Writing on this thing feels a bit like whispering through a cigarette burn in a tablecloth. We all dined on a snowflake soaked in rose water, but the introductions were forsaken. Let's begin with an ancient Sufi practice called 'the cube'. It is a free association excercise. Begin by visualizing a desert with only sand and sky. You are not in the picture. I will list 5 objects, so add each one cumilatively to your space, and be sure to record where they are in relation to each other.
The first item I want you to imagine is a cube.
2. a ladder
3. a plant
4. a horse
5. a storm
Now take a second to mark any important details you may have missed, (like the character and activity of the horse, or what your cube is made of, hollow/solid, and how the storm affects these other objects), then continue. This is not a prophetic device, it is merely used in a Lacanian sense to interpret your current perceptions. Here is what they say each item represents: the cube is you, the ladder is your friends, the plant is your creativity, the horse is your love (human or abstract), and the storm is trouble. I'd be interested to hear how this works for you, what bits were surprising or accurate. I had a whole rant about why that happens, why symbols replace fact when pack animals are living in a hive society, how they are necessarily forced to partake of a shared psychosis, which tricks them into a lack of comprehension with regard to connectivity (like how we think we have a democracy because the president is supposed to be just a "stand-in" for the rest of us, or how it took us so long to realize the dual nature of particles/waves, and internal multiplicity). Luckily for you I accidentally deleted it when I tried to get rid of those absurd emoticons before posting this. A friend of mine always says, "what doesn't kill you only makes you stranger", but that isn't really true...if someone decided at the last minute not to murder you, and instead to take you out for an apologetic cup of coffee (you know, the kind that's made really strong with escapee grinds that cuddle up to your gums like ants), then afterwards, even though they didn't kill you, they'd make you a bit less of a stranger, wouldn't they? Stranger relationality is so funny. Like the alleged "death of modernism". If anyone reads this, I'd like to hear about your cube. As the young Newton wrote, "my poore helpp." All my e-cups and saucers are dirty. Thank you for coming to my tea party. Please don't tell anyone my friends are invisible.
stranger relationality and invisible tea
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7 comments:
move down, move down, clean cups, clean cups!
ojos de brujo? perhaps that is why you can use them to see your invisible friends.
this exercise worked for me.
the cube was in the left foreground. it was made of a reddish purple wood with visible grain. it was beautiful and smooth to the touch; i liked it.
the ladder was near the cube, not leaning, but there in case either it or the cube needed support. it, too, was made of wood. the wood was weathered, but the ladder was still sturdy.
the horse and the plant were in the background right. the horse was bay. the plant was VERY green, spring green, with fuschia bright flowers. the flowers were aromatic, herbal, green. at first, the horse was nibbling on the plant, but because it needed nourishment. it was not harming the plant, which was vigourous and healthy. the storm startled the horse, who ran towards the cube for shelter. the plant welcomed the storm, the rain vital and new.
i would say that the relationship between myself and my friends is accurate.
i've been thinking quite a bit about the relationship between creativity and romantic relationships, and if one precludes the other. my ojos brujos have not been able to see this relationship clearly as of yet. it may or may not exist. i believe that it did for baudelaire....il pleut, il pleut, il pleut dans mon coeur......
as for the storm? i will take a rain check and get back to you, if that meets with your approval.
You know spanish! how refreshing. Nice to meet you. Thank you for sharing your cube. Guessing from yours (although only you can really know your internal iconography)...interesting that your horse was in the background with your flourishing plant. I would guess that your love is very invested in your creativity, but you have not been paying a lot of romantic attention to it. Perhaps you have depersonalized the horse out of some need to avoid dealing with your level of dependency on it. Whatever its relationship with your creativity, you acknowledge that it still relies on you emotionally. You welcome the storm because it seems like a kind of trouble that will distract you from mundane problems. I believe that the only thermometer for beauty is emotion, so the more deeply something makes you feel, the more beautiful it is to you. You crave that emotion par differance for the way it will inspire you. of course the relationship exists. Once a connection has been dreamed, on some level it exists. This isn't just swishy garble, either. It holds (ex:particle/wave theory). Whether or not it was there before, you have made it so. What is your creative medium?
Internal symbolism has never been my strongpoint. I think it's mostly due to the rigid separation in my head between the hemispheres. I have great strengths in both creativity and reasoning, yet for some reason the two are often not on speaking terms. This leaves me either without much significant symbolism in my visualization or with the inability to interpret it. I will however, leave you with the image that I came up with.
The cube was made of highly polished brass, with raised decorative corner plates. It had no openings or other markings on it. It stood in the front left of the picture.
