Incredibly this is my fifth blog. I've not blown my computer up, the world hasn't come to an end and I've learnt that blogging brings a lightness to my soul. It's cathartic and cleansing and leaves me feeling lighter in my head and no alcohol was used. It is like writing a stream of consciousness but I can add depth and colour to my ideas with video, pictures etc. We use the word lightness a lot: 'lightness of touch' for an artist or musician. 'Light headed' for those times when you are overwhelmed by emotion or drink, 'Light as a feather' for weight (not something I can use about myself). Then there is the power of 'lightning' the power of Mother Nature. The power of the 'Sun' natural light to make things grow and feed us vital vitamins. 'Artificial light' allows us to see in the dark to illuminate our lives and our minds with the image of pictures and sound. These images, pictures and sounds that we use when we dream and when we are awake to absdorb life, have I believe been enhanced since reading Kundera and Calvino. To open your mind to see all that is around you, to see the impossible, that is what they want us to do.
Platypus Paws, said in her blog that she dips in and out of the books as this helps her to think and understand. I took her tip and have done the same 'eureka' it really helps. Like eating a sumptious meal, you have to give yourself time to digest and savour it. This is how I think of the concepts and ideas that Kundera and Calvino want us to open our minds up to.
Our brains use natural electrical impulses that fire the synapses to remember, think and create. These are just a few of the many thousands of things that our brains do for us, yet it is the most under used part of our body.
I found this clip on You Tube of an electrical storm started after an artist was photographing his art. This is his interpretation of it.
I can see that the stream of consciousness is like a lightning storm within the brain. It does not fire one synapse but many, pictures, words, sounds even taste and smell. It is this polysemic text that we live with every day. Many ignore it, it is for us as writers to accept again that the impossible is possible and to throw off the unbearable heaviness of life and accept the unbearable lightness of creativity. In my final clip from You Tube I have found a woman who is doing just that even when faced with a life changing challenge.
I have a similar condition though it is not as sever as MS. There is still a lot we don't know about how the brain works. My brain has turned on all the pain receptors to full and cannot now remember how to turn them off. I have to use distraction to help so every day I use polysemic text to get me through the day. My creative mind is my distraction, I can be creating it like now or absorbing it. The brain/mind is a powerful thing and and it is possible that we will never know what it is actually capable of. Though as we have learnt nothing is exact, everything is vague and nothing is impossible.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
The blogging possible
In life we all have choice, we can believe it is possible to do anything we want or that it is possible to do as little as possible. This morning on the news a storm broke over something that we all thought was impossible. John Venables and another boy both aged ten, kidnapped, tortured and killed toddler Jamie Bulger. We all at the time asked, 'How is this possible, how could two young boys possibly comprehend evil?' This was wrangled over by the media and the CPU but most of all by the parents of the victim. When these two boys only served eight years and not a day of that inside a prison cell how can we possibly say that justice was served.
If this had been written as a story, would it have been published? Or banned because of how horrific the possibility of its comprehension. John Venables is now at last behind bars not in protective luxury of children's services, at last he is in the prison system. Do I believe in Evil? Yes I do having worked with criminals for over fifteen years I have met Evil and as they say looked it in the eye. What I think makes me saddest of all is that today 'Evil' in the criminal context is given the possibility of being a 'celebrity', they have cult followings.
As Kundera said we 'choose the uniform we wear'. We can also, if we chose change that uniform. The possibilities in life are endless, if we keep an open mind we will continue to evolve but close it and we have no one to blame but ourselves. My uniform has changed from Prison Officer to Creative Writing Student my next uniform is that of Author. Where will yours go?
I've just been to see the new 'Alice in Wonderland'. I saw the 3D version and it was great. At one point in the film Alice had to recite 'six impossible things' so that she could slay the Jabbererwocky. For me it made the connection that Kundera has been talking about. As children we think that nothing is impossible, as adults we have the ability and opportunities to make things possible but often make them impossible, because we've lost the ability to dream. This reminded me of a song called 'Dream the impossible dream.'
I've chosen this particular version as it has the lyrics which are very poetic and has Icarus and other images that I find moving.
On trying to find this song on You Tube and Google I found out the most amazing link that I honestly did not know. This song comes from the 1965 musical 'La Mancha'. The lyrics are by Moe Darien and the music by Mitch Leigh. This musical is about 'Don Quixote' and is sung as he stands vigil over his armour, in response to Alsonza's question about what he means by 'following the quest'. As writers is this not what Kundera and Calvino are telling us. Dream the impossible and become a writer as after all the IMPOSSIBLE can be anything we want it to be.
If this had been written as a story, would it have been published? Or banned because of how horrific the possibility of its comprehension. John Venables is now at last behind bars not in protective luxury of children's services, at last he is in the prison system. Do I believe in Evil? Yes I do having worked with criminals for over fifteen years I have met Evil and as they say looked it in the eye. What I think makes me saddest of all is that today 'Evil' in the criminal context is given the possibility of being a 'celebrity', they have cult followings.
As Kundera said we 'choose the uniform we wear'. We can also, if we chose change that uniform. The possibilities in life are endless, if we keep an open mind we will continue to evolve but close it and we have no one to blame but ourselves. My uniform has changed from Prison Officer to Creative Writing Student my next uniform is that of Author. Where will yours go?
I've just been to see the new 'Alice in Wonderland'. I saw the 3D version and it was great. At one point in the film Alice had to recite 'six impossible things' so that she could slay the Jabbererwocky. For me it made the connection that Kundera has been talking about. As children we think that nothing is impossible, as adults we have the ability and opportunities to make things possible but often make them impossible, because we've lost the ability to dream. This reminded me of a song called 'Dream the impossible dream.'
I've chosen this particular version as it has the lyrics which are very poetic and has Icarus and other images that I find moving.
On trying to find this song on You Tube and Google I found out the most amazing link that I honestly did not know. This song comes from the 1965 musical 'La Mancha'. The lyrics are by Moe Darien and the music by Mitch Leigh. This musical is about 'Don Quixote' and is sung as he stands vigil over his armour, in response to Alsonza's question about what he means by 'following the quest'. As writers is this not what Kundera and Calvino are telling us. Dream the impossible and become a writer as after all the IMPOSSIBLE can be anything we want it to be.
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