interesting because my friends in the office job world don't seem to be faring too well either. "You want a real career. You need to go back to college or trade school." This is the kind of advice I get from my superiors and peers. The thing is that most of them are in the same boat as I am...yadda yadda. 

I've been chilling with a lot of friends. The power of friendship as they say in the Yugioh! hit anime. I've also been reading a lot. I just finished reading Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, where he goes into many different concepts, ideas, logic, including metaphysics and the existence and/or nonexistence of God. It took me about three weeks to read. Even longer to grasp the concepts, some of which I'm still digesting through lectures on YouTube and philosophy forums. 

The power of philosophy never ceases to amaze me. Kant's categorical imperative, something as the Catholic, do others as you would unto yourself, really puts intellectual curiosity in the best light. This is that no matter no smart we are, no matter how much we know, we are to use that knowledge to make ourselves and the world better. Make the world a better place, and be a better person. 

I've been getting interested in other countries' philosophers, like the French, but for the moment I've been focusing on German Idealism, which primarily concerns Kant, Schelling, Fichte, and Hegel. 

On another note, Christmas was good and my dad got me a really great science fiction novel called Engine Summer by British writer John Crowley. From 1979, the book isn't your typical science fiction fanfare, meaning its a much more serious, artful, delicate sort of reading. Some of it seems quite pretty and childlike but I have to finish it to find out more. Although the book is an average length I'm taking my time with it because it is something that you want to enjoy. The writing has more of a laid back yet still elliptical sort of style. Not elliptical like William Gibson but still elliptical. Some of the concepts remind me of American science fiction but yet this is fundamentally different. 

I have a lot of library books checked out at all times. I have a very strong focus on reading. I only read one book at a time and I usually finish them. After Engine Summer I'll probably get to Kant's Critique of Judgement, his philosophy on art and beauty. Which, ironically, I found that many philosophy YouTubers focused more on Kant's Critique of Pure Judgement than his Critique of Pure Reason, when talking about his general concepts a general introduction to him. I found that interesting, considering that I thought Critique of Pure Reason was the more serious discourse. As you can see I've become very interested in philosophy. In a way, I've gone from a more typical reading background based on science fiction to a more classical aesthetic. I'm very proud of that and hope to learn and understand more. 

The first post in 2020. Glad to have made it to 2020. There's still struggle and contradiction but at least there's great literature to keep me going. More posts incoming. My break on writing is over.