I
have an idea of pursuing a line of thought.
I believe it’s called linear thinking.
I might have derived that term from math, though I am unfamiliar with it’s
mathematical operation. This is clearly
not a scientific application of the process of linear thinking. This is just some idea that I have in my mind
and I thought that it could be beneficial to pursue a path of adjacent
thought. Follow the rabbit down the
hole, sort of speak. But where do I begin? Certainly it matters since that will be the
starting point an opus of the thought line, or line of thought. Perhaps I have already started it. Perhaps the starting point was the decision
to pursue a line of thought to it’s conclusion.
But where does one conclude a line of thought based on pursuing the line
of thought. This reminds of me of Martin
Heidegger’s attempt at describing Dasein—or being in time. How do I describe being in time beyond the
phrase being in time? To be present is to be devoid of preconception, is it
not? To be devoid of preconception is to
be void of a thought approach. I find
this attempt to be utterly useless, for without thought man, I think, is left
to his biology, or worse yet—if the head has been figuratively removed from the
body—is devoid of any thought or feeling at all, just naked observation, which lacks
a system to filter the experience with.
Such an experience is purposelessness.
One might as well be a corpse if one is not pursuant to biology or
mental processes. To look at something
with the perspective of nothing is to look at nothing, except a hideous
monstrosity—if you’re still blessed with sense of fear, the all-grounding stance
of every emotive being. I have just been
swept away from my linear thought by trying to make sense of that last sentence. Thus there is the weakness of linear thought,
or it’s strength? It exposes the
strength or weakness of one’s understanding, in that one can no further
understand beyond one’s words to illustrate understanding. But yes, this I’m certainly no philosopher, for
philosophy is more than illustrious word composition and thought bubbles. Philosophy is a system—a way of looking at
the world. So to reiterate, to be in
time without beholden to biology or thought mission is to be nothing amongst
something. Zombies are real, just cease
thinking and cease being. But Heidegger
was not, I think, referring to ceasing preordained biological and mental operations,
for that would be non-being in time. No,
he was referring to, correct me if I’m wrong—and I might be, since I did not
comprehend 90 percent of his book, "being" without the incorporation of present thought to being, which does not
preclude acting according to one’s understanding of being, but ceasing the mental
operation of thinking of the now, and just filtrating experience with that
state of being that you have spent your entire life cultivating up the very moment
of present being, which never be understood in the moment if one is to be in
time. Paraphrasing Kierkegaard, life can
only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward. So to be in time is not to be adequately
suited to the moment, for that connotes a presupposition of what the moment
ought to be, but to surrender to the moment.
To say that I am nothing, but there is something, and that something is
worth waiting for ($). So being in time, if
I understand my own thought process on the matter, is not so much
participation, but observation. It’s a
very Zen-like state that doesn’t require a characteristic Zen-like stance. Hypothetically you can be in time anywhere,
you just have to trust the environment that you find yourself in, or be
sufficiently trained to deal with anything that might interfere with your
existence.
I’m not spell-checking this,
and I’m not refining this—for I want to exemplify the power of practicing linear thought processes (all except the aforementioned sentence and the following sentences remain unedited). So forgive the lack of linear thought, for I’m
sure there’s a chink in the armor, so to speak.
This practice
of linear thinking turned out to be quite a success. I will have to do it more often. If nothing else, it yields harvest from the recesses of one's mind. This tool of pursuing adjacent thought reminds of me a comparable business practice called a pre-mortem, which every organization making big decisions should engages in.
$ - C.F. my thoughts on Farscaping in the blog post Innovation Nation. But one must be careful to approach Farscaping with reverence, for looking without a child's curiosity could be looking into the abyss--as Nietzsche termed it.
*$* - If I have absolutely nothing to journal about, or no though process to follow. I will just start typing rhymes. It's a great way to come up with new ideas. I find it to be an insightfully creative practice.
So there are three practices that I find helpful in making me feel creative when I don't have anything in particular that I want to pursue:
(1) Linear Thought Path Pursuit (Down the rabbit hole, Alice). This happens to be great for creating poetry, as long as you have a subject, rhyme scheme or structure to guide you. Or you can follow a line of thought in a logical manner--as I attempted to in the beginning of this blog (Of course, eventually you'll need to take the leap of faith, for logic outside of science is rarely scientific[?]).
(2) Rhyming Session. Though similar to a Linear Thought Path Pursuit, it emphasizes random rhymes rather than a line of thought or motif.
(3) Impromptu Stenography. This is where you type whatever comes to mind. I think this is the most revealing of the three practices. My first session was entirely chalked full of insults, vulgarity, and nonsense, but after I got past the lies and vulgarity, interesting insights are unearthed--if you can withstand typing the most heinous stuff. You can delete it afterwards, but to tap in you must go there.
I should add that "putting oneself up" to gather insights can be greatly facilitated while exercising. As for myself, most of my creative ideas are wrought mid and post exercise (but you have to have a mindset of "I'm exercising for _____. And I think that puts your goal into focus. And after a while, good ideas are few and it will take a long time for your cake to bake. Be patient. But know that you're doing what you're doing for cake. Of course this does not happen during my reps, but either during the rest periods or during my cardio session. It's amazing where the brain will go when it does not want to "be here now" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q6E4J433R4 ) In a highly caffeinated alert state, inspiration can come out of seemingly thin air (*). Nas only need one mic. All you need is one thought to cling onto and develop. And not all of them will be worth developing. Put them into a draft email and come back to them if you have your doubts. Though, if you find yourself being a cake dummy that likes munching on those crumbies, it might be better to dispense with the old to make room for the new. Trust your ambition in such matters.
*$* - I find that if I'm procrastinating or if I don't know what to write, I'll read and I'll get so bored an idea will come to me and I'll be able to begin. The idea is to get your mind thinking.
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