"Hello, World!"

With this posting I officially mark my re-entry into the rank and file of the desk-chair blogger. Blogging is a fascinating medium for expressing information, but it is not without its drawbacks. While it allows anyone with a decent internet connection to express their views to the world at large, there is nonetheless encouragement to do nothing more than shout (figuratively, of course) to the world a jumble of incoherent and irrational opinions. Therefore, I will strive to maintain a sense of intellectual honesty and coherency in my blogging.

I would be inclined to say that this resolution instantly lifts this blog above a good number of other blogs out there. However, as we all know, there is a large gap between the intent and what will actually occur. Wait-and-see seems like a good approach here.

With that in mind, I'm going to go for a "hello, world!" posting that will indicate the direction and mentality I'll work for in future blogs. Kind of like an inaugural address, right? I do wantthough to actually work with these guidelines, unlike the friendly rhetorical and political world of campaign promises expressed via inaugural address.

Empiricism
I don't possess more than a layman's working knowledge of philosophy (which may change over the course of college), but there are certain concepts that I adhere to. The first is my belief in our invariable shaping of our own subjective realities by experience. One of the most applicable quotes for me here comes from Orwell in 1984: "Men's minds are infinitely malleable." Therefore, I strive to be very cautious in being evaluative, especially of other people, because I can't hope to understand in full what leads them to their own personal beliefs. As a result, I will avoid speaking in absolutes and label generalizations as such when I make them.

Faith
A common question that would arise is how can I be firmly set on variable understandings between people and still consider myself a person of faith? I've been told that I'm inevitably becoming more atheistic as I learn more and question more about the nature of reality. There is no debate that the latter part of that statement is true. However, whenever I want to believe that my own questioning process somehow debunks faith, or God, or an objective truth, I remind myself at that point that the notion of faith incorporates that it is human and inevitable to doubt and find faith illogical. I'll say it directly: faith and logic don't get along. Empirically, however, our logic is colored by our own experiences, and can't be trusted to be any less subjective than our perception itself. This is where I am compelled to trust in the transcendent nature of faith, and how it takes many forms for different people. There is only one thing, then, that warrants no further explanation beyond the statement itself: "I am the way and the truth and the life." (John 14:6)

Optimism
It is a strong tendency of mine to be sentimental and optimistic. A large part of this stems from my own youth and relative innocence. I've never had anyone closer than a great-grandparent die through the end of high school, and never had to sustain life-threatening injury, or witness a near-total failure of reason and dehumanization in my personal life. So in reading what I write, understand that's where I come from. However, as a result of this tendency, I am firmly convinced that measured optimism stemming from a basic trust in people is a necessity to believing in progress in all levels of one's world - from personal morality to global social development.

Emotion
While compassion can be a great strength, it can also be a tremendous vulnerability. On a base level, people often surrender their rationality in order to "follow their heart" in the most Disney-esque way possible. I believe that this route, while deepening our experiences and enriching our relationships, sometimes leads people to become exploited and directed towards certain ideas because they want to believe something at the expense of reason. Perhaps I'm being intellectually lazy in making this statement, but I feel that each person's emotion and reason can be a personal strength and weakness and as a result, the two elements can mesh together in a personalized way that brings the greatest clarity. Does anybody achieve this state of enlightenment? Doubtful. Nonetheless, just as perfect love is unattainable by human endeavors, it is still something I must strive for in my life.

Irrationality
More times than not, people are simply irrational and act on false assumptions or petty motivations. This is something I have struggled to accept, but must. My optimism resides, however, in the ability of people to recover from these shortcomings. It seems to me that much of recent cultural development promotes self-absorption and irrationality, but that is another subject for a another time.

Basically this is my context and the launchpoint for everything I'll write. Future entries probably won't be as contemplative as this one, and I have a tendency to be sarcastic, but this entry needed to be what it was. So - "Hello, world! I'm Pearce."