I am just a channel for ideas
“You know when you start a post and intend on it being 300 words and it turns into 3000?”
That’s a thread I made on Leo yesterday after finishing the article In Search of a Better Life. I did not plan or writing 3000 words! I did not want to write 3000 words.
But sometimes you catch an idea or a thread and once you start pulling, something much bigger than you imagine starts to unravel. Sometimes you find a stone sticking out of the sand, and as you try to dig it out, you discover a pyramid to uncover.
Ah, we are getting esoteric again…
There is a story that Tom Waits, a true musical inspiration, tells where he’s driving his car home but he’s stuck in traffic. A song starts to come to him and instinctually he looks upward and says
“Excuse me, can you not see that I’m driving? Do I look like I can write down a song right now? If you really want to exist, come back at a more opportune moment when I can take care of you. Otherwise, go bother somebody else today. Go bother Leonard Cohen.”
-Tom Waits
And thus, Hallelujah was written by Leonard Cohen, I guess! 😂
When I read this quote for the first time, I was drinking a coffee and I laughed so hard I almost spit the coffee out of my mouth. I know exactly what he was talking about.
It’s almost as if songs and ideas are floating around in the air and we just catch them if we are ready for them.
I like to think of it as a radio signal. When we tune our channel to an idea, we can hear it clearly, and then we have the opportunity to try and share what we hear.
We all have our own unique qualities that can create a slightly different version of what we hear, and sometimes static obscures the original message, but I think that many artists have experienced this.
When I look at my own lyrics, it’s a very strange feeling sometimes. How in the hell did I write this:
Body curled up under covers dreaming of the song he wants to be-
-tween this world and the other,
Crawling back inside his mother
When will this world end so he can build it up again”
-“Astral Blanket” by I+Everything (me)
“Crawling back inside his mother”!?!?. I promise you that that did not come entirely from me and it did not come from me and I did not copy it from anywhere.
I was trying to channel the emotions of frustration I felt from not being able to create something as beautiful as my favorite songs, and the image of Kinkakuji by Yukio Mishimo popped into my head. In the story, which is based on true events, the protagonist is a monk who finds the beauty of the Golden Pavilion so beautiful that he cannot accept it’s existence so he decides to burn it down.
Yes, there was some outside inspirations that helped me hone in on the frequency I was going after, but the words and images that came out in my song had nothing to do with the The Golden Pavilion story, nor did they come from my own thoughts and memories.
They came from the frequency of this emotion of frustration that one cannot be or create something as beautiful as the thing one admires. I had felt that feeling very strongly in the past and wanted to release it so that it no longer weighed heavy upon my heart.
As I tuned to the frequency that allowed me to find the memory of that emotion etched into my consciousness, I became an emotional match for a story like The Golden Pavilion.
In that frequency I discovered the images with which I could express my own version of that frustration, one that was not nearly as far gone as the disturbed monk, one that wanted to heal, but felt so much existential frustration that it longed for the comfort of the womb.
This is the work of an artist.
To a certain degree I treat my posts the same way. I have an overall vision for what I want to share or say and I invite the ideas or emotions to flow through me and then I get out of the way, then I read back over everything and make sure I did a decent job at channeling. Was my radio recieving the signal clearly?
So I don’t have much control over how long my posts are. They as long as they ask me to make them. Sometimes i ask them to be short and they may listen or they may not. It depends on the topic.
Today I asked for something shorter and I think that eill be exactly what’s delivered. In fact this post is telling me it’s time to wrap up.
Let’s see what comes through me next time 😉
If you are interested in blogging here and earning some change while sharing ideas and making friends, send me a message on Instagram or Twitter (@ ipluseverything)
ブログで自分の思っていることをシェアしながら小銭を溜まったり新しい友達をできたりすることは興味あれば、InstagramやTwitter（@ipluseverything）でメッセージを送ってください。 英語のオンラインレッスンの興味ある人もどうぞ、メッセージをください^_^
Novels/music/merch/social media/patreon:
https://linktr.ee/selfhelp4trolls
Untangled Knots podcast:
Japanese Upbringing Explained (interview my Japanese student)
Confessions of the Damaged 1.1-1.3 on Amazon
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
First comment: Can't help but notice that ecency seems to think this is a 17 word post, probably to balance out your word count, after yesterday's epos ;<)
Hahahahaha yeah, I mean, I guess it could easily be a 17 word post if I don't use spaces in between words. :-)
haha - I had to look - unbelievable but true - only 17 words 😆
yeah, mere small talk ;<)
Well, I have never written a song. I’d start writing songs very soon though so maybe I can experience the feeling of what you are talking about
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I can very much relate to that thing Tom Waits talks about ( even though I don't drive a car (yet))
Love that backstory to your song. Nice lyrics!
