The Might of the Pen

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    I've always wanted to be some sort of warrior. There has been a part of me that has wanted to learn how to fight and learn how to strategize and defeat an enemy. 

     I sponged up many books and articles on great battles and wars of human history, in particular the Second World War. I admired generals like Eisenhower or MacArthur and have been fascinated by what type of mind it takes to command and lead millions of soldiers, sailors, and marines through a massive global conflict.  

      The type of thinking and the type of mentality required to be that kind of leader strikes an interest in me from a psychological perspective. It's all those psychology classes being applied to my academic fascination with war and leadership. I'd love to study the psychology of a leader. The mind of a leader.

 I still want to be a warrior. A leader of sorts. The desire never really goes away, no matter how out of reach it becomes the older I get. Unfortunately, and tragically, being a leader and a warrior in the mold of Eisenhower or on a smaller scale like leading a small group of fighters against an enemy or target was one of the many things in my life mental illness destroyed. 

 Like I said, the desire never goes away. Neither does the bitterness and resentment of being rejected by that system. Since I still want that warrior lifestyle, but am not allowed to have it, I try to harness that bitterness and disappointment and anger and use it to fuel something constructive and useful. It fuels my writing. It fuels my thinking.

 It was either find a constructive outlet for that rejection or let it consume me to the point of where I become dangerous and a threat.

So I write a shit-ton of philosophy. Thought provoking ideas and theories. I talk a lot about infinity, eternity, the philosophy of ideas, and the philosophy of war, and everything in between, primarily because I am not satisfied by life. I also, for better or for worse, didn't quite get what I wanted out of this life.  It's ok though. Rejection and disappointment are good incentives and a potent fuel to refine and hone yourself and sharpen your mind and skills. 

  Plus, its not just cliched rhetoric when it's said that "the pen is mightier than the sword." Words, ideas, and information, if presented right, can cut into people's minds. They can blow up people's minds even, in a sense, and radically alter the way someone thinks and understands the world or existence. 

      Ideas and information are the driving force of conflict. They are also the psychological "keepers of the peace" and the foundation of the order that creates stability after a war. You'll never see a system that is designed to prevent war and conflict that is not based around ideas and abstract information to some extent. In fact, ideas are the core component of those systems. 

      You'd also be hard-pressed to find a war that doesn't have a significant ideological component to it. The word "ideology" being defined as "a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy."  Again, ideas and information form a massive and essential component of war. 

     Ideas and information are most commonly, and most effectively, conveyed to the human mind through words, or some sort of language.

       So since I'm not technically going to be carrying an assault rifle or spearheading an effort to eliminate an enemy by physical force any time soon (or probably ever), I'll try to make my pen be my sword. I'll try my best to cut into the minds of people to expose them to alternative ways of thinking. I'll try to blow up people's minds rather than blow up buildings or enemy positions. I'll try to alter thinking, if just slightly, in the hopes of affecting someone's decisions for the better.  

 Plus, if you are going to fight a war of ideas, you got to fight the ideas, not just the idealists. You got to neutralize terror"ism," not just continuously kill the terror"ists."  If the idea that drives the conflict isn't neutralized or rendered impotent in the minds of potential "hosts," then the war will just continuously recycle itself over an extended period of time.

 The only way to do these things is through information. The only way to fight ideas at their source is with words. 

If the pen is mightier than the sword, then I'll try to wield it wisely.

My writing is my fighting.

My words are the only weapons I have