I have been thinking. During trans Atlantic flights there is time for that. I just came home from Project Horseshoe in Texas, and being there led me to emphasize some thoughts to the point of this text being written, right now.
I remember when I was sitting by the harbor in Savannah in the autumn of 2005 and a big ship passed by. I felt an instant identification. That is me. I have done like that. I set out a course and I follow it, slowly, steadily. Since 1995 I have been exploring how syntax of program code can be used for story construction. I still do it. I don’t know if I am any closer to an answer, but the course is set. In the end of this year I will be done with my thesis. I might consider a change of course then. Maybe not. Time will tell.
An effect of this has been that I have been using this course as a support when I have made choices, big and small. Other principles, or foundations for choices, have not been as important. I can feel a loss.
So the past months I have been adding an approach. In my thoughts I call it “the poetic principle”. I don’t mean poetry in terms of artifacts of text, but rather in terms the deep meaning that is created by good poetry, high symbolism which is at the same time personal and general. A poetic action, choice, or non-choice, or just the appreciation of a situation is different for all of us.
For me, to add this principle, is to appreciate each situation in poetic terms. To see the absurdity, the unexpected beauty, the quirkiness and the nuances. I ask myself “which is the most poetic choice of action?”.
This approach has not brought any dramatic changes to my actions, nor has it been visible. But it has had a profound effect on the inside. I can’t say that I am dramatically happier, but I feel more like myself. I am having invisible fun, most of the time.
