Plato writes the following passage in the Phaedrus:

[Socrates:] You know, Phaedrus, writing shares a strange feature with painting. The offsprings of painting stand there as if they are alive, but if anyone asks them anything, they remain most solemnly silent. The same is true of written words. You’d think they were speaking as if they had some understanding, but if you question anything that has been said because you want to learn more, it continues to signify just that very same thing forever. When it has been once written down, every discourse rolls about everywhere, reaching indiscriminately those with understanding no less than those who have no business with it, and it doesn’t know to whom it should speak and to whom it should not. And when it is faulted and attacked unfairly, it always needs its father’s support; alone, it can neither defend itself nor come to its own support.

(275d-e, Nehamas and Woodruff translation). As this passage articulates, one danger in setting ideas down in writing (or art) is that they stand alone and immutable, unable to dialogue or offer nuances or clarify ambiguities. The work is fixed. Because of this permanence, nominees for the federal bench at all levels now presumably cringe at or avoid publication of any potentially divisive statement.

I find the permanence of writing a frustrating, yet inescapable aspect of the medium. As I and my ideas and abilities mature, I cannot re-write all that I have previously written. I look back on some of my written work, including a few published pieces, and recognize a naivete or immaturity of thought that borders on embarrassing. Even this blog (which I can delete, but which is probably cached by Google or somebody out there in perpetuity . . . ) is a risk. I set down ideas, casually and regularly, submitting them to the amusement and judgment of both known and unknown readers. Perhaps that motivates, at least in part, my use of a pseudonym, although I have decided not to write anything I would not put my own name to here (and most of you readers out there know who I am anyway!). Yet, writing as an activity helps me to formulate my own thoughts. It is a snapshot. And at some point, an author should let go of the work, perhaps not even coming to its defense (for example, I think J.K. Rowling was horribly misguided in “outing” Dumbledore recently) and leave the words as orphans to be find their own way in the world.

Feel free to orphan a few words of your own in the comment box.