Justifying beliefs
Every time I’m writing something, my thought process goes like this -
This is on my mind, I want to write it down…
Maybe I should put it on my blog, someone might find it useful…
Oh no, people are gonna read what I write…
I need to make sure my argument is perfect, my prose is fluent, my language is vibrant, I should channel my inner Hemingway…
Oh I wonder what Hemingway’s writing process was…
And two days later, I’m struggling with what I wanted to write about, I haven’t published anything, and i’m stressed.
I read a post today - How To Write Quickly While Maintaining Epistemic Rigor and one part stood out to me.
…stop trying to justify your beliefs. Don’t go looking for citations to back your claim. Instead, think about why you currently believe this thing, and try to accurately describe what led you to believe it.
I put this pressure to convince the reader that what I say is justifiable. Just look at my writing history, half of them are questions because I can’t tell if my argument is perfectly well-rounded.
Yes, I love seeing upvotes on my posts. I love reading what people write in the guestbook. I actually call my mom and read them out to her every time a new one pops up.
But i also just enjoy writing in and of itself.
I don’t think I should put this pressure on myself. When I’m going through something I’d like to write about, I want to answer just one question “What lead me to here?"
I don’t have to justify by beliefs, I just have to understand them.