Fear vs. Intelligence (unfortunately, at the moment, not a band reference)

When I was younger, I made tons of assumptions based on the little information I had at hand and created large scale theories based on those minimal facts. Some of these turned out to be geniusly correct; others, embarrassingly false. I now feel, for the most part, immensely paralyzed/afraid to make such broad theories because I want to have more facts, but the fear of being wrong prevents me from fact gathering. Is this the American Plight or a justification of laziness? Is this just being afraid of letting go of rigor and writing your own aphorisms for awhile?

I had one I liked two years ago on X-mas that I kinda tried to write at the time - "If artists are going to be romanticized as free spirits who engage in drug culture lets be honest about what we are doing - we are sending good minds out to the battlefield of chemicals, submersing them, making them fight for their lives, and marveling at what remains after the experiment. We can't all go bat-shit crazy, but it's so awesome to watch and listen to those who are willing, right?" But this is in reference to a very fairytale, 60's, and a Fischer Price kind of "my first understanding of what an artist is." Still, while sitting in a closet, on x-mas, pondering psychedelics - made total sense.

That one goes in good contrast to one little brain fart of mine from middle school - "Why You Shouldn't Do Drugs" if you do drugs, drink too much, you hinder your memory. Doing anything that hinders your memory necessarily hinders growth since it hinders reflection. It's amazing how much people can change based on experience and context - Pragmatists, Pierce, genius.

Freshmen year of college I read Montaigne's essays. I was really turned on cause they are basically culture essay, usually starting with "on ____" written in the vernacular - an awesome step when Latin was being phased out. Maybe this should be my pet project for 2011 - interspersed can be the 20 or so art ideas I've had this year that are, as of yet, for many reasons, unexecuted. Think that will be the state of affairs while I work out this real estate license getting [that is somehow harder than I thought it would be.]

subject matter vs. style will make it kind of comedic... that's the idea