And yeah, that frequency, I mentioned that to someone at the shared creative space, yesterday, I wasn't sure whether he understood me or related. My brain was running wild ( probably due to caffeine ) and I struggled to slow down until he told me he had work to do and I put on my headphones and let my brain run wild in silent mode, once again, haha!
I could have gone more into the story of the song but that wasn’t what wanted to come through me at the moment. There is an album called “Karuki Zaaman Kuri no hana” or “Kalk Semen Chesnut flower” by Shiina Ringo. It’s a very experimental pop album and the first I got into Japan. It’s actually what got me interested in Japan and convinced me that I needed to make music but something about listening to it felt very difficult to me. I felt a lot of pain when listening. When I realized the emotions was jealousy, a year or two later I wrote that song to try and release the jealous so I wouldn’t become like the monk.
This reminded me of someone, a popular Gospel musician in my country who,when asked what he does if he suddenly gets an inspiration in an uncomfortable place, said that he goes every where with his recorder. On the go, in his car or any where, once that inspo hits, he turns on his recorder and begins that initial recording.
It made me think of how many times I've been hit with a spectacular influx of inspo and I dwell on it, mediate even, but because I fell to write it down, I soon enough forget and it's most likely gone forever. It's a bizarre thought, really.
I don't think I'm inclined to cut my muse short anymore, wherever the inspo stops, that's when my ink will. Not the other way round.
it happens to me at 2 am when I have work the next day sometimes 😆 that’s why I changed my schedule to start at 11 AM hahaha
Some ideas do only know once and some come back later. I take notes and record things sometimes but depending on what it is, the feeling is gone and they don’t come back to knock again. But there are always other ideas that come if I make myself ready for them. That’s the best I can do, just be ready for theme as much as I can.
My best work is definitely not at this blog, it’s my novels and songs. This blog is where I play with ideas to get to know them better.
Go for it, let’s see what you do!
That's quite true. Sometimes, while I'm drawing a particular subject/,character, I get a little idea on eat to pen down, as I was about to finish penning down that little idea, more and more pop up. At that moment, I don't need any distraction from any angle or else I would lose the idea.
just go with the flow and see what comes! Sometimes it’s completely different from what you were expecting but I think this is what is fun about art, it’s like a collaboration with everything that flows. I feel like I’m reading something for the first time as I write it
I rarely get to write long posts anymore, mostly because I don't have the time. Between parenting, work, homeschooling my days are full. Ot affects my ability to comment and interact as well.
Sometimes I sit down to write and have no idea what will come, only that I need to and often they are my best posts, because it flows more.
If I think too much, it hinders my writing. Funny that.
Big hug xxxxx
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I somehow don’t know how I manage to blog at all 😆 it’s amazing how swamped we can get trying to balance digital and physical, but there outlets and inspiration to find in the digital as well so I won’t give up on it. You are great for being able to do this much with kids!!
Such a beautiful post. I can totally understand you are to be a creative who channels for sure. That is a beautiful - your inspiration comes from a special place. I also had to laugh when I read the Tom Waits quote. Enjoy your gift - it is special.
thank you so much! Sorry for the late reply. It’s been a very dense couple weeks! Tom Waits is brilliant!
Aww no problem - hope things are less dense now
At times when an idea comes to mind, I reach for my phone to start writing in my Note, thinking it would be a quick or short one but then it keeps flowing uncontrollably until my mind decides to pen its last word.
If I refuse to obey the pull to pen down my thoughts just because I'm in the middle of something else, thinking the inspiration will still be there when I'm down, I won't even find a trace of it.
The inspiration just creeps in anytime and I reach for my phone, same happens when it comes to writing lyrics.
You've got a melodious voice.
thank you! And sorry for the late reply! I think you are a natural born writer or artist if it comes that easily to you. Keep doing it and see where it takes you!
Thanks so much. Oh! It's fine.
I'm glad to read this from you @selfhelp4trolls, makes me more confident in what I'm doing and I hope I will do greatly in it.
When I started working here, I couldn't even write 200 words, I didn't understand, I used to sit and think for so many hours, I got a headache. I write a post of thousand words and I do one post every day, the effort is to make it good every day.
glad that writing is becoming more natural to you. Just remember we have Leo threads and ecency waves now if you prefer short form 😉
Lol this happens to me too, too much words sometimes. A post suddenly becomes more than 2000 words and I still have much to say! Ooops. Haha. And so that's how I end up making a series of 3 posts on just one topic. 😂
I didn't know you write songs, wow. Ah indeed, when inspiration hits, it just has to be shared to the world.
I write sporadically over the course of many years 😆 I already have a collection of maybe 10 current songs and 15-20 retired songs but they’re all still a bit sloppy and I’m not too good at recording otherwise I’d make an album. I like jamming most of all
I guess you jam with your keyboard as well 😉
Well maybe one day you'd have an album. Anyway I only type so much when I get inspired. 😁