Casting a Light Across the Night

Important.  Clever.  Witty.  Original.  Groundbreaking.  World-changing.

I want all my writing to live up to such standards.  But I settle for a little bit less.  Because when you set the bar too high, it only stops the flow of creativity.

So I'm taking the bar down entirely today.  No bar writing.  That's what this is.

I will attempt instead to write at the speed of my thinking. 

Now that's setting the bar low.

Just kidding.  No-- my thinking is fast, indeed too fast for me to type in step with it.  But then, my thinking occurs in forces and waves without words at times.  There is thinking that is beyond language, or of a language that has yet to be fully understood at this time.

Or maybe it's understood, but it cannot be explained by our language.  There is a language and understanding that is fundamental, essential, basic, inherent.  But is it so basic that it is too complicated to know?  Something like that...  Can we really know the language of our soul?

I think we can, but we can't quite articulate it.  Language is a tool that we humans have created to communicate, but it is still developing, mutating, evolving, to bring about the scope of our experience.  We are way behind the development of biology and science, although science as we know it is even younger than language.  But the biology is millions of years ahead of our words to describe it.

Even so, I think that understanding exists on a level that we are yet unable to describe with our words.  It's encoded in our DNA.  Things like truth, idealism, value, and quality are there, too, along with cooperation and democracy.  On the cellular level, things exist at a speed beyond words.  Literally.  Cells aren't pausing to think before they act.  They don't ponder which color blouse to wear with the jeans.  They are acting out a symphony of understanding and greatness that transcends language.

Makes me kind of obsolete, diminished.  Here I sit, trying to get at the heart of this idea and write about it with every faculty that I have, and I just don't got it.  But I keep trying.  Because I understand that moving towards the light, shedding light on the darkness, in any way I can,  makes the life.  Brings forth the understanding.  Brightens the awareness.  Forms the formless.  Astounds.

It's like mining for precious minerals.  Pick and scrape and brush and scrape some more, and something is revealed to you.  May not be the gold you are looking for, but there's something there.  And it may even be more valuable than you realize.

There are lessons to be learned at every turn, every chink in the armor.  You may think that your purpose is defined, explicit and unambiguous.  But you will be surprised at what you end up learning.  It's always that way.  We do not go forth into the night with our horizons in mind.  Learning is discovery, not manufacturing.  We understand as we look backward, not forward.

So turn on the headlamp and go.  See where it takes you.  There are scintillating surprises out there to be had.  Press on.