Monday, March 6, 2017

No Going Back


Human imagination works to create a future that we then live into. When imagination is underdeveloped, left to atrophy, or profoundly denied and neglected, fear sets in. Then the past becomes something we long for, a past that doesn't exist, will never exist. The frustration and anger of not being able to live in the past makes for crazy thinking. We look for scapegoats to blame for why we can't get back to a time that never was, that is a fiction. Only by taking responsibility for a future that we create can we find courage, excitement, and peace. We have to bring into being out of whole cloth a future that has never been, and then articulate that vision, put it into words. That's very important, the words part. Without the words a future is weak, and has no body. With the words we can begin to act. It's a creativity thing. It's an action thing. Gotta make it up and step forward, not back.

4 comments:

  1. Exactly where I am at. Time to step and say what I want. Use the declaration to put thoughts into action and to put form to the future. This is what I will create and what I stand for. To live in the past is to live in fear. I love the way your words create with such richness. My words are blunt objects in comparison. Please keep writing.

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    1. Hey Brett -- I think you're pretty good with words and have a fine brain. Thanks for these kind ones and carry on, brother, carry on.

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  2. Eric, having clear concepts, shaped by great writing, is even more crucial in this country than most. Many cultures are cohesive due to tribal affiliation and history. The U.S. is one of the very few societies that is not based on tribe, but rather on a commonly held understanding of and appreciation of the social/political concepts we engage when we think of our country. Without tribal "glue" we are probably especially vulnerable to the disintegration of the culture due to ignorance of the words by which we create our sense of belonging to this society. The purposeful (I believe) "dumbing down" of this society about our history, our shared values, our principles, has led to the profound ignorance that allows the current evolution into fascism to take place, seems to me.
    My sense of "going back" is not so much to wish for a return to "good old days" but it is nostalgic for me in that I so appreciate that I grew up when I did and where I did for numerous very specific reasons. I'm sad and frustrated that my kids and grandson will not have the supportive community experience and shared optimism about the future that I did.

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    1. Great words Bill. Thanks! I have to confess that I feel what borders on tragedy and panic about the BS that is education these days. It has become so assessment and data driven that creativity is included only as an afterthought. No wonder kids are so clueless and depressed.

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