More Moore

I thought that in addition to quoting from Moore's work I would also post some of my thoughts on these quotes.

"The concrete, visible, material world speaks to us, if we would only listen. You don't have to do exactly what the signs indicate, but it would help to consider them in evaluating the status of your work life. For example, if you are failingin a particular line of work, your difficulty may not mean that you are lacking or at fault, but that you are in the wrong profession."

Comment: Certainly, the fact is that I was not flourishing as an academic. From the start, I knew I was not able to do the sort of academic writing that would be necessary to succeed in this arena. It really did not take long for me to determine this fact. Hell, I probably knew it before I even got my first job. But yet I kept at the academic writing for a number of years. And then when I switched to doing the sort of writing that I found more enjoyable, I did it with the sense that those doing the academic writing are all screwed up and with more than a little resentment over the ability to succeed and further careers as a result of this writing. If I had listened, I might have taken my inability to succeed in the sort of activity that was a prerequisite for advancement in my chosen profession as a sign that perhaps this was not the profession for me. And it was not only the publishing part of academia that gave me difficulty. Although I had my moments in worked hard at it, I never particularly enjoyed teaching. It always seemed to me more than a little ironic that those who go into a profession because they liked reading and study--basically introverts--had to make their living by engaging in an extremely extraverted activity. So my lack of ability in academic writing combined with my unease at teaching would have been one of the ways in which the concrete world was speaking--and I was not listening