Writing & Truth
Writing is a funny thing...you kind of just need to let the words come. I was thinking about this as I was killing time on my day off this past monday, sitting at the Barnes & Noble on 45th Street & 5th Avenue. There can be no shame in writing, there is room only for honesty. Openness, no guilt. Guilt covers and attempts to hide true sides of self that are concealed in our everyday intereactions. Writing seeks to draw these hidden places, these secret thoughts and shamed feelings out, set them free and expose them for what they are. Pure truth, based on perspective, but but truth all the same. There can be many truths, many realities, many versions of fact. But no matter what truth is, and what lies within the soul, it is the core of the self that shrouds it. It is meaning and must be set free. Sometimes when I have major writers block I realize that part of it is due to the fact that I am not being true to myself - I'm trying to create something that isn't really me. Writing after all should be you - always you and never anything false or feigned.
Labels: Thoughts on Life, Writing
2 Comments:
At 9:20 PM,
Jeetan said…
Interesting post Mira. I agree and your post sort of reminds me of the saying "the truth shall set you free".
But it also reminds me of two other sayings that are some of my personal favorites:
1. The national motto of India (from the Mundaka Upanishads):
"Satyameva Jayate"
which is Sanskrit for:
"Truth Alone Triumphs"
2. "To thine own self be true" which is from Hamlet. :)
At 9:45 AM,
Dan said…
Mira, I just stumbled upon your blog (hope I didn't breark anything). :)
I agree with your thoughts on writing. When I'm dong my best writing, it feels like I'm just an instrument (like a pen) and the words are just coming (being an armchair Taoist, I believe they actually are coming from somewhere other than my conscious mind).
But when I begin "thinking", that's when problems occur. And a writer can never think his/her way out of a block. Even if I do manage to write something after "thinking" my way out of the block, it's artificial.
I've prattled on enough. Now I'm starting to think! ;) Better quit while I'm ahead.
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