What are you doing reading that garbage?

What’s off limits to you conceptually?

Do you have heaviness boundaries where there are certain topics you simply won’t explore?

Here’s why I think that’s a mistake.

Few things in this life are more important than our intellectual freedom, or the willingness to entertain even the most controversial, dangerous and intense thoughts. This is the only way we come to understand our world.

By allowing ourselves to dive headfirst into a wide range of ideas. Even if society deems them unacceptable or off limits. Even if we feel shame or disgust for simply going there.

Sure, there’s a vulnerability to this practice. We run the risk of being judged. Somebody might notice a certain book in our bag, a certain browser tab open, or a particular podcast downloading, and think to themselves, what in god’s name are you doing reading that garbage?

But that’s the thing. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. We have to trust that the intellectual exploration itself, uncomfortable as it may be for us and those close to us, is a net positive.

That’s the price we pay for curiosity.

It’s interesting, because in the past fifteen years, digital readers and smartphones significantly changed the dynamics of intellectual freedom. Because now we are allowed to read any book we want, without displaying the cover to the public.

This new form of discretion helps people avoid judgment based on their reading choices. There’s a layer of anonymity over their exploration that encourages them to investigate genres and topics they might otherwise avoid.

What if you became the kind of person who had no conceptual limits?