Transformations

Words. Have meaning. Have presence. Have symbolism. Have will-o-the-wisp intonations. Of intentions, purpose and so many more what-nots.

Engaged is such a word. It means what? I think it means involved, deeply and structurally involved with whatever. Is a person engaged in their tasks, their career, their family, their neighborhood, their community? Is he or she so connected with those they define the person? Is ‘engage’ a term that has dual meaning? Going forward and backward?

Or is it simpler than that?

And then, of course, what makes any one word mean any one thing? To expand that meaning requires what power to make it happen? What is the transforming power?

Sometimes writing this blog is as easy as pie. Logic drives the conversation. Words appear and string into sentences and paragraphs. Meaning of those words, taken together, grows and becomes the purpose of the written piece. But was that purpose, that message, clear from the start of the writing process?

Doubtful. Life makes its own journey. So do conversations and thinking. We start on one dot in space and wind up on another much removed from the original starting point. The thought process is that complicated and unpredictable. That process leads to many people concluding that word games are played.

That conclusion would mostly be wrong with this writer. This writer does not play a game. Not usually. No, the writer makes a statement that hopefully proves itself. Logic transparent is the critical component. It becomes the proof, incontrovertible.

So, the title of this piece is ‘Transformations’. What was on the mind of the writer with that title? I think he was making the point that what is written here has meaning that transforms into wholly other meanings provided by the reader. The consumer of the piece has a context of meaning that takes the written piece to different destinations. That destination is not in the power of the author. No, definitely not.

Identifying a point of interest is often easy. Writing anything about it is a task of creation, of thought. And that is often easy. But intentional? Not sure of this. That is too premeditative. Too engineered.

Writing for me is spontaneity. If it is not spontaneous, it is machined. Somehow that makes it false. Purpose is fine. Spontaneity is the creative element. It just happens. Through it we find understanding and growth of awareness. Awareness of the world around us. A snapshot of the present that means something to the writer and the reader. All the while, the two may not be connected or the same.

Interesting. More than a little unsettling.

April 22, 2024