Welcome to Something to Say.
Language is how we discover belief. When we fail to put words around what we believe and why we believe it, we have little more than undifferentiated and vague sensations unable to inform our actions. Contemplating our experience, then putting it into words means we must interpret and find a place for new discoveries that enhance awareness. Language renders sensation intelligible. It gives us the tools to interpret and integrate its meaning into our ever-evolving selves where it becomes belief. The upshot of all this is having something to say, even when you say it to yourself alone, is always worth it. In a way, what we say allows us to meet and get to know who we are.
This blog is principally focused on how articulating what is in our hearts and minds helps us make sense of life. It also helps define our differences and commonalities. If all this sounds like I’m promoting the so-called “examined life”, I suppose I am. We can’t keep ourselves from asking the big existential questions. Every life includes events that spark wonder about meaning and purpose; to understand what it means to be human. It is language’s job to penetrate these elusive mysteries. In some manner, I try to explore meaning and purpose in my writings. Ironically, I have anthropomorphized animals to share my thoughts on uniquely human existential matters in my three books: A YORKIE’S TALE, THE BLACK FOX OF BECKHAM, and NATHANIEL’S GOT THE BLUES. (All books are available through most online booksellers.)
More recently, the focus of my writing has been on discovering meaning in the little things we encounter but often overlook; the day to day experiences taken for granted. I am a big fan of Annie Dillard, especially her PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK. She tells a sweet story from her childhood in which she hides a penny among the roots at the base of a tree in her neighborhood. She invites a lucky passer-by to participate in a treasure hunt, of sorts by drawing chalk arrows along the sidewalk with the tantalizing teaser “Free money this way!” If you follow the arrows, a reward awaits; the hidden penny. Her insightful reflection has to do with the casual disregard most of us have for such a petty discovery. Yet, she proposes most of our day to day experiences are much like the penny hidden under the tree; hardly worth the effort to bend over and pick up. We dismiss and overlook these small treasures, with no consideration of the reward such experiences may offer. Her point is this: we miss so many of the critical lessons life serves up because we believe them to be essentially worthless. Yet, life is mostly comprised of pennies. The paths we follow are strewn with them. Life is comprised of relatively little spectacle, but is exquisitely nuanced. I have tried to write pieces that invite discovering the profound within the mundane; finding value within life’s smallest treasures.
“But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days.”
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
I do hope you take some time to dip into some of the writing and as always, I am grateful for your comments, and, of course, honored by your ‘likes’, and ‘follows’.
David
Something to Say 