Infinity and beyond

I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately (Henry David Thoreau)

A while ago I made a post about the anxiety and concern of making my texts public. Nonetheless, the more texts I make public, the more relaxed I feel about my production. This is a heartfelt tribute to the components that make it possible for me and so many else to be verbally creative. 

Words are my best friends in the world. There is an abundance of words and the combinations generate endless possibilities. The thought of something being eternal - infinite - is extremely appealing and comforting to me.  It assures me that I can try as many times as I like. I will always get a second chance, a fresh start, a new beginning. That is probably why I have an extraordinary fondness of writing.

A friend of mine claimed that words take away the air of mystery. He took the image tree as an example. As a child you experience the tree without having a word for it, and according to my friend that experience is truer than the one you make when you connect what you see to the word tree. I don’t think you necessarily have to make a distinction. I believe our brains work at different stages. Knowing how to label things doesn’t take away the experience of them; it rather adds another facet, allowing our understanding of them to be fuller and richer in that it’s simultaneously working on a conscious and subconscious level.

Language, imagery, words and the capability of abstract thinking set us apart from animals entirely. But it doesn’t stop there. Amazingly, we also have the aptitude of expressing ourselves extraordinarily precise, detailed and to the point. A skillful writer knows how to translate the whirling thoughts in her mind into a super sharp razor that cuts through your heart and makes it bleed. A talented poet lets the letters touch your skin like soft petals, adding a thousand aspects to the beauty in life.  A competent novelist enthralls you, revealing only the bare minimum of phrases, forcing you to figure out what is going on beneath the surface.

I admire people who find their identities and prosper creatively in concrete activities, like construction, cooking, sewing and painting. Perhaps I haven’t engaged enough in these undertakings, thus not giving them a real chance. But laying a puzzle with words, constructing phrases, clauses and sentences has always made me feel inspired, artistic and inventive. As an otherwise impractical person, language is the only creative area where I thrive and blossom. With it I can construct an inner universe that far succeeds the sometimes dull and repetitive outside world.

The thirst for words is vital and unquenchable. Without words I would be nothing.