The Strange Things Hidden In Plain Sight
Sep. 2nd, 2021 11:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sphagnumI have a technique of thought that I use to gain insight into that which is hidden in plain sight. That, which we all have a hard time seeing because we are embedded in it, the fabric of the canvas on which the world we live in is painted.
I don't know where I learned it, but I am sure it is not an original invention by me.
First step: take something that has attracted your attention as strange or bewildering, and take some time to contemplate on it on its own merits. Use your conscience to sense it, as blind man would sense an object unknown to him, get aware of the texture, the sound, the temperature, so to speak. Note that this is not analysis, as logic is not the point of this exercise.
At the point your thoughts start to meander away from the phenomenon, just take a break.
Second step: return to the phenomenon with the following questions: If instead of real this would be fictional, what would the author be trying to tell me? If I found this in a movie or a novel, what would be the point for the plot?
Of course the point of the technique is not to follow it blindly by the letter. The point of the technique is to learn to view things from outside, to put them in perspective, to find the strange and important things that are hiding in plain sight. To become aware of the transactions, of the emotional meanings of things. That which you see with this technique is not guaranteed to be real, which is something you should be aware of at all times.
This technique can be applied to many different things. You can contemplate in this way on a discussion with an acquaintance on some divisive topic. If this would have been a dialog in a novel, why would it be like that? But it could be something completely different. You could go to the home page of reddit (logging out first if you have an account). If this were a scene from a science fiction novel, what would it mean that it looked like this?
I don't know where I learned it, but I am sure it is not an original invention by me.
First step: take something that has attracted your attention as strange or bewildering, and take some time to contemplate on it on its own merits. Use your conscience to sense it, as blind man would sense an object unknown to him, get aware of the texture, the sound, the temperature, so to speak. Note that this is not analysis, as logic is not the point of this exercise.
At the point your thoughts start to meander away from the phenomenon, just take a break.
Second step: return to the phenomenon with the following questions: If instead of real this would be fictional, what would the author be trying to tell me? If I found this in a movie or a novel, what would be the point for the plot?
Of course the point of the technique is not to follow it blindly by the letter. The point of the technique is to learn to view things from outside, to put them in perspective, to find the strange and important things that are hiding in plain sight. To become aware of the transactions, of the emotional meanings of things. That which you see with this technique is not guaranteed to be real, which is something you should be aware of at all times.
This technique can be applied to many different things. You can contemplate in this way on a discussion with an acquaintance on some divisive topic. If this would have been a dialog in a novel, why would it be like that? But it could be something completely different. You could go to the home page of reddit (logging out first if you have an account). If this were a scene from a science fiction novel, what would it mean that it looked like this?