@ the notes of daniel
2025-01-24 18:23:27
# Who
So, this is it, this is **How** it begins. No more sitting on the sidelines pondering and wondering. This is it. This is **Where** the rubber hits the road.
OK, so, err… wow. Welcome. I guess this is **How** you start these things, right? I welcome you and I tell you a little bit about my *self*, **Why** I’m here and **Why** you should consider reading on… OK, well, I’ve kinda done that in detail on the [about](https://danielewen.substack.com/about) page, which you can link off to, if you so wish…
I feel like I’m jumping into the deep end, because there is so much that I just don’t know, and **What** I don’t know has many sides to it, so let me try and break this down a little.
# What
Firstly, there is so much that I wish to discuss here, about the essence of the self the nature of reality the meaning of existence, consciousness, choice, consequence, awareness, intention, sovereignty, autonomy, emotion, liberty, ethics, morality, wellness, society, money, law, power, religion, and technology to name just a few…
# How
Then there is Substack, WordPress, Medium, Spotify, YouTube, Rumble, Odysee, and all the other communication channels that are out there, and this doesn’t even begin to account for the minefield that is Social Media today.
# Why
I do know **Why** I’m here on Highlighter (nostr), and it’s for a couple of reasons:
## #1 - Information Gathering
Taking the above point about **What** I wish to discuss, today we have almost instantaneous access to the most amount of information humanity has ever known. This in and of it *self* creates a huge problem because sifting through all this information to uncover reliable and verifiable facts is becoming increasingly difficult.
Information overload can make it difficult to discern fact from fiction, and verifiable facts form the bedrock of **How** we operate within our shared, consensus (objective) reality.
I find my *self* constructing narratives and mental models within my mind that appear to make a lot of sense to my mind, but these can then become difficult to translate into coherent speech **When** attempting to explain them to others. Thus, writing these things down here on Highlighter overcomes two challenges.
1. I get to make sense of these things my *self*, because if I cannot translate my understanding into coherent text then my knowledge and experience of the subject matter must be lacking.
2. If I can capture these things in a coherent way, then I can refer them to others, and hopefully receive constructive feedback in ways that may not have yet occurred to me.
I believe this is **What** Seraph meant **When** he said:
*“You do not truly know someone until you fight them.”*\_ Seraph - The Matrix Reloaded\_
Obviously, the Matrix films were action movies, so the metaphors expressed within them typically manifested through scenes of hand-to-hand combat involving Neo, but at its core, I interpret Seraphs words to mean that, you do not truly know your *self* until you find your true *self*. Here’s another way to explain **What** I mean by this:
*mind.noun, a beautiful servant, a dangerous master.*
or
*When a student is ready, the master appears…*
I’ve explained more about this in the [about](https://danielewen.substack.com/about) page, but here is the summary, consciousness can exist without thought, but thought cannot exist without consciousness. Ergo, consciousness is an innate quality of Being, whereas Mind is an emergent property of consciousness. Once you deconstruct your Being to its core, you eventually arrive at nothing. Nothing is the truth of all reality (ultimate reality), and so to know nothing, through the experience of enlightenment, is to know thy *self*.
Once the distinction is made between the conscious *self* and the thinking mind, truth emerges, and it is this truth that sets us free. This is the “fight” for freedom, or more accurately the struggle for peace, that we are all invited to seek, simply through Being human.
If I can make sense of **What** is in my mind, by writing it down, then this is a good thing. If those words then translate into meaning and understanding for others, then this is a better thing. If conversations emerge that promote growth and increase understanding, then this is the best thing.
## #2 - Process Improvement
So having a corpus of information to discuss is the first thing, but then there is **How** best to have these discussions… This is of equal importance to me because the way that we are generating and consuming content is changing. There now appears to be as many channels to discuss information, as there is information to be discussed, although I suspect Generative Artificial Intelligence will smash that ratio out of the park soon, if it hasn’t done so already.
So, **What** is the best way or ways to do this? Well, I figure the only way to find this out is to run the experiment and see **Where** it goes.
### You gotta start somewhere…
[Substack](https://danielewen.substack.com/p/i-know-nothing) seems like a reasonable place to start because:
1. it’s part of the existing world, **Where** everything is stored centrally, yet it appears to be somewhat censorship resistant, not that I intend to go around kicking the hornets’ nest, but it does appear to be a relatively “safe” place to hang out.
2. it’s growing rapidly and making improvements to its platform all the time, so I can grow and learn as Substack improves.
3. it has a good user base, so connecting with fellow travellers is easier than creating my own standalone website.
4. I’m also hopeful that Substack provides simple and easy integration into things like Podcasting and Social Media, so I can spend more time on content creation and having meaningful conversations, and less time on the technicalities of “distribution”.
### …and see where it goes
Which has led me inexorably here. I only just discovered Highlighter last week, so I am going to do my best to publish all my Substack articles here too. I believe that is the purpose of nostr, right?
# Where
So, I’m going to start on Substack, and take it goes from there, because as the title of this article suggests, “I know nothing.” This is my working assumption, that I know nothing, because I have no real idea about **How** I am going to do any of this.
I’ve never done a Substack or Highlighter (nostr) before, nor do I know **How** to create a Podcast, or **How** to effectively communicate with fellow travellers via Social Media, so this is going to be a journey of discovery for me. This is my first step into a world that seems to be rapidly evolving, so to help you connect with me, on whatever platform suits you, I’ve mapped out my [linktr.ee/danielewen.me](https://linktr.ee/danielewen.me).
If you’ve made it this far down the page, thank you! Just writing this first article and the [about](https://danielewen.substack.com/about) page has been a useful exercise for me.
I hope that I have somewhat accurately articulated my conscious intentions (the **Who**, the **What**, the **How**, the **Why**, and the **Where**) for this Project in such a way that it at least makes some sense to you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and I will do my best to digest any constructive feedback that you have for me. I guess all that remains is the…
# When
As there is only the present moment, the time is always Now… so here it is.
If you would like to follow me here on nostr then please do so, and if you'd like to subscribe to Substack, then here’s the link for that: https://danielewen.substack.com and / or you can subscribe to my WordPress too, here: https://danielewen.wordpress.com.
I have no idea what this is going to look like #**When** I hit the publish button, but here goes...
# I now know SOMETHiNG…
