Writing is like taking an idea and turning it into a rigid object. When ideas are fluid they become flexible and imprecise, able to fill into whatever context is needed—those “that’s not what I meant” moments and contradictions others allow us to have in conversations.
Writing demands the opposite. As you add sentences to the page, ideas takes shape and solidify, and so do the cracks. It becomes more obvious what you don’t know and your arguments fall apart under closer inspection. Cracking can lead to outright breaking of the idea, leading you to disagree with the original premise altogether.
From Writing to Think by Henrik Karlsson.
See also
- The easiest person to fool is yourself
- The illusion of explanatory depth is another way of seeing how flimsy your understanding is
- Thinking better thoughts