The Value of Outside Input

"The principle involved is similar to what in go is called 'the advantage is to the onlooker.'  One speaks of 'learning one's faults through contemplation,' but this too is best done by talking with others.  The reason is that when one learns by listening to what others have to say and by reading books, one transcends the limitations of one's own powers of discernment and follows the teachings of the ancients."

Jocho Yamamoto in
Yukio Mishima
The Way of the Samurai

To some degree, this is the raison d'etre of this blog