What a meaty post—and it touches on many issues/ideas I’ve been thinking about quite a bit of late. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, my friend!

One thing that has been enormously challenging for me throughout my life is attempting to discover my “true purpose”. Needless to say, that makes fulfilling it quite challenging. This is sometimes exquisitely frustrating for me, but I think I’m approaching some sort of peace. “What I truly want” is easier—at least on some levels—although still not simple to achieve in some respects. Some things that I want seem to stand in opposition to others ...

I do derive a sort of perverse pleasure from reading the news of the day, cataloguing the idiocies of both conservatism and leftists, and discussing some of these things with my liberty-loving friends. I still also believe that being informed and conversant about the news of the day might also be of some practical value (though not as much as I was always taught to believe) in aiding me in my goals.

It is very challenging to completely drop out of society. Being up on current events gives us a connection with others, even those with whom we’re close. I think it also provides some kind of validation that we’re investing our time positively, when we can discuss news stories with others we value. But doing so can disturb one’s mental calm and/or focus. After a few years of being paid to be a news hound, I am just now to the point where I can look at the headlines and teases on Google news and not feel a need to catch up on all the “genuine” news items. What I try to focus on are things that will directly affect my ability to live freely and raise my children as I think best; essentially I look for damage ahead and try to see a way around it.

Arrrgh, I’m rambling already. Thank you for the deeply stimulating entry.