Philosophy

I know that, most, if not all, of you come to this blog for my captions, and possibly for the poor things that are as close as I come to stories.  You don't come to read my rambling thoughts or the details of my life I share.  You certainly don't come to hear me talk of philosophy.  However, I'm sorry to say, that given what has been happening in my life, I feel less the inspiration to caption and more the need to be philosophical.  For those, and I'm sure there are many of you, who aren't interested, skip this post.  There is nothing erotic, nothing funny, not even a single picture found within it.  There is an intimacy to it, but only the intimacy found in understanding my thoughts a little more, seeing a little deeper inside me.  So those many of you, skip this post, wait patiently and the regular function of this site will return.

The rest, read on...


I made a post once, a statement, on a pagan e-group I once frequented.  It was a simple post, a simple thought.  But powerful.

I am steel.

There is a lot of meaning behind that.  However, the response that I got was that steel is not a thing for humans to seek to be.  We cannot be steel, I was told.  Steel is too cold and hard for us.  In a sense, it is true.  Steel is cold and hard, and indeed so am I.  But there is so much more to it than that.  Cold and hard, these are the surface, the most basic of observations.  But to truly understand, we have to look a little deeper into steel.

First, a little bit of information, a tiny tidbit.  I am an amateur blacksmith.  Its not something that I do for a living, just an occasional hobby when I can manage to get to the forge.  Really, I'm not very good, I'm just beginning.  But the one thing I am very good at is making blades.  My proudest work, a long knife.  It may not be pretty, but to those who know blades it is worthy of a master, if I may be so egotistical to say so.  And it is because I understand blades, as a swordsman, and I understand the material I am working with.

I am steel.

You see, anyone who works with metal can tell you that steel can exist somewhere between two extreme states.  The first of which is "hard".  Steel that is hard is rigid, and will hold an amazing edge.  This is most commonly found in razor blades, they are a very hard steel.  They can be sharpened to an extremely small edge.  However, the downside is that because its so rigid it is also fragile.  Steel that is hard will shatter on impact.  The opposite state is "soft".  Steel that is soft will flex and bend.  This is what they use to build skyscrapers and bridges.  It can bend and twist and move without damage.  But if you try to put an edge on it you'll be wasting your time.  It will simply deform as you work.  When making a blade, it must exist in a balance between these two states.  Too hard and it will shatter, too soft and it will deform.  And so too must people exist in a balance.  There are times we must stand firm, hold to principles or rules.  But if we are too firm, we become stubborn, unwilling to change simply to be resist the change.  No flexibility, and so we shatter when we must bend.  In contrast, we must be able to bend and change and adapt as the situation changes.  But to soft and we become indecisive, flip-flopping on decisions and allowing others to trample over us, unable to stand firm when we need to.  The trick is knowing when to be firm and when to be flexible.

I am steel.

Yet, there is more to steel than even that.  More that we can learn.  Because steel is not found, it must be made.  Chemically, steel is mixture of carbon and iron.  The ratio's determine the hardness of the steel.  And to create this compound, iron ore must pass through fire.  It must undergo extreme heat to transform, impurities are burned off.  And the hotter the fire, the better the steel is on the other side.  If it makes it that far.  And once it is steel, how is the blade formed?  Through further heating, and great blows of the hammer.  And so, we too, must pass through fire, endure the hammerfalls.  To grow stronger we must excercise.  And each time we must push a little bit more to improve, we must face a greater and greater challenge to gain strength.  And the same holds true for growth as a person as well.  If there are no challenges there is no growth.  And the greater the challenge, the more we grow as a result.  If we survive it, we are stronger for it.  And there is never an end.  Challenges will never stop.  We surpass them or we die.  And when we surpass them we are rewarded by another challenge.  Every day of our lives we must fight.

I am steel.