Neither an Essay nor a Column

I have always felt a sense of discomfort while writing.
I feel that what I write is neither an essay nor a column.

An essay speaks about the world from a personal perspective. The writer's emotions and experiences come to the foreground, and the world exists as the background.

A column organizes and explains events. Based on objective facts, it incorporates the writer's views. Its purpose is to deliver what happened in an easy-to-understand way, with the writer staying as much in the background as possible.

What I write has elements of both, but it is slightly different. Sometimes I start from emotions and experiences, and sometimes I explain events. But I don't stop there. 'Why is it like this?'—I am drawn by that question and head toward the structure.

When I watch the news or encounter something in daily life that bothers me, the first thing I think about is 'why is it like this?' I try to see the underlying premises and the way forces work—in other words, the 'mechanism.' What conditions are met, what causalities are connected, and how did this result come about? I break it down one by one.

What was initially vague begins to take shape little by little. There is a moment when it clicks, and I think, 'I see, this is the structure.' What I am writing is probably this process itself. Instead of talking about the world as it is, I take it apart once and put it back together.

Columnists also sometimes write about 'why.' But what a columnist delivers is 'their own perspective.' A unique viewpoint, angle, and personality—that is the reason they are read.

What I am doing is a little different. Before the perspective, there is the understanding of the structure. Not 'how it looks,' but 'why it is this way.' Before expressing an opinion, I first look at the causality of the phenomenon. This approach also makes the opinion more valid.

That is why I feel like it might be okay to call myself this lately.

A Mechanismist.

A person who breaks down the mechanisms behind phenomena and makes them visible.

There are many explanations in the world that seem correct. However, there are not a few among them that lack premises or have gaps in causality. I take those things and break them down once. Moving just a little bit forward from 'thinking I understand.' I think that is enough.

Neither an essay nor a column. Writing that breaks down mechanisms. For a while, I will continue writing in this way.

By the way, my wife says this to me:

'I understand your analysis, but where did the practice go?'

I still don't understand the mechanism of practice.

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