Shouts From Down Under

Platefuls of cerebral emptiness coated in thoughtful gravy.

What is it with Blog entries that make you cry, cry with possibilities, cry with disagreement, cry in frustration and rush away from insanity?



What is the essence that prickles our emotions? Go further. What is that substance that guides our mind, seduces how we think, probes our understanding, shakes our youthful attitude, shatters our perception, bringing us to sober pause?



How do writers recognise these invisible catalystic triggers such as this sixth sense emotion stimulating example? How do we recognise what causes stuff that causes stuff to happen in our narrative, in our stories?

What are the things writers need to be better writers? What are these elusive actuators in human behaviour, in physics, in relationships, in preferences, in all facets of life, and what can we do to amplify them and amplify our ability to see them? How can we profit from this awareness?

This is all something I barely understand. What I'm getting at, what I mean, what words to use to explore this subject. But one thing I know is it's important. Without these thought processes we'll just write in one or two dimensions; we'll restrict our creative vocabulary to a mere fraction of the colour palette of life's experiences that are available.

It took me perhaps longer than average to realise that there are lots of hidden "conversations" going on in life, not just with humans but with all sorts of subject matter. Nature. Weather. Animals. Mechanical and electrical machinations.
Yes, human stuff: Mathematics. Food and cooking. Sales people. Non verbal people with disabilities. Dimensional. Ideas. Self determining factors. Reflections.

The list could be limitless. So, what are these things, these substances the explanation and description of which I can barely put into words?
Like the effects of electricity, the way to discover them, to learn about them, to manipulate them and to write about their effects, is probably easier if we can measure them. We can do this by using the following measuring equipment that we should all possess. Please bear with me because perhaps I'm on the same seat of learning as you.

1. Observation.
Watch closely why things happen. Why do people say what they say? Why do people treat others or themselves they way they do? What is the reason beyond the reason?
We see the effect, so look for the cause.

2. Belief
Believe that invisible things exist. Don't underestimate the power of these things. Believe in your instinct but test the water, test the solidness of your theory yourself.

3. Open minded
Your world is tiny, and your understanding, even if you are a Rhodes Scholar or genius, only extends a small amount. With that in mind try not to close off further possibilities no matter how far fetched.

4. Permission
Give mental permission for your mind to be changed, to be taught. Give permission for your pride to admit you may be wrong, not just wrong with new lessons in understanding, but wrong about your imaginary theories.

5. Stability
Have something that keeps your feet firmly on the ground. You need to be strong and not get carried away, not be extreme where extremity might be damaging and cause you to make a fool of yourself. Yet, be confident enough in yourself to not worry about making a fool of yourself.

6. Think
Humans behave and think in similar ways. Your reaction and ideas are probably the same as others. Take into account cultural differences. Don't feel you are less able than others to think things through. Try thinking of things you usually avoid. The sky won't fall down. Nobody will ring the police. You won't die instantly. You might even find it cathartic. Just don't assume you can act on any old imagining you happen to pursue. This really is dangerous territory. And often what we think becomes tomorrows reality. Thinking without limiting ourselves is like eating potentially poisonous elements. Keep a steady hand on the ships wheel. Remember stability. Respect your own human fragility of body and mind. Accept it, however agile and strong you may feel. And when finished with unfettered thought journeys, do enjoy a mental cooling off and return to routine daily living.

7. Invent
Don't shut the door to anything. There is an exciting realisation that you can push forward into new frontiers of writing, of lateral thinking, of embracing change. This in no way takes away from having solid immovable foundation thinking in your life. Remember human foibles and nature; we can be so arrogant and deluded.

8. Write
Cleanse yourself of stupidity, pride, trauma, injury, self righteousness, judgement, self loathing, addictions, instability, grief, etc by the catharsis of writing.

I'm not sure these items I've put in point form are measuring equipment. And I can hardly fathom what it is I'm describing to be measured. It truly is an invisible power.

People used to bring me faulty appliances that usually needed accurate and timely electrical defect diagnoses.

