"Write to Yourself"
July 27, 2015
G.D.O'Bradovich III
1
“You haven’t made as many corrections as you did for 28 Trillion.”, said Apprentice Tyler in reference to our multi year collaboration that was finally taking form.
“I know”, I responded, “I’m just editing the extraneous uses of “then”, moving some sentences around…”, as my voice trailed off.
“So you like it?”, he asked.
“I understand what you are trying to convey, but sometimes I can’t decide if it is bad writing or esoteric writing.”, I wearily responded and continued, “You should write to yourself.”
Gentle Reader, the recollection of the conversation may not be exact, but it conveys an important point that will not be taught in any classroom: We don’t write for ourselves, we write to ourselves. Our writing becomes more individualist and, while it will not reach a large audience, we know that fewer readers will appreciate it, and that is acceptable. We do not write for everyone, just the select few.
We write to our future selves, so that if we forget, which happens more often than not, there will be guideposts or breadcrumbs for our efforts. There is the royal “we”, the schizophrenic “we”, the pregnant “we”, and there is also the future “we”, who happens to be me, now; and you, later; so I write “we”.
The concept of writing to ourselves was not a moment of clarity, as when Thoth ["Beaky" to his friends] related the fate of Atlantis the Great [has fallen, has fallen], but was a gradual realization. We suspect that our writing has improved, not necessarily from a technical view, but a subjective view. We believe that all those who are considered great creators today, went through a phase were simply copying past masters and contemporaries became unchallenging. Salieri wrote over 50 operas and enjoyed success throughout Europe, but what would opera be today without Cherubino, Leporello and Papageno?
As we become more comfortable writing or creating for ourselves, certain perks of our personality or humor will present itself in our newfound personal works. A natural byproduct of our writing becoming more personable is that fewer people will be able to enjoy them, as these people will necessarily have to be familiar with our previous work or have similar experiences. When quoting a line from the Matrix Trilogy, a catch phrase from one episode of “Pinky and the Brain”, and a lyric from Blue Oyster Cult in one short paper, we know that not everyone will understand our references, especially when the quotes are not intrusive. While price and participation vary, all creative minds reach the point, hopefully sooner than later, that creating for others is not the route that one wants to take; witness “the starving artist”. Therefore, the path diverged and I took the one, not less traveled by, but the one that brings meaning and fulfillment, where “meaning” and “fulfillment” are words with no defined objective meaning, but to us, we know what we mean, even if only on a barely conscious level.
Conformity- a word of comfort to Capricorns, for those more catholic than the Pope. Conformity- a word repugnant to great intellects, that is, for those who can do more than one thing well. We tried to conform to societal expectations, with the not unexpected failures; we are in the world, but not truly of the world. If we are alone, then we must blame the stars for our misfortune or, if not, we should realize that we have always been loners, as history was fortunate to record our two famous choices [marriage as a reward for constancy- ah, the mind of a Capricorn], for it is difficult to share our enthusiasm with people or strangers or even those we publicly acknowledge to be in our inner circle. To share our enthusiasm, our joy, for our narrow subject matter, is to bring ridicule upon ourselves-we are a spectacle to angels and to men. It is better to stay silent, than be known as an oddity, yet this is a lesson that we do not learn well- our joy overrides our reticent nature- rambling upon obtuse, difficult and alien topics with ease, while important pertinent matters languish.
After a vacation, it is time to return to what we long for-recognized academic research. The desire to know, to understand, is the one trait that defines us, it always has, and this aspect of ourselves, of scientists, historians, philologists, and linguists is what makes us who we are, perhaps it is our purpose, maybe it gives our lives meaning. “Write to yourself” implicitly concedes that one is not concerned with opinions. It is intellectual freedom- freedom the restraint of convention-”Research what thou wilt is the whole of the law”. The Faustian pact- what is knowledge when there is more to experience? Perhaps Goethe wrote an allegory about reincarnation or universalism? For what else can be said about a man who makes a deal with the Devil, then corrupts the youth and, finally, experiences the fullness of Heaven?
“Write to yourself” is good advice from the Greatest Occultist of the Twenty First Century to aspiring Occultists. Now, if Apprentice Tyler would take my inspired advice...
We write to our future selves, so that if we forget, which happens more often than not, there will be guideposts or breadcrumbs for our efforts. There is the royal “we”, the schizophrenic “we”, the pregnant “we”, and there is also the future “we”, who happens to be me, now; and you, later; so I write “we”.
The concept of writing to ourselves was not a moment of clarity, as when Thoth ["Beaky" to his friends] related the fate of Atlantis the Great [has fallen, has fallen], but was a gradual realization. We suspect that our writing has improved, not necessarily from a technical view, but a subjective view. We believe that all those who are considered great creators today, went through a phase were simply copying past masters and contemporaries became unchallenging. Salieri wrote over 50 operas and enjoyed success throughout Europe, but what would opera be today without Cherubino, Leporello and Papageno?
As we become more comfortable writing or creating for ourselves, certain perks of our personality or humor will present itself in our newfound personal works. A natural byproduct of our writing becoming more personable is that fewer people will be able to enjoy them, as these people will necessarily have to be familiar with our previous work or have similar experiences. When quoting a line from the Matrix Trilogy, a catch phrase from one episode of “Pinky and the Brain”, and a lyric from Blue Oyster Cult in one short paper, we know that not everyone will understand our references, especially when the quotes are not intrusive. While price and participation vary, all creative minds reach the point, hopefully sooner than later, that creating for others is not the route that one wants to take; witness “the starving artist”. Therefore, the path diverged and I took the one, not less traveled by, but the one that brings meaning and fulfillment, where “meaning” and “fulfillment” are words with no defined objective meaning, but to us, we know what we mean, even if only on a barely conscious level.
Conformity- a word of comfort to Capricorns, for those more catholic than the Pope. Conformity- a word repugnant to great intellects, that is, for those who can do more than one thing well. We tried to conform to societal expectations, with the not unexpected failures; we are in the world, but not truly of the world. If we are alone, then we must blame the stars for our misfortune or, if not, we should realize that we have always been loners, as history was fortunate to record our two famous choices [marriage as a reward for constancy- ah, the mind of a Capricorn], for it is difficult to share our enthusiasm with people or strangers or even those we publicly acknowledge to be in our inner circle. To share our enthusiasm, our joy, for our narrow subject matter, is to bring ridicule upon ourselves-we are a spectacle to angels and to men. It is better to stay silent, than be known as an oddity, yet this is a lesson that we do not learn well- our joy overrides our reticent nature- rambling upon obtuse, difficult and alien topics with ease, while important pertinent matters languish.
After a vacation, it is time to return to what we long for-recognized academic research. The desire to know, to understand, is the one trait that defines us, it always has, and this aspect of ourselves, of scientists, historians, philologists, and linguists is what makes us who we are, perhaps it is our purpose, maybe it gives our lives meaning. “Write to yourself” implicitly concedes that one is not concerned with opinions. It is intellectual freedom- freedom the restraint of convention-”Research what thou wilt is the whole of the law”. The Faustian pact- what is knowledge when there is more to experience? Perhaps Goethe wrote an allegory about reincarnation or universalism? For what else can be said about a man who makes a deal with the Devil, then corrupts the youth and, finally, experiences the fullness of Heaven?
“Write to yourself” is good advice from the Greatest Occultist of the Twenty First Century to aspiring Occultists. Now, if Apprentice Tyler would take my inspired advice...