2022-09-03 to Rohan
Dear Rohan,
I am pleased to hear you have taken u other pen once again against the nebulous ideas inside you. That eternal wrestle will be arduous but I have faith some portion will be fruitful. This letter comes to with two additional points beyond the congratulatory essence.
Firstly, I wanted to raise question towards your general knowledge. You are most confident in most things, an understander of things philosophical, both to the modern & antiquated meanings. I am hoping to use your expertise in such an endeavor. How do I find a community of individuals to discuss deep and probing thoughts? Particularly of the political or philosophical realms? In the geographical location I find myself in this seems an arduous task. My work provides some but many of those individuals have bought into the engineered mindset of rationalism and I find myself often discussing the issue with all interlocutors having the same cultural and intellectual blind spots & routs of thinking, of which I am too familiar. I reflect on one of the strongest connections I have in my life so far. They were sufficiently different from myself; my own Diotima. Different from myself in culture, and to a degree, in overall social standing yet conversation flowed & I wa always marveling at the lack of wisdom I had in the domains they raised. I highly valued those late night badinage, and I feel a similar fondness for our own conversations. Yet I yearn to recreate these memories with another individual on a more frequent basis. And that longing returns me, much distracted, to my initial question. How should I go about fostering another one of these bonds? I trust in the process of seeking and finding but how to search? That is my conundrum currently. Any advice will be considered, though I do not commit to the specified execution of your opinions. Now that my lack of liberal connection has be shared, I can move to the second purpose of my letter.
It’s a question I somewhat asked in person but we never got into a deep conversation, namely am I too nice of a person? I now that I have many people pleasing tendencies & have these held me back career wise and relationship wise? Or am I stressing about my personality which I can’t really change? On this and the earlier prompt I would love some sagely advice.
yours,
Castoranas