themes | essays
symbolic interpretation of writing, thought and life part 1
most of us write lists and generate words and writings essential for the satisfactory completion of our jobs, or perhaps even journal to document our emotions and journeys chronologically, but how often do we write as a process to process our emotions? how often do you write or brainstorm to look for hidden connections in your life events, hidden and unknown paths and possibilities in your life, ways to improve or refine the things you do repeatedly without fulfillment, or for critical analysis of problems or decisions? how about creative writing to stimulate long dormant areas of your mind?
watching a person's eyes when they speak can tell you what color their eyes are. similarly, writing down a thought or idea can be the same as having an average thought or simply seeing the color of someone's eyes; superficially, totally overlooking the vastness of information actually available. the information is understood and acknowledged rationally and literally, acted on or not, memorized or forgotten. noting in what direction a person's eyes look when the person is speaking can tell you how they are accessing the information they are giving you and perhaps if they are constructing the information creatively or accessing it from memory. similarly again, developing a thought in writing, improvisationally, without an attachment to it's form, syntax or purpose then seeing it symbolically for the themes it contains or acknowledging the symbols you believe you perceive in it rather than reading it off the paper the same way you wrote it there can allow you access to "hidden" messages that have nothing to do with the obviousness of literal, insight-less thought. it can initiate a chain reaction of thoughts or insights which, when left to evolve without your rational mind or ego stepping in, can weave a grand web of your life and thoughts and allow you to see very clearly the multidimensional aspects of everything in your experience and realize previously unrelated connections. you can then see a picture or collection of symbols which, when interpreted as a dream might be, can give you insight into yourself or your life beyond that which you might get from literal translations of the millions of "thoughtless" thoughts you have.
this idea of symbolic interpretation of reality is not specific to writing. it can be accomplished by seeing and interpreting life in a different way regardless of what you look at. it can be achieved through meditation, reflection, prayer, dream interpretation and more. this process of "seeing" life or writing or thought symbolically is similar to comprehending the spiritual insights or lessons in a parable, decoding an encrypted message, using a chrome rod or hangar to find water in the earth, telling someone's fortune with a deck of tarot cards, interpreting the symbols of the collective unconscious or dreams to give insight into life or help resolve problems or just plain thinking outside the "box". i've always liked to think of it as finding crumbs and then following them to the loaf- the crumbs of course representing seeing the symbols of life lead me to the various way points of happiness, revelation and fulfillment on the journey to the loaf of enlightenment.
necessarily, one must have a desire to refine themselves or find something new in their life to have need or motivation to investigate or interpret personal symbols. then again, if there is never creative investigation into one's self or interpretation of symbols, there is never the realization that there is this need. living life without looking beyond the superficial, obvious meaning of its events and experiences is analogous to watching a film and seeing only a colored conglomeration of moving shapes on a rectangle.
next time you have a problem, idea, or question drink some coffee or tea, write down a thought in relation to it and then close your eyes and let images, symbols and\or words form in response to the thought. write down ideas as they come in relation to this and again close your eyes and let the symbols come. they may be pictures or words or ideas depending the way you access information but write them down with words in a way which does not require thought and embodies the mind stuff conceptually with as few words as possible. repeat the process until you have a fair amount of information in front of you all related to the initial thoughts or problem. viewing the words and ideas on the paper in front of you at this point should give you some fairly interesting and oblique responses to the initial question. reflect on those words and an answer, insight or new idea will certainly be there.
may you find your loaf!