Originality doesn’t exist
There is nothing new under the sun…so let’s stop trying to be original and just have fun!
I was talking with someone who shared a phrase which I had included in a poem I had written. I got real excited and thought maybe he’d read my poem. He said, “No, I heard it on a YouTube video”. (sad face emoji)
As a writer, I like to imagine I have something new to say. How ridiculous! There really is nothing new under the sun. All any writer, artist, chef, musician, architect, etcetera, can do is find new ways to present the same ol’ ingredients.
So what then is the point of all this creating if creating is really just recreating? Why all this sharing on social media and Spotify? Why all this publishing of books and journal articles? What’s the point if everything is recycled goods? Why I do I keep showing up and doing this?
I think it’s because it’s fun to find different ways to say the same thing. It’s like Magnetic Poetry.
I think therefore I am
I am therefore I think
Therefore I think I am
Therefore I am I think
I am I think therefore
I think I am therefore
The human mind is both Disneyland and a torture device. It is incapable of not being entertaining or pain inducing. If I imagine it is my job to come up with something original every time I sit down to write (or draw or sing or whatever) then my mind is an iron maiden. But if I enter it as if it were a playground or an open field, then it’s all pretty heavenly cos nothing’s really expected of me except to have a good time in there.