What we can't see we often fear. People fear electricity, not just because it can kill. People fear what they don't understand, and they don't understand because they don't look with the right set of eyes.

Customers would say things such as "well it worked yesterday!" or "I fiddled with it and it worked a little" or "I'm not into electricity and didn't want to get hurt".

I always assumed that every appliance was ready to kill me. Every machine that came in was faulty. There was no room for assuming something was safe. That was the reason they brought the thing to me. It was deadly and just waiting to electrocute me the instant I failed to pay attention and give it proper respect.

How could something invisible and physically "not there" yet "there" have this powerful actual effect on my life and my decision making, my very THINKING? Well, the few times I have been bitten, felt the force of 240 v power course through my arm and body, I was violently reminded of reality.
Whatever theory or philosophical slant we may feel is right, make no mistake that there is a reality to everything that cannot be ignored or theorised away.

Just because something is invisible, such as electricity, the wind, ghosts, glass, water, air, thoughts, temperature, radio waves, influence, and others I can't think of just now, doesn't mean these things don't have devastating power.

We would be extremely foolish to dismiss that as a fact of life.

Invisible doesn't mean weak or non existent. Seems simple? Well millions argue and deny and carry on with riots and wars and distance themselves, limit their frontiers, imprison themselves with ostrich-like refusal to acknowledge that invisible things exist, and matter.

Am I preaching a spiritual angle with all this? Well, not deliberately, but I make no apology if that's how it comes across. Obviously that's part of invisibility. Woah, what radical thinking! Whatever.
Writers, even the general public, are too mature than to allow self limiting, surely? I googled "list of invisible things" and the first on the list was of spiritual nature, and while not everyone would agree with the subject I feel it probably sums up my spiritual thoughts on it.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~wwjs/dts15.html

I'll leave the spiritual side of it there.

This world of the invisible is amazing. What about disabilities?

http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/invisible/

Cancer or illness in general.

http://www.charismanews.com/us/45734-6-hidden-symptoms-of-deadly-cancer

Musical notes are invisible and can also be hidden within computer files.

http://www.sevenforums.com/music-pictures-video/331696-music-files-invisible-win...

What about fashion sense, or the ability to know when you've stayed long enough while visiting a friend? Social skills - invisible.

When we don't want people to interrupt our thinking processes while writing I found that putting on a pair of headphones or earpieces makes them assume you are engrossed in music or a YouTube video. I have no sound coming out of them.

So, assumptions are invisible as is deceit or sleight of hand or tricks or humour or suspense or creativity or faith or cautiousness or taste or noise or smells or rebelliousness or ignorance or car tyre wear or impending doom, viruses and kindness, pain and blindness, tradesmen's skills and tape rewinders, it is all encased in this "thing" we call the invisible.

Don't hesitate to dive into nothingness as you would into a swimming pool filled with crystal clear chlorinated water.

Invisibility exists and is of practical use, the inhabiting properties therein can be a thousand universes of help to our writing arsenal.

Invisibility is like a waterfall with the more I think, the more flows over the edge of comprehension, yet incomprehensible this poetry of the unknown, this tactile-less lava of non entity. Understanding, language, love, mass, pressure in a vessel, gravitational pull, the joyful racing of a billy kart down a steep and forbidding public road and the invisible RISK element, the unseen approaching vehicles with their drivers' unseen plans, unknown destinations, making invisible mistakes and using cell phones out of sight under the dash to text invisible messages to an accomplice who may already be dead from an unseen future disaster.

Where have all the flowers gone? There is a place where all invisible stuff goes when it's finished with. And that place is probably an unimaginably large dining hall where substances grace the tables, lunch prepared for the hungry, for their writers, for their readers, for their garlicky invisible bad breath breathing cohabitants of space time.

Socks. Pens. Staplers. Car keys. Pin numbers. Memories.

And where is the place where failed brakes go after the accident, after the escape key is pressed, after the right of way has been ignored, and the USB port no longer has a plug within it?

Sparky