Einai: An Introduction

Everyone is shaped by their experiences, especially those of their youth. My time so far has been spent in nine homes, seven schools, four cities, three countries, and two continents. I’ve been a student, a waiter, an intern, and a soldier. And that’s just the beginning- I’ve got a lot more life to live, a lot more to learn and experience.

One thing I’ve realized is that every experience leaves a mark, no matter how small. Maybe it’s a connection you make between something you heard as a kid and what you’re learning right now in class. Perhaps it’s the empathy you develop for your colleagues while at work. All of it adds up, forming who you are at this very moment- your being, or, to use an ancient Greek word, your einai.

For me, living in countries both rich and poor, democratic and autocratic, liberal and illiberal, I’ve developed a keen interest in ideas- the ideas that govern the way we live and the way we conceive of the world, not only as it exists at this moment, but in the continuum of human civilization across the ages, past, present, and future. In other words, the ideas that shape our einai.

But as I wrote earlier, every experience you have contributes to your einai. Since I first became interested in ideas, my views and opinions have gradually changed with every book read, every meeting attended, every conversation had. And I know they’ll continue to evolve and change, molded by the education I’ll receive at Oxford, and more importantly, by the long course of life. That’s why I won’t label myself as subscribing to any school of thought or any political movement. My views will evolve as my einai evolves, and so will the opinions expressed here.

I’m inviting you to come and join me on this journey through ideas. Together, we’ll explore new perspectives and gain insights and knowledge. And as our experiences collide, we’ll each leave with different einai from when our paths first intersected.

I can’t guarantee this will be a regular publication, or even that the type of material published will remain the same as time goes on. There’s so much that can change in life that I can’t predict anything with precision. But I’ll try to make sure that every month something new comes into your inbox for you to chew on.

And to you, the reader, I make a special, solemn promise: Everything I publish here will be truly worth reading, by everyone, for everyone. Always. Nothing that I publish will be fluff, sponsored, or hidden behind a paywall. If it’s not worth publishing, it won’t be published.

But just because I try to provide quality discourse doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun here too! I’m a huge music person- I play the guitar and the violin, and spend too much time either listening to music or making playlists. And I’m also a cinephile, exploring the films of the world, from German Expressionism to Fifth Generation Chinese films. So, from time to time, I’ll put in a little something about music and playlisting, or maybe a short review of a film I especially enjoyed.

If you’ve stuck around this far, thanks for bearing with me. And I hope you’ll stick around for a while more and join me on this journey together, leaving both our einai all the better for it.