Writing is important to me. It frames the way I think and in turn that frames the way I speak. The way I think influences the way I act. All that is obvious to some degree. It’s obvious, but I want to take a moment and reflect on it anyway.
When I first started writing I had a clear goal. I wanted to improve my capacity to communicate. It’s something I was awful at. The goal was to become good at expressing myself. It’s hard to explain why that’s important to me beyond the obvious. There is a beyond the obvious.
Less obvious than words are pictures and images. I value words because I need them to communicate. The value in what they communicate comes from somewhere deeper. Value coming from somewhere deeper doesn’t mean my understanding of an image isn’t abstract. I get the feeling that sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t. I don’t have a good way to make a distinction other than to say there is one.
The relationship between imagery and the abstract is interesting to me. Some things that people know come from a place deep inside the subconscious. They don’t need intentional education to comprehend that imagery. The imagery and its purpose is already there. I don’t know if it’s known inherently, learned automatically, or taught instinctively. It seems to me all three of those things play a role.
Spiced Seven 