Psychology and Philosophy are twins, I think. Both force the questions, “What is the mind? What is real, and what is not?”
Freud probed the mind to propose (loosely translated) that many lived inside one single mind, and colored how we saw the world depending upon which one of us was watching at the time. He felt that dreams revealed our viewpoint of reality, and people, trees, and countries were turned to symbols in our dreams, thinly hiding what we faced, or often couldn’t face each day.
I feel that in the creative process, we do the same, with colored words and images. Instead of interpreting dreams to reveal reality, we build a world of words to hide within, but consciously awake, alert and plotting. Often it becomes the more natural way of seeing things, even at first glance.
Everything I’ve written here in the past months has been honest. It is no longer, however, straightforward. We learn to paint an image in Renaissance extremes or sometimes in cubist, modernist, or secretly obvious forms; sometimes, obviously secret as well.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
With the stuff I do on my page, it’s striking how difficult it is for me to mask my mood or vantage-point.
Unfortunately, the public persona I use for my spieling bits of nothing is something I think of as expected, and I’m a bit reluctant to stray from it.
But, you know, I think Freud was wrong about a lot of things, so I don’t put much stock into it.
You needn’t stray, but don’t be afraid to let any changes if they occur flow naturally. What has always come through in your writing, Ben, is warmth, intelligence, humor, and respect for others. BTW, I haven’t checked in much with you lately because Bloglines doesn’t show me when you’ve updated and so I forget to change this to the proper feed. I shall do so now. Wouldn’t want to miss out on any more intelligence and wit while you still have it.
Bloglines is bizarre. I have a good and proper RSS feed, but I take it that it doesn’t read it like it should.
I have a bloglines account but primarily use software alternatives on my computer. Both have their advantages.
Thanks for the kind words, and I’d agree about the impermanence of such things.