I am forced to think through my ideas to a higher degree.
I am forced to think harder about myself.
I have the opportunity to look back at older ideas with the light of additional knowledge and understanding at a later time—possibly giving myself a good laugh. Further, surprisingly often, I find that I have actually forgotten old insights that are renewed by re-visiting them.
The act of writing has a tendency to, in it self, spin off new ideas, lead me to read or think about new things, etc.
Writing can often have a therapeutic effect, giving the writer more distance to a subject (in particular, subjects closely relating to himself) and/or more self-insight into his own feelings on that subject.
Obviously, my understanding and abilities where language and writing are concerned are improved.
My need to communicate my opinions is fulfilled (irrespective of the size of the readership).
I have the satisfaction of having at least planted a tree and lit a candle.
I have something tangible (in a metaphorical sense) to show for my sabbaticals and other times of non-work.
Many of the above items would have applied even if I kept my writings to myself; however, the extra effort involved in publishing them is not great, so why not publish?
... is a claim occasionally made (with variations). This claim is obviously exaggerated and simplistic. Further, when applied to others, there is a severe risk of over- or misinterpretation, of failure to see nuances (or nuances not having made it to the text, even when present in the author’s mind), of finding what one is looking for (even when not objectively there), of misunderstanding through lack of context and knowledge of circumstances, etc. Further yet, what is taken from a text often depends more on the reader than the writer.
Still, there is considerably more than a grain of truth in it—a text can reveal much about its author. As I have come to suspect over the years since writing the above list, this is likely the single greatest benefit: I have learned so much about myself through reading my own texts, often things that I would otherwise have missed or only discovered far later. For instance, I can see what topics and themes are disproportionally represented, what made me angry that would have left others unmoved, where I over-reacted, where I over-generalized or failed to generalize sufficiently, where my subjectivity led to a potential misinterpretation, where I am overly apologetic (regarding myself or others), ... By then contemplating these observations, especially with an eye at the “why”, a deeper understanding is reached. Notably, the comparatively large amounts of text that have gathered since the first few pages were published make it easier to see patterns than when, e.g., simply applying introspective thought.
Despite the dangers when looking at texts by others, I would be very interested in what future researchers and biographers, say a hundred years from now, would conclude or conjecture about me. However, I am not likely to ever be sufficiently famous or influential for my works to draw that kind of attention—and even if they did, I would likely be dead by the time something truly interesting was said...
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