Getting Beyond Starting

In “Starting” –which I really was- I wrote, “In short, what I have just determined to do is use these spaces, … Risks understood; good will anticipated. Just that bit of acquiescence. … The writing I’m interested in is my summation in essay genre of personality, and philosophy. … Perhaps, in the end, I simply satisfy that oft-stated imperative, write-for-yourself.” And then I found in another space a piece that had been a rambling thought in my head on a long drive, and that became an “Intermediacy” as it was both connected to the Starting piece, and anticipated future direction. Now I want to get on with it, and begin working on some of these thoughts I’ve laid out. In this entry I will address the quotes above taken from “Starting.’

This set of quotes allows me to begin by noting that I am indeed following my determination to use these spaces. Two things are accomplished in this recognition: I’m patting myself on the back –which I need for self-motivation; and I am indeed writing in the format of personal essay, short as these may be. These are important to a person who has some urge or notion to write but may not have the support and structure that would be granted an established, “money-earning” writer. It no doubt is motivating to know that one will get paid for doing this –or whatever it is one likes to do, and motivating too when others grant the time and facility to write. But for those of us who have determined that we are first and foremost writing for ourselves, there is little we can –or should- expect in the way of motivation. Hence, we need to find ways to pat ourselves on the back.

Now that preceding notion could have been bordering on sniveling; it was not meant as a search for pity. Neither is “acquiescence” a search for pity. Rather it is recognition of what is, and a willingness to accept that condition and live and work within such. In my own case I recognize that the field of writers is fully occupied, and many with years of experience and practice in the craft that have developed their skill level well beyond mine. Because I have other means of support at this time in my life, and have that urge to write, I can do so to satisfy myself. And should I make any contributions to others along the way, I am twice rewarded.

The other aspect to this acquiescence is that of recognizing that “publishing” on the Web may jeopardize potential for paid publication. I call that fair, especially following the prior recognition of slim prospects such publication. That’s risk understood, and with that the hope for good will.

Phew! Perhaps this will allow me now to get on with the subjects of interest: personality and philosophy.

from Random Thoughts; Intermediacy

What if we are right;
What are the implications, obligations, rewards, consequences?
What if we are wrong;
What are the implications, obligations, rewards, consequences?
What do we do in the absence of certainty of right and wrong;
What are the implications, obligations, rewards, consequences?
Sometimes we don’t know the answers to these questions.
Must we know all the answers, all the time? Does it matter?
Can we believe?
Can we just believe?
What are the implications, obligations, rewards, consequences?

Happiness is a condition of being; amongst many conditions of being.
Happiness is encountered; it may or may not be realized.
Absence of happiness is not the presence of sadness, though it may be.
Sadness is a condition of being; amongst the conditions available to being.
Absence of sadness is not the presence of happiness, though it may be.
A condition of being is a physical state in the course of being.

We often don’t seem to know how people come to “Be” as they are.
We often seem to have incomplete ideas of how we come to “Be”.
Ideas we hold as knowledge about how people come to “Be” are often beliefs.
Scrutinized, it often seems that the ideas we hold are mixed, maybe muddled.
Often enough our beliefs seem to be unconvinced; some, are very convinced.

Knowing and believing are peculiar conditions; sometimes they may be similar.
Knowing and believing are not absolute or complete conditions.
Their presence can be demonstrated; their absence cannot.
Their habitat, or residence, seems to be physically in the brain.
Their structure may change.
The properties of their existence are debated.
The properties of their existence may be asserted as a physical state of being.

Some people hold the idea that people are made the way they are.
Some people hold the idea that people are born bad or born good.
Some people hold the idea that people are, as they were born.
Some people hold the idea that parents have made people as they are.
Some people hold the idea that culture has made people as they are.
Some people hold the idea that race has made people as they are.
Some people hold the idea that gender has made people as they are.
Some people hold the idea that people can change; some, that they cannot.
Many people are unsure of how they themselves came to be as they are.

Sometimes people wonder why:
Others are as they are;
Others are difficult to get along with;
Others change;
Others don’t change.
Sometimes people wonder why:
Myself is as I am.

It is typical of people to categorize one another.
It is typical to be rather inexact in categorizing one’s Self.
People often categorize in terms of traits and/or stereotypes.
There are Subcategories that include typecasts and Types.
It is typical of people to typecast other people.
To typecast is not the same as to Type, it is to stereotype.

Typecasting, there are people cast as:
mean people, or nice people;
People cast as arrogant, people cast as meek.
There are good and bad, generous and stingy casts.
There are people helpful and hurtful; people type A’s and B’s.
There are people who are Black, Brown, White, Red and known as Yellow.
There skinny cast and fat cast; male cast and female cast.
There are those cast as high-energy people, and those as lazy.

People often profile others in terms of psyche, soul, spirit, being, or personality.
Profiled terms often seem indistinct, unclear, muddled.
Characteristics of a profile may be positive or negative.
Profiles are grounded in something.
Flowers are grounded.
Perhaps we should know the soil from which the blossom blooms.
Perhaps we should know the soil in which we nurture our garden.

Perhaps we should cultivate that soil.