You’re probably wondering as to the significance of “The Door In the Wall.” 

Well, I’m a fan of literature, of art, philosophy, and any exploration or examination of the human potential. The scope of man is fascinating, and as Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I find it strangely satisfying to understand everyday life and conflict through the lens of culture and art and psychology and philosophy and basically everything that’s losing its place in an increasingly practical and conventional world. Call it a personal vendetta against the world’s obsession with specialization and a rebirth of well-roundedness. I want to connect the dots. I want to achieve balance between pragmatism and abstraction; to prove that from mental floss…truly valuable perspective is born.

“The Door In The Wall”  is the name of a short story written by H.G. Wells. The story is a retrospective look at a man’s life who, throughout various stages of his life dealt with a sort of existential struggle: to live a practical, rational life, or to submit to his imagination. This choice manifested itself in the form of a green door in his room. The door led to a magical garden where the complete indulgence of his imagination was realized, and the few times that the door appeared he was faced with the decision to either stick to his practical responsibilities, or to give in to escape. His struggle is not simply the choice, but the challenge of bridging the gap between those two parts of his life. To me, the door represents the dichotomy of the mind – the rational versus the absurd, the logical versus the creative, and the dynamic flux of who’s winning the battle.

Coincidentally, William Blake once wrote, “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” What’s more, Aldous Huxley said, “There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” Perhaps Huxley referenced Blake, but what I’m getting at is this idea of a door in relation to our view of the world. There are lenses and perspectives and opinions and ideas and information and states of mind that have real effects on not only our understanding of the world but the actions we take as a result of that. What I’m saying is that I’m a believer in the idea that the more “doors” you expose yourself to and the harder you work to understand the basis from which other people understand the world, the savvier you move through life.

Finally, I simply want to stress that this is not a pointless exploration of the arts or a glorified book club. My goal is to talk about real things; things that affect people’s lives, things in the news, local amusements, national shifts, international differences. Much like a comedian’s ability to find universality and common ground and turn an unassuming phenomenon into a punch line, I aim to dig beneath the surface of everyday and explore the fundamental roots of our daily experiences in society in a way that, while different, honestly just makes sense to everyone.

I am a twenty-something trying to navigate school and the search for unique purpose in a world that operates on data, dollars, and dotted lines.

Let’s shake things up.