Down The Rabbit Hole Again
I have a propensity for going down rabbit holes. It’s how I find new books to read, great movies or music that I’ve somehow missed, or come up with new and interesting solutions to problems. I find it fun to explore in this way. I get excited by those unexpected results or insights that pop up in the process. I’m not necessarily interested in solving the known secrets of the universe. I enjoy speculating and mapping out what might be possible, especially if it flies in the face of logic and tradition. In this I find the journey to be most important, and the destination to barely matter at all.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist and am not one to operate as if there is someone out to get me or is using me to some nefarious end. Even if any of it is true, and it likely is, unless it serves me in a way I can use, I give these conversations no real weight. I tend to dabble in such discussions to find out what truly drives the people that do. Is it about stopping bad actors? Is it the feeling of disrespect or slight that others are not giving them the dignity they feel they deserve? Is it the quaint notion that shining light on such people and situations will change things in some magical way? Maybe it is the desire to educate others so they might see the world the way you do. Maybe they just want to educate others, to lead them to the water as if it was some great calling or spiritual mandate. My interest is in getting to know people, their motivations, and how they use their intelligence, skills, experience, and beliefs to affect the world around them.
It’s not uncommon for me to read a good book and go back to try to read everything else that the author ever wrote. My “to read” booklist is full of such titles. I do the same thing with music. Writers, producers, and arrangers often work on other projects that are also noteworthy but the marketing for those projects may have missed me. Sometimes I’m intrigued by their influences as well. It’s not uncommon for me to spend an evening starting with one bit of music that moves me, dissecting it, and following the breadcrumbs to something similar or something entirely new and unexpected. It is the same with movies and TV shows as well. There are recommendation engines all over the Internet for such things and AI can also assist if you can figure out what questions to ask.
It’s the asking part that’s pivotal for me. Finding new questions to ask, some direction that no one appears to be looking in can lead to wonderful results and discoveries. The “what if” and “if so” of it all never cease to engage me. When I can find someone to do it with, it is not uncommon for me to dedicate my entire day to the process. I’ve met people for the first time and talked with them for hours, rescheduling all other commitments. When their viewpoint is uncommon and there is some passion behind those thoughts, I often find them to be singular people. In my never-ending search for wonder, I endeavor to be a singular person myself.
