I think writing is a form of therapy. And it can really help if you don’t want to talk to someone about what you are going through. Writing can help clear your mind, it is a way of letting everything all out.

Hey Thomas, I like your post about writing, and how important writing is to a human being. Writing is a very powerful tool and weapon, many say that writing is one of the most powerful weapon in the world. I like how you state “the act of writing in a consistent way opens up the human mind in ways that could never have been opened before” writing helps creativity and free’s one mind from the real world. I found an interesting article that you may want to look at (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/tomas-laurinavicius/reasons-why-writing-remai_b_12701380.html). Anyways thanks for your post and I look forward to see what you write next.

Thomas,
Yes! Writing is a personal outlet, and even a data log for humanity’s experience. Throughout history scribes, and now what we call journalists have always been prevalent in society. Which is why I worry that people would choose to say ‘journalism is a dying craft.’ Because writing is critical for social analysis, and self-reflection.

I think the art of writing can be used in the most helpful ways, like you said. The form of language is powerful and moving, although, I can assume more people think writing is typing now. I prefer picking up my journal rather than posting to twitter. I don’t believe a character limit has the same effect as an old fashioned pen and paper; so including “how you write” may explain another dynamic layer to why writing unveils human emotion.

Check out this source, written by Kristin Wong (https://lifehacker.com/journaling-showdown-writing-vs-typing-1792942629), she briefly explains how writing on paper has a tendency to feel more gratifying.

<3, Averi

i love this writing, I believe writing can be a type of therapy to heal the mind and let a person express themselves.

Very interesting topic, Thomas. I really enjoyed how you wrote about empathy and reading literature. i also addressing this issue in a previous post, and I found it very fascinating. In particular, it was impressive to me that “the most important reason for our emotional engagement in literature is our empathy with others and our constant imagining and hypothesizing on possible developments in our interactions with them.” I found an article that relates to this topic which you could take a look at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-me-care/. I look forward to reading more from you on this topic in the future.

Thomas,
I really enjoyed reading your post. I found your post interesting because it shed new light on fitting in and having a herd mentality. I found it intriguing when you said “However, the notion of fitting in, also referred to herd behavior, limits the mind’s potential to become open and wondrous in the way it is supposed to be. This nature of individuality is subtle to most individuals seeking acceptance and acknowledgement by other people.” I also think you would find this article (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/prescriptions-life/201310/stop-trying-fit-in-aim-belong-instead) interesting. It is about belonging instead of trying to fit in. I look forward to reading more of your posts on this subject in the future because it allows me to see a new perspective.

Thomas,

I really liked your post about fitting in. I especially liked the featured image of the one black sheep in the herd of all the white sheep. I think that your post was very well written, and that it makes a great topic for your research paper. Here is a website for you to check out if you feel like it: https://www.simplypsychology.org/conformity.html It is interesting and has to do with your post. Thank you so much for sharing this, and I hope to hear more about this topic from you!

Thank you,
Sophia Gross

I really enjoyed reading your article and think it raises many good points about our world today. I agree that people are blaming others that are of color or different religion for the fear and worry in America. When really it is much deeper and just an easy escape for their worry. I wonder if there will be a book written like Animal Farm about what is going on right now. What do you think?

I really enjoyed reading your post and I thought it brought up some very good points. I thought of the use of fear and how everyone blindly follows the government when they instill fear in a society about some subject or people. Do you foresee any changes in this kind of behaviour or do you think that this behaviour will continue until it becomes catastrophic?

Thomas, great sources and quotes! They related greatly to what you are trying to persuade . Your example of the the muslims and terrorists turned out to be a great supporting backbone of your statement. But I must say that I disagree with your statement that we shouldn’t let these “fears” change us, instead we should take advantage of these “fears” and pursue to become greater wether it is at an individual scale or as a mass population. Fear is a mental thing in my eyes, if we can turn to be more self confident and ignore desperation we would all be better off and have less to worry about. Overall great article, I enjoyed reading it !

