This Is Definitely Meaningful

         Lately, I've been thinking about my life in terms of purpose and my reasons for doing the things I do. I find that, most of the time, when I engage in those musings, I either hit a point where I start lying to myself or I give up altogether. It isn't easy to maintain that introspective, self-critical thought process without performing mental gymnastics to avoid thinking about certain things and uncovering certain truths. Perfect self-honesty is nearly impossible. Still, on those occasions when I square my mind and force myself to answer to myself, I reach tentative conclusions about my current purpose in life.
        Knowledge and learning are the most important things in my life. Everything else I do has little value compared to the knowledge that I absorb and attempt to spread. I see something beautiful in having the ability to educate others and share ideas with them. This fosters personal growth while making social interactions more meaningful and minimizing the amount of time I spend "shooting the shit" with people. My view about the questionable legitimacy of social interactions in America is based on the notion that people are over-reliant on so-called "referential content" in both face-to-face and virtual conversations. I define "referential content" as anything distinct from an independently arrived-at idea or view. People discuss the behavior of others, funny videos on the internet, clothing, social media, concerts, etc. But ultimately, where is the value in those interactions? I see a meaningful social interaction as an exchange of something personal and intellectually or emotionally significant to each individual involved. So few interactions in this country can be described as "meaningful" by that standard. I believe that the United States is suffering social degradation as a result of corrupting social, cultural and media influence. Education has become something of a stigma in many circles, and the exchange of ideas is termed "boring" or "pointless" when more amusing and more immediate distractions can dominate conversations.
          Why do two neighbors who feel socially obligated to hold short conversations with each other inevitably turn to discussing the weather? The simple answer seems to be that they don't know each other very well and are desperately reaching for common ground, but that does not explain that same over-reliance on referential content in interactions between closely acquainted individuals. I think that America is slowly forgetting what legitimate interaction is, and our current social condition allows individuals to describe and put forth meaningless opinions on extraneous distractions rather than CREATING something with their minds in order to CONTRIBUTE it. Anyways, I'll quit rambling here.

                From the limited glimpses I've had into myself, I've concluded that knowledge is the most important thing in my life. The experiences that I've had being taught by others and teaching others are extremely significant to me, and I can honestly say its a fair bet that, just like my father, I'll spend a lifetime worth of leisure time pursuing knowledge in different forms.