what style will let your future heart speak loudest?
I want...
Metaphysics.
Your metaphysic.
Your creative reasoning inquiring into the nature of human nature. Like...
As a human being in 2024...
What are you?
What am I? (the reader)
After the "what," your personal negotiation of the "Who am I?" might evolve into a helpful ideology. With that unique personal ideology in mind, it might make sense to build an index card index of character development.
Can your story be original and yet universal? I think so. Dial that up.
The sound of your words might be fitting for a trimmed down version rewritten as spoken-word poetry.
Hey Mark, thanks for the thoughtful comment! I had considered making a poetry piece to accompany this, but it's not exactly my specialty. The video you linked is certainly compelling. Perhaps I'll explore that format on my own time and share if I think I have something to offer.
I'm glad the story met some of the important components of an engaging story. There are some underlying themes which I included and hoped to be universal, but I guess that they need to be a bit more explicit; this piece was inspired in large part by the existential issue that AI might present and the patience and resilience we will need to not be consumed by it. Also: the idea of being confronted by world shattering events and learning to navigate them. I will certainly keep developing my Metaphysical understandings and hopefully they will shine through in the next story!
I appreciate your risk-taking vulnerability, putting yourself out there.
. Here is the grain of salt you should use when considering my responses to your work.
When I think about the significance of orgs like Freedom's Phoenix, Porcupine Freedom Festival, and especially OTTY, I can't help feeling like I messed up my life potential.
Going on 67, I feel I'm supposed to be among the respectable elders of humanity, ready and able to sift through extensive experience and pass on great pearls of wisdom Over To The Youth.
Fact is, I never learned to read properly. Ten words in, and I'm forced to look up 2 or 3 of those words. Rats. Maybe I'm gonna hafta skip guys like A. N. Whitehead, William James, and Sir Francis Bacon for this lifetime. Rats.
To compensate for such a failure, and in order to pursue wisdom that seems mostly out of reach, I force myself to listen to audiobooks and podcasts. And I write, as I am now, reaching for new insights and revelations as I go. It seems to help me.
Really there's only one bit of wisdom I feel certain must be passed on. This is for everybody. Question authority. Question everything. You must be your own judge when it comes to deciding what is reasonable and what is not. Also, judge for yourself what is right and what is wrong.
A corallary to the principle of questioning things, which is like being in the driver's seat of your life, you must also be doing the best you can with what you have.
That means if you have a brain, use it.
Equally important, maybe even more important, if you have a heart, use it.
And.
I'd say:
God created our world and our potential before we were conceived, but from now on, we can be co-creators, with God, of our future.
Such an intention requires that we aim up. We should be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. (Stole that one from St. Paul.)
I'm sorry to hear that you feel you've wasted your potential. I'm probably not really the authority on this, but I think that a lot of people pass through life without ever really stopping to consider. Even if you watch your first podcast on Philosophy and metaphysics at 66, you are still ahead of everyone who never bothered.
You do not give the impression of someone unwise through your comments. I think the fact that you have shared your regrets is a mark of wisdom in itself. So many "elders" lecture youth, but don't seek to connect with them on a personal level. Also, I have already read through your comment on my post about dark themes and there're some really interesting ideas there!
Questioning things has been my core principal so far, but as you say it is very important to make judgements as well to stay grounded. Writing is a really good way to consolidate thoughts and come upon revelations as you say. I'd add talking and debating with people who are open minded. I think the pace of conversation really makes things flow and lets the intuition have a voice. I definitely lean slightly more towards using my mind, but the heart is no doubt important. I think that it's healthy to lean towards one or the other slightly (to coincide with one's strengths), but not too far in either direction.
I'm not myself religious, I'll admit, but I very much like that idea of co-creation. It's like a negotiation between the external world and that which is out of our control, and the internal, which we can shape with enough determination and introspection.
Leon,
Poetry much?
Maybe next time,
free verse poetry?
As story:
Imagery? Check.
Action? Check.
Building momentum? Check.
What genre,
what style will let your future heart speak loudest?
I want...
Metaphysics.
Your metaphysic.