Thomas, I really enjoyed reading your post about society. I truly think that it brings up a topic that isn’t talked about very much. This was very interesting, and I believe that to a certain extent this is very accurate. There is much fear of others in a society, and this is a link that may be intriguing for you to read if you are interested: http://time.com/4158007/american-fear-history/ It may help to explain the history of why we are worried to express opinions and personalities and views to others. Thank you for sharing!

Hello, Thomas. I really enjoyed your post on fear because it also reminds me our present time. I agree with Emma, I wonder if there will be a new Animal Farm written for our time. Orwell’s work is still relevant in today’s society. Thank you for your post!

This is very interesting, Thomas. I especially like what you said about the idea of zombification, and that a society where everyone works only for everyone else causes a society where there is no individualism. This hinders progress in any society. When reading your discussion, I immediately began to think of North Korea, and how “the regime has invested massive resources in trying to maintain an information blockade and keep its monopoly as the only source of information and ideas to the North Korean people” (https://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/learn-nk-challenges/). The North Korean people have little to no access to information not given to them by their government, and this has caused a society depleted of not only resources but also free thought, which has caused them to fall behind most other countries in the world in terms of research and betterment of their country. I will look forward to your next discussion.

Hello Thomas!
The first thing that came to mind as I read this was a quote by Albus Dumbledore: “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” I love the concept of language and writing as well. I find it mind-boggling that we can just stare at symbols and they translate in our minds into these grand ideas and stories. It’s truly one of the most incredible things we have done as humans. I additionally love how you’ve taken something so simple and delved deeper into it, finding complexity in a frequently overlooked concept. I think it takes a very sharp and curious mind to identify the wonder in a simple thing such as language and take it to another level.

Wow! This was very mind bending but very intriguing! While reading I tried to define “nothing” in my own terms and found just how hard it is to not use the word “something” or another word along those lines. How did you come up with a question this abstract and complex? I also liked how you tied religion into it and how so many people can believe in “nothing” because they have never seen it.

This is an extremely deep and well thought out post, Thomas. I often think about the concept of nothing as well, mostly when I think about death. If there truly is no heaven or hell, no afterlife to look toward, and we simply cease to exist when we take our final breath, will nothingness feel like anything or will we have no feelings or consciousness to experience nothingness with? I highly recommend that you take a look at this article by independent UK (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/this-is-what-its-like-to-be-dead-according-to-a-guy-who-died-for-a-bit-10068959.html), which is a person who died for several minutes before being brought back by medicine and who felt what it truly is to feel nothing. I will look forward to your next post.

Thomas,
I think this is the trippiest post I have ever read. Nothing truly is one of the hardest ideas to grasp. How can “nothing” exist in a world where everything is defined as a something? My question now is, what is the proper way to use this word? I can see how in some situations nothing can exist, for example if someone asks if you have clothes in your closet, and there happen to be none, there is “nothing” of clothes in there. And there are some things that contain nothing of a certain something. But, relating to your post of something being nothing, I don’t really know what to say. I like that you said that “my biggest fear is not knowing” because that is my biggest fear too. I want to know facts, especially about mysterious/controversial ideas, and it is terrifying to be left in the dark. I know you enjoy debates, so I found a debate about what is nothing. I hope the both of us can draw some more intake on this subject from the video! Thank you for writing about this, I’m excited to see more of your future posts.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-existence-of-nothing-live/

this post is very well thought. Sometimes i wonder so many things and its so crazy how our minds can think so such an extent and questions things like thought.

Thomas,
I found your post very interesting. I think you would enjoy the article (link below) about how destiny is determined by your decisions. I agreed with your statement that “choosing the path of determinism leaves no room for many of the cultural and advanced philosophical values that we hold close today.” People have formed many important things and ideas that shape the world we live in. I have also thought that “it best to control as much as we can, to form our own destiny.” I believe that people should work for what they want in life. I look forward to reading your next post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/natasha-koifman/decisions-determine-destiny_b_7999966.html