The importance of fully completing the writing process, the process in which we design tangible literary structures from our ideas, is often and destructively ignored. Writing is a tool we use to engage exploration. In many ways written work can be equated with the terms of philosophy. It is an opportunity that can best be explained by Alan Watt's quote from the introduction to his Philosophies of Asia, “philosophy is the expression of man's curiosity about everything and his attempt to make sense of the world mainly through his intellect; that is, his faculty of thinking. “Let's imagine we build a brick house. First comes the idea, the architectural blueprint of our creation, without the blueprints we remain tangled and lost in the construction process. Then we have to lay the foundations, the basic footprint that will support our entire project. Once the foundations are complete we will be able to erect the building structure, walls, roof, supports and so on. Finally, once the structure is positioned, we embellish it. We created something tangible from something conceptual. It is not difficult to lay just one brick, but building a house requires considerable effort. The construction of a house respects certain rules. Most importantly, the laws of physics adhere to our structure. Writing, however, transcends the earthly constraints of reality. We can take liberties in writing that allow us to float weightlessly, expand beyond the universe, and shrink to a speck. Writing has its physical boundaries in the words we use, the structure of our rhetoric, and the standard conventions that make our words cohere. These physical boundaries can only be taught to us through practice, through learning, what we do with the knowledge we gain from... middle of paper... developed ideas and inspiration from which we can draw from other areas of our lives. This reserve is a wealth of knowledge; those who employ it are truly rich. Everyone calls it "symbolic capital", I call it an investment, which shapes the bricks needed to build future structures. Our minds are the furnaces in which these bricks are fired and hardened. Employing these building blocks requires significant effort, but through effort comes reward. Per aspera ad astra, From difficulties to stars. Works Cited Qualley, Donna. (Re)reading the elephant: Promoting conversations about education, literacy and education. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. Print.Watt, Alan. "The Importance of Eastern Philosophy". Introduction. The philosophies of Asia. 1. Network. May 19 2012. .