Your creative reasoning inquiring into the nature of human nature. Like...
As a human being in 2024...
What are you?
What am I? (the reader)
After the "what," your personal negotiation of the "Who am I?" might evolve into a helpful ideology. With that unique personal ideology in mind, it might make sense to build an index card index of character development.
Can your story be original and yet universal? I think so. Dial that up.
The sound of your words might be fitting for a trimmed down version rewritten as spoken-word poetry.
See
https://youtu.be/0snNB1yS3IE
If you had asked for alternate titles:
The Matrix 2.0
Dreaming While Under My Dentist's New Anesthetic
Crushing On My Anesthesiologist
A Gamer's Afterlife Dream
Hope that helps,
mark spark
.
Hey Mark, thanks for the thoughtful comment! I had considered making a poetry piece to accompany this, but it's not exactly my specialty. The video you linked is certainly compelling. Perhaps I'll explore that format on my own time and share if I think I have something to offer.
I'm glad the story met some of the important components of an engaging story. There are some underlying themes which I included and hoped to be universal, but I guess that they need to be a bit more explicit; this piece was inspired in large part by the existential issue that AI might present and the patience and resilience we will need to not be consumed by it. Also: the idea of being confronted by world shattering events and learning to navigate them. I will certainly keep developing my Metaphysical understandings and hopefully they will shine through in the next story!
Leon.
I appreciate your risk-taking vulnerability, putting yourself out there.
. Here is the grain of salt you should use when considering my responses to your work.
When I think about the significance of orgs like Freedom's Phoenix, Porcupine Freedom Festival, and especially OTTY, I can't help feeling like I messed up my life potential.
Going on 67, I feel I'm supposed to be among the respectable elders of humanity, ready and able to sift through extensive experience and pass on great pearls of wisdom Over To The Youth.
Fact is, I never learned to read properly. Ten words in, and I'm forced to look up 2 or 3 of those words. Rats. Maybe I'm gonna hafta skip guys like A. N. Whitehead, William James, and Sir Francis Bacon for this lifetime. Rats.
To compensate for such a failure, and in order to pursue wisdom that seems mostly out of reach, I force myself to listen to audiobooks and podcasts. And I write, as I am now, reaching for new insights and revelations as I go. It seems to help me.
Really there's only one bit of wisdom I feel certain must be passed on. This is for everybody. Question authority. Question everything. You must be your own judge when it comes to deciding what is reasonable and what is not. Also, judge for yourself what is right and what is wrong.
A corallary to the principle of questioning things, which is like being in the driver's seat of your life, you must also be doing the best you can with what you have.
That means if you have a brain, use it.
Equally important, maybe even more important, if you have a heart, use it.
And.
I'd say:
God created our world and our potential before we were conceived, but from now on, we can be co-creators, with God, of our future.
Such an intention requires that we aim up. We should be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. (Stole that one from St. Paul.)
Respectfully,
mark spark
.
I'm sorry to hear that you feel you've wasted your potential. I'm probably not really the authority on this, but I think that a lot of people pass through life without ever really stopping to consider. Even if you watch your first podcast on Philosophy and metaphysics at 66, you are still ahead of everyone who never bothered.
You do not give the impression of someone unwise through your comments. I think the fact that you have shared your regrets is a mark of wisdom in itself. So many "elders" lecture youth, but don't seek to connect with them on a personal level. Also, I have already read through your comment on my post about dark themes and there're some really interesting ideas there!
Questioning things has been my core principal so far, but as you say it is very important to make judgements as well to stay grounded. Writing is a really good way to consolidate thoughts and come upon revelations as you say. I'd add talking and debating with people who are open minded. I think the pace of conversation really makes things flow and lets the intuition have a voice. I definitely lean slightly more towards using my mind, but the heart is no doubt important. I think that it's healthy to lean towards one or the other slightly (to coincide with one's strengths), but not too far in either direction.
I'm not myself religious, I'll admit, but I very much like that idea of co-creation. It's like a negotiation between the external world and that which is out of our control, and the internal, which we can shape with enough determination and introspection.