Only I

After much deliberation about how to start this off, we begin. 

It seems fitting that the first post be an exercise in Ego, for what is blogging but shouting into the aether and demanding that the world take notice of one's own brilliance?  Thus it comes down to explaining thusly that the purpose of my existence, I who is your interlocutor, is to explain the guiding principle, the central tenet of philosophy that guides this tiny project. 

I Am Not You. 

Four little words, the ultimate expression of Ego in an increasingly selfish society.  I am guided by a sort of reverse solipsism, the idea that all of you are put here to keep me from exercising my sense of self.  In a very real way, you are all obstacles to my own inner peace and tranquility.

Mistake me not, oh denizen of this electron shrouded domain, I hold that this is a fundamental truth for all of us. It is not a declaration of some form of nihilistic alienation, some personal burden I bravely bear, but a life lesson, hard won that I hope to share. 

There will be laughter. There will be tears. I will violate the taboos of polite discussion, which is a fine way of stating up front that politics and religion are not off limits. I find the tendency for people to shun those topics to be one of the foremost sins of the age, in fact, but that is ultimately the topic of another post.

Allow me to distill the very essence of what I mean into a pithier phrasing that might, perchance, fit upon a bumper sticker or two.

"At the end of the day I am the only one responsible for me." 

"If I am unhappy with other people, that is my problem, not theirs."

Sadly, it will take many words and many more posts to explicate the meaning of those simple sentences.  I shall castigate you often, my dear readers, for the necessity of soundbites in simple discussion.