John Locke on Words

"The very nature of words makes it almost unavoidable for many of them to be doubtful and uncertain in their signification."
- An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke

Isn't it ironic that the very medium we use to communicate turns out to be inherently ridden with obstacles to communication?  Is human history anything more than a series of miscommunications?  Even at our best - all parties listening and speaking fairly - all we can hope for is that the significance of a word in my mind is close enough to the significance of the same word in your mind that we understand each other. 

It makes me wonder, why speak (or write) at all...?

But here I am, anyway.  I keep writing, speaking, thinking.  Continuing to use words to explore my own thoughts, and mystically transfer them to others in some form, is the best way I know of getting to the bottom of the issue. 

Literary optimists are lucky.  They get to believe we get closer and closer to true understanding the more we try.  Whether this makes me avant-garde or a fool, I don't know, but I throw my lot in with theirs.

In Him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)

I closed my eyes.

I saw the universe outlined as if it was in the shape of a man.  He was tall and strong, arms at his sides, on his back in the nothingness that exists outside of time.  His body was full of the night sky and stars that shone from out of his deep blueness.  It was less like he had blue skin, and more like the sky defined his form.  And even though I could tell he was laying down, his body was horizontal, not vertical.  I knew the man was God.

I realized that I was the man too; each person is that man in a way.  We all have the universe inside of us, the stars shining out of us, everything swirling through us.  

I looked closer, and I saw that I was inside the man.  I saw His veins, stretching across the universe.  I saw that I was the blood; we are all the blood.  I knew that if we are the blood, then we are perpetually coming and going to and from His heart.  We are constantly being washed, made new, pumped back through His glowing heart and out into the universe once more.  I felt myself being pumped through His heart.

I opened my eyes.

Note: Another New Page!

Check out some of my flash fiction by clicking on the tab of the same name. 

Currently, two stories from a project I started a few years ago called "You & I" are up for now.  My goal with this project was to explore everyday encounters between strangers.  We have these all the time, but it's not often we stop and think about our role in the stranger's story, or even their role in ours. 

Degas on Art

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."
                                                      -Edgar Degas

Forward Motion

When I was in high school, my favourite band was Relient K.  Their music was OK (pretty generic poppy-teenage-rock) but their lyrics were inspired.  They had one song that went like this:

I struggle with forward motion.  I struggle with forward motion.  We all struggle with forward motion.

(Admittedly, this is not the best example of their inspired lyrics.  For a better example, click here.)

Note: New Page!

Check out my new "Couldn't Say It Better" page by clicking on the tab above.  This is where I will document phrases that are turned just right from favourite writers or experts on topics relevant to this blog after I post them on the main page.

Writing Credo of a Modern Day Scribe

My aunt, Joan Lucius, is a phenomenal artist.  She sent me her art credo.  It made me want to cry.  I know it's not poetry, but it's one of the most beautiful poems I have ever read.  I considered asking her if I could share it here, on my blog, but decided it would be better to share this one line instead.

"never believe in anyone else's credo, invent your own"

That's good advice.  I took it: