Possibility as Opportunity

On November 16, 2016November 16, 2016 By Roger B. BurtIn Cusp of Reality, Origins of Gaia's Majesty, StruggleLeave a comment

What do you see in today’s picture? What might it represent?

What possibilities are you searching in your life?

Questioning the Fiction We Write

Throughout the writing process I find myself asking a question about what I write. I prefer to call it speculative fiction because of what the story means to me but, evidently, the term covers a lot of territory. I usually settle and call it fantasy but the term is unsatisfactory to me. I know clearly it is not science fiction and certainly not horror. But what the story holds out to me is that it represents something I want. I also want to offer something specific to the reader.

When I explore my thoughts about what I create I am also clear that I am not writing literature. The turn of phrase does not enthrall me and at the same time I don’t see it as entertainment pure and simple. In the end I return to the core of my personality type. My primary function in my personality is intuition and the word I come up with again and again is “possibility”. For me it is a search and all of my life has involved search. Whether it was me in primary school looking out the window exploring a thought the teacher gave me or seeking a job with relentless potential later in life.

What Opens Before Us

Also with possibility comes the word “opportunity”. Isn’t that what a possibility is? It need not be a pure abstraction but can lead to a discovery and perhaps something to be done or even a mission.

Is There Some Form of Guidance?

At the same time I find myself entering the realm of wondering if there may be some form of guidance or the imposition of direction and purpose. And once that question is raised we have almost infinite possibilities and theoretical positions. Given the state of the world, I thought it was more interesting to pose purpose related to guidance from an earth goddess. We, after all, have to assume some responsibility for ourselves and our home. Perhaps we will be tested and since all animals struggle there is no reason why we should be an exception. It seems unlikely we will be given anything completely although some guidance might be possible. We learn through struggle. We grow through struggle. We justify our future through struggle.

And too often we confine our view to this planet when there is a rather large universe out there of which we are a product in the form of stardust. Why confine our search for possibilities. It might be that there is some form of even larger purpose growing out of the dynamism that is the universe and its fundamental forces. It would be beyond anything that we have yet conceived of.

How Central is the Instruction of Struggle

And then, of course, there is the matter that struggle is not merely struggle but almost surely offers productive possibilities and leads us to shaping challenge and purpose. We need to search the horizon for opportunity. And then when we focus on the specific work itself we might find all forms of opportunity. And in fiction there are characters to engage our explorations. We can ally ourselves with a character like ourselves or seize the opportunity too take in and work with someone completely unlike us. In fact we may find that some part of our unconscious is being raised or brought to our attention. It all composes opportunity.

Personal Discovery

In writing I found myself challenged by these thoughts and they lead to personal discovery. I did not set out to find them our build them. As an intuitive type I found they built themselves. In all you can see the possibilities with which I wrestle and they are components of the coming Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy.

And then I must comment on the picture I chose for this post. It is what we psychologists call a projective devise. I see it as our earth goddess in charge of our world. But how do we interpret it. How do you see it? Does this image intimidate us or challenge us to respond. Does the power frighten us or does it suggest struggle and possibilities as I outlined above. I tend toward seeing opportunity and dynamism with us under the command of the goddess/world we may be stewards of or ruin. Do we get guidance?

Which of these possibilities intrigues you?
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Life Among the Living

On September 7, 2015September 7, 2015 By Roger B. BurtIn Life Forms, MythologyLeave a comment

Do you have a special myth you favor?

Many of us don’t consider it unreasonable to ask if angels really exist, do we have spirit guides or how real our day or night dreams are? Certainly there is a great deal of speculation about paranormal phenomena. There is no point in trying to comprehensively enumerate the various kinds of life forms there are or may be. And related are various forms of consciousness that may be related to them.

In fantasy, science fiction and paranormal fiction we see various forms of exploration and belief. The fact of the matter is that it is unreasonable to dismiss any of them out of hand. I consider myself to be a very rational person which translates into meaning rationally it is unreasonable to dismiss them.

Other Life Forms
Alternatives are seen in the belief in spirits of all kinds. We love to think about them, love to read about them and write about them. It seems, though, that we cannot definitively establish their existence. And there is a very sound reason why we can’t. As human beings we have a very specific sensory system which is meant to help us survive in what we call the real world. In most instances we don’t need to sense spirits in order to survive.

Likewise, the head of the patent office early in the twentieth century declared that they might as well close up because everything that could be invented had been invented. He was just a little bit off base or, not in touch with reality. At that time we hadn’t mastered wave lengths for radio or other forms of communications. Now we know that there are all manner of waves humming around us that we can’t sense ourselves.

Dismissing Nothing
As I already noted I was told I was getting an education in being a scientist. Well, as a scientist I have come to understand that it is irrational and unscientific to dismiss all these various kinds of possibilities. But still we torment each other. We cry, “Get a grip! You can’t know that. Get a life. I have one and you don’t”. But the fact remains that what has been speculated may well exist and it may be that we haven’t yet been able to reach out to the other life forms—yet. And so we write about them, give them lives we create and yearn for the future. And it is so enriching to engage in this search and speculation. In fact we have better and richer lives when we do it.

Let me know when you have made contact. I want to meet whatever it is. At least as long as its friendly and is willing to share. For now please share your thoughts with me/us. rogerbburt@gmail.com

Focus on Our Personal Meaning

On August 31, 2015 By Roger B. BurtIn WritingLeave a comment

Here is a terrible but intriguing question. What is your personal meaning?

“Seriously?”

In the end the meaning of how the world is must be less important than our exploration of our own reality and meaning. In doing so speculative fiction may aid us. And that fiction may involve a search through ancient mysteries which may be intriguing as we attend to our own growth and inspiration. One viewpoint is that such a focus is too self centered but if we don’t guide ourselves through self exploration then we may have no direction at all. Maybe we won’t achieve a transformation but certainly we have to move beyond ourselves at some point and as we do we have to hope we have not lost our way.

The Core of Authenticity
It was very hard for me to not consider existential philosophy while I studied psychology. I found them intertwined. Early existential philosophers believed that their thinking began with the human subject. Woven in were concerns about disorientation if we did not examine ourselves. And, of course, there was the matter of authenticity. But they wondered if it all was merely absurd and at the same time wondered if considerations were too abstract. It helps if there is a direction or an object and that may mean validating our own personal meaning and giving it some substance

Confession
Now a confession. These decades later I can’t summarize the works of the existentialists. I frequently felt lost in the depth of their thinking and the subtlety of presentation. I’ll leave it to you if you want to pursue the thinking of people like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Sartre. But, in the end, the takeaway almost has to be the dedication to building our own view of an authentic self which leads to productive dedication and development. And it is that dedication that is woven into the Gaia’s Majesty Trilogy.

A Little Closer to “Reality”
I think we’ll stay a little closer to ordinary reality which is difficult enough because it can be quite confusing and ephemeral. At one level, though, considering how authentic we are in our daily lives is worth considering. And, in fact, I can’t completely detach psychology from existentialism. Some of us run into more trouble than others as we try to make our way. And some of us turn to literature to do our exploring. Certainly vast areas of literature are helpful and fulfilling. Again it is probably psychology that leads me to science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction.

The stories writers create are ways of sharing among people the explorations of ourselves, humanity and what our future might hold. These considerations help guide us.

Have you seen works of fiction have large impacts? If so, what works were they?