iguanamountain blog

PARACOXICAL CAPSULE

Blog City Prompt: J. G. Ballard, the author of Empire of the Sun, said: “I quite consciously rely on my obsessions. In all my work I deliberately set up an obsessional frame of mind. In a paradoxical way, this leaves one free of the subject of the obsession.” What do you think about this? Do you use your or another person’s obsessions in your writing?
Prompt: What would you put in this year's time capsule to channel the essence of our current moment for future generations?

THIS YEAR’S TIME CAPSULE: Wow! Trying to pin down the essence of all that makes our current moment is an almost impossible task. I don’t want to be negative, HOWEVER, I’ve never seen so many layers of complexities that appear to be out of sync.

The Second Prompt helps this problem by providing J.G.Ballard’s idea about writing. The words, ‘obsessional frame of mind in a paradoxical way’, is a pretty accurate description of humanity’s current presence on this Earth. Narrowing down to THE AMERICAN DREAM, which is an idea that dominates the basic frame of mind (Government, Politicians, Main Stream Media and Hollywood) presented to the Americans and the rest of the world.   And that is a conflicting notion or view with what is reasonable or possible at this moment, March 8, 2015.

For instance, the Jobs Report at 5.5%. Really? With 92,900,000 people unable to find work? The flood of immigrants coming in for the ‘dream’ and the benefits. People renting because they can no longer afford or keep a home, as well as adults living with their parents. There are more homeless persons and families in the cities. Medical services are shrinking but costing more. Student debt astronomical and National Debt beyond imagination. Businesses going bankrupt with thousands of workers laid off.

The list of conflicting ideas is very long and not to be related here. Do your own research. Check out environment, health, war, currency, etc.

So...the capsule must contain the statement that our current moment is a paradoxical notion, and reality is made up of a society that is just waking up from the ‘dream’.

If you look at these words: OBSESSIONAL, PARADOXICAL, FRAME(of mind), and NOTION. The meanings are all not part of anything three-dimensional solid. They are vague, part of a construct, adapted to fit a persistent idea or thought. I guess I have used some elements of this in usually negative characters. It works well. Obsessive people are easy to write.

Words around words, with meanings lost in the scramble.

Peace and Love first...>>>iggy{e:Boat}

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