Thanks for reading. This is my first post.
Stick around for more to come.
“Writing is simply the expressing of thoughts into words. So why does it matter if we write irrational or rational, and maybe it doesn’t?”
Farley, MO – taken by myself
I find it odd that we often become the best writers in times of pain and suffering. And at first, it seems plausible that we can speak and write so vividly when our emotions are on high. Why that is, it’s a bit unclear, but I think it has to do with empathy. They say empathy is one of the greatest qualities you can find in a person, and, in my own simplified definition, it is the ability to feel what the other person is feeling. And how this pertains to writing is that, when we write, the best writing is the one that invokes the emotions of the reader, like a good song or an old picture. These emotions enable the reader to form a response to the writing. And, maybe it just makes them think a second longer than they would have otherwise, or maybe, it is so powerful, that it causes the reader to make a change in his or her personal life. But, that leaves my first statement unaddressed, and not only that, it leaves more questions. So why are we able to write so clearly when we are emotional? Better yet, why do we seem to be better writers and even more motivated writers? When looked at more closely, it doesn’t seem to make sense.
I’m not sure if anyone’s ever given you the advice, don’t make decisions when you’re angry. This advice is often taken without question. We know that if you are to make a decision in anger, it is often not the most rational decision, but rather, the irrational one. And when it comes to those who face depression, and they’re deciding whether or not to “end it all,” we tell them, you’re not thinking right, you’re being irrational. But again, what does this have to do with writing? Writing is simply the expressing of thoughts into words. So why does it matter if we write irrational or rational, and maybe it doesn’t? The fallacy that I see is that we often hope to achieve giving the reader advice, or a message to take away from our words. Our goal in writing shouldn’t be to only entertain our readers, but to leave the reader with an idea, at least, I find that the most powerful writers are able to do this. This is because when we can do this, our words become more than words, but something more. It’s something that transcends the physical paper and leaves something with us that we didn’t have before.
It may be confusing to why I am bringing this all up. It may also be confusing to how I’m laying it out, and why it might seem these ideas are a bit scattered, to say the least. The reason to have brought these points to your attention is to simply inform you, as the reader, what is to come in this blog. I will admit, at times, I will write when I’m angry. At other times, I write when in times of despair. And finally, there were times when I write, with the only goal being to properly express my ideas in words. There were no emotions involved. Why this matters is because, when you’re reading, it may feel, at times, that you’ll connect to it very well. You’ll feel that it is speaking to the emotions you have felt in your life that were similar to the emotions that fueled a section of the book. In the same way, you might feel that there times my writing doesn’t make sense, or is hard to follow. This could be because the emotions used to write that particular post were not similar to the ones you’ve felt yourself, or it simply could be that writing does not have any emotion involved, and you’re able to clearly and logically disagree with any points I might have made. I only ask that you keep this in mind when you’re reading. If there’s a piece I’ve written that does seem to drag on, try to push through it, or if you can’t, skip it. This blog and my writing are more or less a narrated collection of my thoughts, and, like your thoughts as well, will not always follow what should be a logical order.
Thanks for reading,
Cory von Seggern
New Age Lessons 