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forest for the trees

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"Do I contradict myself?"

November 19, 2015 Daniel Nesbit

I'm interested in sitting in the space of paradox. Not visiting, but setting up shop: I think it's where the good stuff happens. In this space, I can turn two seemingly incompatible ideas over and over until I break through to a reservoir of harmony.

I am a pragmatic idealist. I believe in radical incrementalism. I aim for both presence and productivity. I pursue exponential connections in the digital age while excusing myself for solitude. I am the master of my fate and I am nothing at all.

I am all these things. I push and push on these pairs of paradox, wondering always if they really are at odds. In moments of clarity, I find that they are not. Whitman speaks to me:

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

I answer the same: Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain paradox.

In essay
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