Hmmm, dunno if it should really go here but it's my crack at a philosophical article. Check out http://www.milliondollarcompany.com.au/best/ for the best of Million Dollar Company articles (none of them are actually like this one, they are more humour satire articles) Anyhoo, here we go: The Power of Simplistic Imagery It only takes a few sentences to describe a scene but with the simplicity of a small collection of carefully chosen words an author can create imagery more powerful than entire novels. When people read literature they place themselves within the world created by the collaboration of their own imaginations and the descriptive words of an author. Since we place our own point of consciousness into a scene as we read in many ways we are allowing ourselves to partially exist in that fictional reality similar to how we partially exist in the reality of our dreams, memories, or projected thoughts. However, unlike dreams or memories, literature has been crafted by an author and the reality is dependent upon the words used to describe it. Word count and simplicity come into play when a sentence bound to simplicity by its word count allows the reader to envision, and therefore experience, a scene untainted by the negative side of complexity. Because we are given so little information about a scene we are limited from putting our own assumptions or judgements upon it and are left with only a scene of simplistic peace and serenity. Picture a scene wherein a boy is rafting a billowed sail amidst a vast blue ocean under the sun. In but one sentence the reader’s focus is drawn towards an ocean, a boat, and the character experiencing it. There is no room for the reader to picture or consider the existence of any real world elements like famine, war, disease, poverty or even death. The sentence imagery is too simple for negative judgment and comparable to the complex real world the scene is completely free of problems. It is as if the prose acts like a limited key hole with which we are able to view a scene only of beauty and peace. If you read a delicate paragraph describing a man perched against a tree by a slowly running stream with a straw hat shading his eyes from the sun you experience that slight pocket of an imagined reality without having to endure problems that might exist if that scene took place in the real world. Questions or judgements like why isn’t the man at work, the fact of whether he is married or not, if he is poor or rich or happy or unhappy do not arise within the painted picture. None of these real world elements matter; we are fulfilled by the image alone. It is art’s greatest paradox that we can read literature about a character waiting at the bus stop or watch a scene in a film of someone waiting in a doctor’s office and not only enjoy it but praise it as a beautiful portrayal of reality, but when we are faced with these situations in our real lives we’re filled with nothing but anxious resistance and denial of the present moment. This is why we need to bring the same perspective into our everyday life. If we simplify our own settings we can escape the grip of the world’s negativity and rest within every passing moment in simplistic peace. We need simplicity in order to navigate through an infinitely complex universe. This is what Henry David Thoreau meant when he said: ‘Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.’ When you stand at a bus stop you are standing within a scene written into the story of your own life. You can either look and see a complex life situation filled with judgements and assumptions or, you can simplify it all and see an eternal scene, locked in time, held calmly in place by its own simplicity. www.milliondollarcompany.com.au
Take for example buddist monks. Are they absolved from human suffering, injustice, or any other traits of the human experience? They live lives of simplicty, but that can be seen as an escape of the very real problems of mankind. Simplicity is good. Escapism isn't. So where is the line drawn? "If we simplify our own settings we can escape the grip of the world’s negativity and rest within every passing moment in simplistic peace." Yes, we free ourselves from being consumed with everyday negativity, but we are never free from negativity. It is an inherent human quality. We can be not negative, but we will always consist of negativity. It is inescapable. It exists everywhere at all times. To not acknowledge it only makes us that much more peaceful. It does not make us any less negative. It is never good to escape from anything. Even negativity. It has evolved with us throughout thousands of years. One must make peace with negativity, make peace with suffering, make peace with death. Rather than escape them, we can understand that they are no more or less powerful than positivity, wellness, and life. They all just are. It is how one responds to them that gives them creedence. For every action, there is a reaction. Respond to negativity with positivity. Any given author will create such a scene as to draw the reader in and make them comfortable. Other authors will puposely create a negative scene to evoke a certain mood out of the reader and have an effect. Scenes from great works of fiction will have that timelessness and peaceful effect on the reader as to get across some sort of ethical, moral, or metaphysical truth. By wording it in such a way, it makes that truth appear all the more beautiful and all the more worthy of seeking and holding on to.
Rather create. Like calls unto like. The oriented being is a locus of intent, gravity, around which assemble consonant constellations.
Yes. But one doesn't usually want to create negativity. We usually only interact with negativity if we have to. I.e. If it has entered our lives and we're trying to eliminate it. As long as we're not defending ourselves from negativity we can create all the positivity we'd like. One can choose not to acknowledge negativity. Thus stopping it before it even enters their life. But negativity is transcendental. We cannot avoid it our whole lives. It will enter our lives every once in awhile.
What you describe is simply the reflection of not deciding what you want. It is cold outside and we might say I wish for warmth. When it is hot we might say I wish it were cooler. We experience apparent opposition when the changes we see reflect the inconsistencies of our demands.
Excellent point. So for example if one were to say, "This situation is negative. I wish it were a positive one." The opposition is created from our own inability to perceive positivity in that situation? Thus giving negativity more validity.
It is not hot or cold that you really want, it is "just right," that you want. Another word for that might be peace.
