Cogito, ergo sum. (I think, therefore I am.)–Rene Descartes
We all have our starting points, influences, and processes. My daily latter is: I am what I am, therefore I think.
Consciousness has long been of interest and just about anything that still signifies for me has to do with consciousness and awareness-raising (which is probably why I have been a musician, a 30-year-teacher, and finally, a writer.)
About five years ago, consciousness reinsinuated itself in my life and writing. I began to record page-length meditations. Central and underlying themes began to emerge and beg for personal expression. I obliged on such topics as love, freedom, gifts of self, and so forth. Call it a mental clearing-house and summing up, and finally, this blog–an idea garden as it has turned out, largely, to be.
I suppose I also wanted to go on record in a new and different medium–one which had a 24/7, quasi-eternal quality to it. Although I have recommended this blog to friends and interesting people I have met along the way since last year (some notion of audience has given additional purpose), the blog has been mostly a self-expressive process in which I have given my opinions and thoughts, in a Montaigneish way, about ‘what occurs to me’ or arises in daily consciousness.
Consciousness is, of course, broader than simply ideas or opinions, and this blog has expressed memories, recorded older writing which I wanted to preserve and share, and often simply written itself when a mood or theme suggested itself. Very process-oriented through and thorough.
Frequently, I have shared and expressed feelings, moods, and much of this process reveals deeper inner workings of soul and my essential spirit. Looking back at much of my poetry, I realize a transparency and windows quality to that soulfull-ness and spirit. That was probably a deeper cause or motivation for many poems. So much of who I deeply am and have been can be seen in the poems.
As I mentioned before, sensibility and its development have always been of interest, particularly in my own case. I have long opened myself to the world and as much of the best of what has been expressed by others, especially by the greats in the arts. Recurringly, my life has been informed and enhanced by information from the arts.
Language, too, has been a very basic preoccupation. I have explored and analyzed it, but I have also played with it, and used it to say and do what I most wanted, especially in cases where a person or project truly mattered. To a large extent–as witnessed by this blog–words are mainly who I am and how my sensibility interacts with others and the world. Words come easily and they have brought me enough success, happiness, pleasure, fulfilment, and satisfaction in life.
As always, these entries write themselves, often in first-draft form. I am a writer. For me, consciousness and experience have been the great personal trips, along with family. We are each of us every day living in/with our consciousnesses. And there is always a limited/limiting aspect as well as a potentially fulfilling/realizing aspect to that process. Consciousness is something that is basic and constant and gets in early–as my remarks and observations about my grandson have shown. It is also what we take to the grave with us or until downsizing dementia or unconsciousness sets in.
Consciousness is our opportunity to realize, express, and share who we are and how we feel about and see the world. It defines us, finally.
I thank you for wandering around in my Idea Garden today. It is actually a consciousness garden of a large, sensitive sensibility. If ever you care to know who I am and was, it is pretty much here, so to speak. Enjoy and feel free to make a connection, or pick up an idea or inspiration.