An idea is a spark of possibility. But a spark needs proper tinder in order to give rise to a flame.
I was re-reading The Notebooks of Albert Camus for a bit, and I came across this passage:
For a thought to change the world, it must first change the life of the man who carries it. It must become an example.
I've long had a certain practice. I come across some new idea, or a set of ideas. I get excited about it. I want to pass it on, to write about it, and to speak on it. But first, I have to try it out. I have to use my own life as an experimental laboratory. Will this new idea spark a flame in the right way? Can I make use of it well? If I've tried an idea in my own life and it works as well as I had hoped, then I can tell others.
There are too many people in the world right now writing about, speaking on, and teaching ideas that they haven't really used themselves, because, if they had, they would know that those ideas don't work - or at least not in the way they're portrayed.
An idea is a spark of possibility. Is it a possibility in the actual world? Can it work? Have you tried it out before passing it on?
When you come across a great idea, and your life has ample kindling in it, you'll know by the flame that leaps high that you have something worth sharing. And others will come to your light.
