8 Writer Tick

"What makes a writer tick" - All my sources of Inspiration over the years

What Makes a Writer Tick. Written by Shasa, November 6, 2013

Imagine a world beautiful and perfect, then know one thing, that Infinite Radiant Is has imagined it a whole lot better ^1.

We've built a world out of Anarchy ^2. But all lovers are deranged ^3. Which ones? The Giants on whose shoulders we stand ^4. For if in the voice of Luthien was power to silence he who was mightiest among the Ainur (Melkor) ^5, then Karen must be her incarnate to take us to the Top of the World ^6.

With architects like Roark ^7 to inspire us - building for love and exploration and divinizations sake, and Angels like Niggle and Eugene and Ackroyd and Ben Franklin to light the way, or characters like Goldberg, Shimoda, Monty and Budgie and Stormy ^9 to keep us company, isn't it conceivable why we dream or care to build superstructures in the mind to match the ones in the spirit world as described by Bo Yin Ra ^10.

Of epics sung and battles fought, of Harvest's reaped ^11 in sorrow and countless years ending in a Nirnaeth Arnoediad. While the Land of Aman is shut to us, not out of anger or spite, but of design, for in the end, was it not a wave like unto a ripple in the water that overthrew the cacophonic braying? For in the seemingly futile Noldorin quest was there not all the mightiest epochs of that second wave of Iluvatar's theme - dear bought, but well bought.

Inspiration, imagination, sraf ^13 and stardust! With hallowed and heightened awareness ^14, waiting to test that old world mettle as did Leonidas ^15, first with the wolf, then with the emperor.

Did I leave out any Giants? Any elves or wood sprites or fairies or ferrets from the land of Fantasia ^16.

I did mention Eugene - boldly going where no man has gone before ^17 - with Nichelle at his side (alteast for a while), portrayed again beautifully in '09. Living that Inner Light ^18. Orion, with his sword belt, shining as he did to those Aryan Fathers, ten thousand years ago ^19

And isn't the shortest distance between two points a gently curve ^20, the subtlest invitations to the highest arts? Essays to the swans ^21 within each and every last one of us.

Fitting together pieces of inspiration like a jigsaw puzzle, playing with stuff like mechano sets, ever traipsing onto construction sites and meeting Roark 20 odd years later as validation for all those silly years lost in his world of dreams ^22.

Cling to anything that sets you free ^23. Odd juxtaposition of words, but underscoring the tenacity with which one should pursue freedom - and on ones own terms. For such was the command I received one pre-adolescent twilit night when Shimoda asked what would you do if God looked you straight in the face and COMMANDED THAT YOU BE HAPPY. Or his relief when Richard helped him realize he didnt have to be torchbearer, pulling hats out of forever for nobody cared. He could let the cup pass from him ^24. This reflected in Bhagwan Ramana's quote: There is no greater service you can render humanity than realizing yourself ^25.

That being said, to come to equilibrium, a body has to interact with his environment, and if he is fixed on the only desirable desire ^26, then his whole objective should be to find a place to consecrate with his labour of love ^27.

In the real world? Define Real, I dare you! 7 billion inhabitants, one planet, 7 billion worlds, times the number an individual sets as the limit to his imagination ^28. A book, like a teleportation portal into an author's sub-creation ^29.

Choose well the company you keep, and the [inner] worlds you people. Forget reaching out to people in the real world ^30. Develop your ability to experience by being intimately conversant with things you like. Then watch as you begin attracting the right people and events in your life. Never forget who you are ^31.

You are never given a wish without being given the power to make it come true - YOU MAY HAVE TO WORK FOR IT HOWEVER

Amen

^1 - Richard Bach
^2 - Guns N Roses - Get in the Ring
^3 - David Gilmour
^4 - 12th century phrase popularized by Isaac Newton and Oasis
^5 - Luthien Tinuviel of Mixed elvish and Maiar blood who overcame the Tolkienese devil Melkor, who was proclaimed mightiest of the Angelic symphony
^6 - Karen Carpenter who sang Top of the World
^7 - Ayn Rand's protagonist from The Fountainhead
^8 - Tolkien semi-autobiographical Leaf by Niggle, Gene Roddenberry - creator of Star Trek, Ackroyd - Sri Aurobindo's middle name, Benjamin Franklin - American founding father
^9 - Goldberg from Philip Pullman's Tiger in the Well, Donald W Shimoda from Richard Bach's Illusions, Monty Budgie and Stormy from Bach's Curious Lives
^10 - German born Yogi who wrote about 40 novels, including Life Beyond
^11 - Culloden's Harvest by Deanta
^12 - Entire para referring to Tolkien's Silmarillion from the Ainulindale to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%ADrnaeth_Arnoediad
^13 - The particle of cosmic consciousness in Philip Pullmans Dark Materials trilogy
^14 - from Supreme Self Confidence by Paul McKenna
^15 - Old Greek King, popularized by the 2006 movie 300
^16 - Faerie world from the 1984 movie Neverending Story thats based on a German novel of 1979
^17 - Star Trek Mission statement featuring in every introduction sequence
^18 - Beatles Song, as well as Star Trek episode
^19 - Quote from power supreme by Sri Aurobindo
^20 - Movie quote, probably by Jacqueline Bisset. Also a design paradigm
^21 - Reference to my own collection
^22 - Activities I've done as a kid, last reference to my old light shrug
^23 - Reference to the preface of Illusions - the story of the creatures that clung to the bottom of the river and again more references to Illusions
^24 - Jesus as quoted in Matthew and Luke
^25 - Ramana Maharishi in forty verses on reality
^26 - That of seeking enlightenment or the washing away of all karme or attaining nirvana / mukti
^27 - Reference to my musings
^28 - The original sin is to limit the Is - dont - Illusions
^29 - Tolkiens reference to his own invented world (as mentioned in Anne C Petty's Tolkien In the Land of Heroes)
^30 - Illusions: If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats
^31 - Illusions: We are game-playing, fun-loving creatures, we are the otters of the universe