Research

Since loosing my job I have been unsuccessful at getting a new one but have been more than busy with life enriching projects.  One of those is the gaining of information. I am becoming a habitual reader.  I have read very little throughout my life.  However, I have been a consument learner.  I have watched as many educational programs as I could and as a result I am not uninformed just under informed about what knowledge exists outside of my sphere of understanding and knowledge.

As I attempt to articulate my ideas in this blog and other writing projects I discover I don't actually have enough knowledge about any particular subject to justify my positions or ideas.  As a consequence I am overwhelmed by my lack of knowledge and the illumination reserach tends to shine on everything that is out there. 

Wikipedia is an unbelievable source of information which I am using to get myself up to speed but it is also a source of confusion because there is so much an I have so little time.  At 61 my abilities to comprehend ideas and concepts is as great as it ever has been but my inability to retain many of the facts is as low as it ever has been.

It is interesting though, there are some things my mind immediately grasps.  I am not sure why but it obviously has something to do with my propensities for a paticular point of view.  When I encounter a tid bit that enriches my position my mind seizes upon it and it becomes part of my lixicon.

As I read Plato and come to the conclusion that Socrates is not a real person but a character in the literature my questions aren't about him or the authors but about the language. Where did the words come from?  According to wikipedia the greek languge dates back to 2500 BC.  Plato's writtings are fourth century BC so I suppose that 2000 years of talking and thinking is the explination but the etylogical process is only part of the story.  I suppose one can assume that in the process of thinking and discussing an idea or concept originates and in the author's efforts to articulate his idea a complimentary thought comes to him in such a fashion that a new word is originated.  Without dictionaries how were those words passed around so that others could learn and use them.

We use words so flipently today as if they always existed and that no one actually had to think up every word this sencented is composed of, let alone the garmmar and punctuntation.

I am amazed at the intelligence and prowess of our ancestors. All most everything we know and say was invented by them thousands of years ago.  Talk about standing on the shoulder of giants.