I appreciate the reminder that the body knows things. In fact, our bodies are self-regulating all the time without our conscious awareness. I remember thinking about homeostasis when I first encountered deconstruction theory in graduate school. My body knew that there were physical realities that existed outside language, despite the many ways that we construct our realities through words. And if the body can engage in a form of meaning-making that isn't absolute (we're never in perfect balance, but always in a state of dynamic equilibrium), why can't we expect the same from language? This might be a bit afield of your post, but I think all of us as writers are aiming at a mark that isn't so different from what the body tries to do by trying to keep itself in balance. We know we can't capture our thoughts perfectly in words, but we give it our best approximation and we trust that readers will complete our thought for themselves. That doesn't have to be a perfect exchange of meaning for it to be essentially reliable.
There are a lot of echoes of your essay in neuroscience, particularly in the sense of the mind as an advanced expression of the body.
Thanks for your kind and generous response Joshua.
Regarding, "...our bodies are self-regulating all the time without our conscious awareness." Yes - I love the idea that we are being breathed by the Divine Beloved.❤️🙏🕊️
I love this idea too: "...I think all of us as writers are aiming at a mark that isn't so different from what the body tries to do by trying to keep itself in balance. We know we can't capture our thoughts perfectly in words, but we give it our best approximation and we trust that readers will complete our thought for themselves." although I may gently disagree 😉 with "...readers will complete our thought for themselves." I've sat in writing groups listening to one writer offer feedback to another, where most often the feedback offered is not at all about the writing, but it's (unconsciously) about the one offering the feedback. I wrote a bit about this here: https://brevity.wordpress.com/2022/12/09/on-useful-feedback/
All that to make the point that I believe readers ALWAYS will bring to the writing their own experience that will reflect their own conditioning and perspective, and what they end up taking away is essentially none of my business. As a writer I feel that I'm simply a conduit for the words to flow through, having set an intention that the words may serve both my own and a reader's evolution of consciousness, and that writing, as a form of art, may brighten the connections between us. I hope that makes sense. I guess these kinds of abstract ideas can get a bit esoteric. But I always appreciate hearing how other writers approach writing. Gratitude once again❤️🙏🕊️
Stunning post: I have so many favorites from Brené Brown -- but let's start with her opening quote: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly … .” from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech “Citizenship in a Republic,” delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, on April 23, 1910 — Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Thanks so much for your kind and generous support Mary❤️🙏🕊️
And that's one of my favorite quotes I first heard from Brené Brown too - kudos to her for shining the light on the importance of cultivating courage✨🌟💖🙏🕊️
I appreciate the reminder that the body knows things. In fact, our bodies are self-regulating all the time without our conscious awareness. I remember thinking about homeostasis when I first encountered deconstruction theory in graduate school. My body knew that there were physical realities that existed outside language, despite the many ways that we construct our realities through words. And if the body can engage in a form of meaning-making that isn't absolute (we're never in perfect balance, but always in a state of dynamic equilibrium), why can't we expect the same from language? This might be a bit afield of your post, but I think all of us as writers are aiming at a mark that isn't so different from what the body tries to do by trying to keep itself in balance. We know we can't capture our thoughts perfectly in words, but we give it our best approximation and we trust that readers will complete our thought for themselves. That doesn't have to be a perfect exchange of meaning for it to be essentially reliable.
There are a lot of echoes of your essay in neuroscience, particularly in the sense of the mind as an advanced expression of the body.
Thanks for your kind and generous response Joshua.
Regarding, "...our bodies are self-regulating all the time without our conscious awareness." Yes - I love the idea that we are being breathed by the Divine Beloved.❤️🙏🕊️
I love this idea too: "...I think all of us as writers are aiming at a mark that isn't so different from what the body tries to do by trying to keep itself in balance. We know we can't capture our thoughts perfectly in words, but we give it our best approximation and we trust that readers will complete our thought for themselves." although I may gently disagree 😉 with "...readers will complete our thought for themselves." I've sat in writing groups listening to one writer offer feedback to another, where most often the feedback offered is not at all about the writing, but it's (unconsciously) about the one offering the feedback. I wrote a bit about this here: https://brevity.wordpress.com/2022/12/09/on-useful-feedback/
All that to make the point that I believe readers ALWAYS will bring to the writing their own experience that will reflect their own conditioning and perspective, and what they end up taking away is essentially none of my business. As a writer I feel that I'm simply a conduit for the words to flow through, having set an intention that the words may serve both my own and a reader's evolution of consciousness, and that writing, as a form of art, may brighten the connections between us. I hope that makes sense. I guess these kinds of abstract ideas can get a bit esoteric. But I always appreciate hearing how other writers approach writing. Gratitude once again❤️🙏🕊️
Stunning post: I have so many favorites from Brené Brown -- but let's start with her opening quote: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly … .” from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech “Citizenship in a Republic,” delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, on April 23, 1910 — Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
xx ~Mary with thank for joining us, Camilla
Thanks so much for your kind and generous support Mary❤️🙏🕊️
And that's one of my favorite quotes I first heard from Brené Brown too - kudos to her for shining the light on the importance of cultivating courage✨🌟💖🙏🕊️