As a subscriber to the San Francisco Chronicle, I have become an avid reader of Jon Carroll's column. I don't read it all the time and must admit that I don't get into his cat columns. However, I usually find myself in violent agreement with his politically-oriented columns.

I mention his columns today not to get into the specifics of what he has written (I hope to do so soon enough) but to write about how I'm attempting to ferret out the truth of what's happening in our world. In this blog and in my reflections, I have been adopting a type of hermeneutic of self-suspicion. I put the emphasis on self-suspicion because I feel the need to inspect my own prejudices and thought-processes with as much vigor as I do of others. Finding articles and commentary that largely agree with my own viewpoints and writing about them (and occasionally subjecting them to vigorous examination) is an indirect way of testing my own assumptions. By writing out in this public space, by drawing in different perspectives, and by inviting others to comment -- I hope to grow and learn and become increasingly free to avail myself of the truth, whatever that might be.
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