Adventure in Ideas

I recall reading a book by Alfred North Whitehead called Adventures of Ideas. This book provided a lot of delightful thoughts about the ways in which ideas bring about certain kinds of civilization and goals. I rarely reflect that "adventure" isn't just a feeling of excitement, but it is a "going forth": a special journey which involves taking risks and also being able to entertain possibilities. There is a certain impossibility here. Like any vision, an idea never reaches the ground fully. Like sunlight, it illuminates the ground, paving the way for new ways of thinking and exploring.
   It's important, at least to me, never to feel like every idea has been mined. Some people resort to a kind of bittersweet realism, when they come to acknowledge that ideas are more like signposts than final destinations. They might even wonder, why entertain ideas when there is only this heavy reality to deal with? An idea, in fact, enriches the places where we travel; it is not meant to substitute for the rocky terrain, but rather allows people to explore the terrain in novel ways that might lead to new connections. Having a healthy relation to ideas can help us see them as tools rather than as burdens which require "proof".
    I think that when one stops thinking of ideas as absolutes, we can freely entertain as many as we wish, knowing that there is no idea that we have to claim as our own or try to defend against competing claims. Some ideas come in handy when we least expect them, so I think it's important to include elements of exploration and reading in our lives.