Tag: wonder
Protected: Flashlight in the Dark Night
Transcendence is moving from noun to verb?
GOOGLE is the number you get if you write the numeral 1 and then add 100 zeros. this is a largely lost mathematical factoid that’s been replaced by other meanings.
Google is the most popular internet search engine. (yeah, Duh.)
But something happened in contemporary culture when it was influenced by this culture of the information age. Google made the leap worldwide from a noun (think: person, place, thing, or idea) to a VERB. The noun form of Google standing for a company name sprouted into other parts of speech too.
Adjective: “If you want to know about me, do a Google search.”
Adverb: “He Google searched and found my article.”
Verb: “If you don’t know something, don’t ask me, just Google it!”
A lot of big things happen when this shift happens.
A noun gets this categorically right.
A adjective hones down a noun. Specifics.
An adverb specifies what a verb is doing or what an adjective is describing.
but, a Verb not only shows action (as the definition will tell you), but also taps into the ontological core of the thing itself.
This is helpful to know when we say, for instance, “God is Love.” Love is a noun, verb, adjective (loving) and maybe other things.
I wonder if that’s where we locate transcendence. Language captures crucial shifts in their broad strokes. It works to define parameters we can’t see. The layers ones.
So–Will you be marginalized to just a noun? Or will you flourish into as an adjective and or verb?
Tomorrow will be a PART II to this. The “how” bit.
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Ode to the Letter Box
Inspired by the STORY conference, and the piece I wrote for the official attendees notebook (on Little Free Libraries), I decided to start telling a very amazing Story of my own. It begins this summer, and unfolds a bit at a time.
Officially, nothing has happened … no advertising or promo blitz… but if you want to poke around, you’ll see some new things. Actually, if you don’t want to poke around and sniff out the new, semi-hidden stuff you won’t much care about what it is in the first place.
Since creativity is married to curiosity you get your creative juices going on adventures, mysteries, discoveries, and treasure hunts of various kinds. It’s hard if not impossible to have one without the other.
I’m up to something, and you can start to find out what it is. But, yes, it’s all up to you. And I’m not worried about spreading the word because it’s the anti-release…A good Story doesn’t need the same kind of advertising. It grows its own legs and walks the Story around for you.
There will be more revealed throughout the summer. Stop back when you can.
one more thing, by way of introduction (anti-introduction)….
The first phase has everything to do with “the letterbox”. You know, that old thing that holds bills and circulars, political flyers, and sometimes the random greeting card.
When was the last time opening the mail was magical?
Perhaps Now?
(There is a contest running all summer. See if you can find the tab under “Spark My Muse!”)
Find the Surprise!
Photo Credit: Bruce Denis via Compfight
As a kid I loved cracker jacks. It wasn’t for the coated popcorn, it was for the experience of finding a surprise. I hunted down the peanuts and the toy surprise straightaway. My hands would get sticky scrounging toward the bottom of the box, but it was worth the effort–even if the humidity made the box soft and the popcorn a untied front against me. The real jackpot was when I scored some water-based sailor tattoos. An anchor or a heart that read “mom” and had an arrow shot through it.
Inspiration and Creativity have a lot to do with finding the “toy inside the moment”. Locating the surprise. We get lazy about this sometimes. We stop looking. Don’t we?
Here are 5 ways to disrupt the ordinary to find the surprise at the bottom of the box you’re in right now.
1. Eagle’s eye – worm’s eye.
What did this look like from somewhere else? Change your perspective, maybe even your actual physical perspective. If you still can’t tell, ask around.
2. Kiddie Ride it.
How might a child approach the situation in terms of curiosity, wonder, or even naiveté? You’re familiarity with your situation may be too stifling to find surprises. A breakthrough can come when we treasure hunt for wonder. And by the way, cynicism kills wonder.
3. Stew it.
Have you noticed how some things come to their fullest potential after they mull or stew for a while? This applies to more than food. Try a slow cooker approach: First write down your concerns and obstacles, and then fully set aside your situation or dilemma for 2 or 3 days. Give your unconscious mind time to simmer on things. Rest, work on something new, and absorb beauty in art or nature. Then, encounter your situation again nice and fresh. Jot out your new ideas before you get out your list, and then you’ll uncover some surprises. It’s like shaking the box to get the goodies to shift.
4. Play
When was the last time you were lost in joy? Let yourself really enjoy something for the fun of it without worry. Something simple, like when you were young and carefree. Cease the day and suck the marrow out of life. It could be the mental break you truly need to find the primo surprise.
5. Shhh
Are you pulled in a bunch of different directions? Media, relationships, obligations, work, projects, and commitments can make finding the good surprises all but impossible. Unplug. Turn down the “life noise” for several uninterrupted hours. You’ll start to feel human again, and that’s important. You can’t discover surprises in a mosh pit atmosphere, right?
What was the last thing that surprised you in a good way?