The ladder was near the center of the picture. It was an aluminum step ladder, about six feet tall, and open. It was well used, with scratches and paint spots on it, but not at all dilapidated.
The plant was one of those monster saguaro cacti, big white flowers in bloom, probably 30 feet tall or so. It was far in the background, and had at least 4 arms. It's spines weren't really visable over the distance.
The horse was farther back and to the right. It was a dark (almost black) arabian (which i think had a lot to do with the desert setting). I would imagine it to be about 15 hands high. It was rearing, the mane was quite visable. It's ears were forward, so I'm guessing whatever it's doing, it was happy about it.
The storm was one of those fast rolling thunderstorms, and there was a bolt of lighting striking at the instant I visualized the picture. It was far, far in the distance, but I could see the reflection of the lightning in the eyes of the horse and off of the brass cube.
That's about all the detail I came up with off the top of my head. I wonder if you can make any sense out of it.
Your interior bereft of symbolism may be a good thing (leaves room for the thing the symbol would have replaced).This state of non-communication is very interesting. If reasoning and creativity don't speak, are you able to construct absurdist nonsensically logical arguments?
I'll give it a shot, but with two disclaimers. First, I am sleepy, so this may fall short.
Second, I believe only you can really understand your own symbols, so mine will just be guesses, and if any happen to overlap, it is coincidence.The cube sounds like a three-d solid picture frame, but the art/the picture contains it, so you may see yourself as a container for beauty that originates outside of yourself, that becomes a secret hidden thing once you internalize it, perhaps you do not feel that you should express yourself even more than you do, or, more likely, that you do express yourself, but that you end up just being categorized, and people miss your actual points. The cube is metal, but not made of precious metal:sturdy and aesthetic, conscious of lack of financial stability. Standing on left:upright, politically left or emotionally sinister. Your friends are a large focal point in your life. You are drawn to them for their ability to let you in because you feel that even if you go through all the actions of "letting them in", it doesn't count, because you are really closed. It is easier for you to show what they think is personal than what you think is personal.Same people around you for a while.You think of your intelligence and creativity like some people think of gods: they tower over your actions and play a large role in your identity formation. Part of you still feels like a child sometimes, even though the ascent to your creative process can be excruciating (but relieving when you are fully inside it), you are often rewarded by a lovely and satisfying thing at the end. The love (person or idea)was on the opposite side of the picture, so you look for someone who can debate with you, is spunky, doesn't always agree with you (it's more fun trying to change their mind). You are drawn to dark cynicism/wit, to someone who is active, enjoys themselves and is a bit wild, yet can still mold their temporary persona enough to stand out brilliantly in any type of group.Your perception of trouble is modified by the love, but it links you together, and you recognize that there is no immediate threat, only one to emotional security in the future, but that makes it more passionate now.These are just guesses, let me know which bits you disagree with. The details were good. Thank you, s
Hmm... Some good points on the cube, I do often feel that I am catagorized, but it has never really bothered me, because I understand that's how people tend to work.
My financial instability is one that is pretty typical of a college student, stable enough to let me eat, very little disposable income, but always having parents to fall back on if I really need it, so I both don't really worry about it and see it as a temporary stituation. It's prolly going to be a lot more unstable during medical school.
It's good to hear somebody who actually knows the origins of sinister. I've always been a very left oriented person in the literal sense of the word, left handed, strong left eye dominance, etc... I don't think I fall into either the political left or emotional sinister catagory, thought. (Not that I fall in the political right catagory either, actually).
I think I disagree with most of the "letting in" part of the discussion, my friends do tend to have the same thoughts on what they think is personal as what I do. But they are indeed a large focal point of my life.
I love the analogy about my intelligence and creativity, and I would say it's reasonably accurate.
You absolutley nailed the description of what I look for in somebody, to the point where I'd normally ask you politely to please exit the interior of my brain. ;)
All in all, very interesting analysis, the symbols were similar to what I think I would have attached to them as well.
Ah a lefty. That makes sense then. Yeah the letting in stuff was a bit of a stretch, trying to explain the part about the ladder being open and the cube being closed... This interpretation stuff is so much easier if you can actually see the person 'in person'instead of 'in persona'.Thanks for not being upset at my random guesses, and for the feedback. I can't get out of your head unless you kick me out (just not in the face!). I have no control over the multiplicity of lives we live unseen in the minds of others. I enjoyed your cube, thank you for sharing. Med. school,eh? What's your specific area of interest? Do you sing?
and then there's stranger intentionality, and stranger haecceities, and the strangest ipseities, and lions and tigers and bears o my.
;)
j
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