c. David Grim (taken 8/19/08)I didn't necessarily intend to (ever) attribute the quotes I posted last week. If I had, I would have done so immediately. I was a bit ambivalent about the number of responses I got regarding that choice. But in appreciation of the fact that a few people actually cared enough to remark upon the lack of attribution...
I wrote them. Kind of.
I mean... I didn't read them anywhere else. I felt like I was channeling something, and wrote down what came into my head without conscious revision. I certainly wouldn't put text in quotes without noting the source if it had been otherwise. Yet I felt strange about spelling out what had happened, so putting quotes around it and not commenting further seemed like an imperfect, but acceptable, solution.
I realize how nutty this all sounds, but there is a tradition of automatic writing in Western Literature. Sure, some folks insist that angels visited them, or that God dictated their words... but I wasn't going to make supernatural claims.
I did find the interaction with actual readers stimulating, and the experience made me reflect on the nature of authorship.
I have a cousin who has, at times, channeled her deceased mother. When her mother was buried, my cousin (who was about 65 at the time) read a letter to us at the gravesite from her mother. It was only after she finished that she felt the need to tell us that her mother didn't actually write it, but channeled it through the daughter, word for word. I just may visit her in Sedona next month. is there anything you'd like me to ask her?
ReplyDeleteI've decided that you like my random postings on your blogage page. So, assuming you still like me, I shall continue to post nonsensical comments that have nothing to do with the topic of your blog entry, but yet which capture the essence of your words.
ReplyDeleteDoes that make any sense? I hope it does, and I hope you decide to stick with me and continue to let me contribute to your wonderful blog pages.
We could have like an e-relationship where you write stuff and then I write nonsense. It really reminds me of the summer I learned that you shouldn't fool around with small bugs unless you know what they are. You see, I lived out in the country in the rural south. In the summer, the place is over run with a vast assortment of insect species. Some of them quite common like dragon flies, ladybugs, horseflies, deerflies, mole crickets, camel crickets, house crickets, locust, cicadas, grasshoppers, praying mantis, a multitude of moths and butterflies, damselflies, houseflies, blowflies, leafhoppers, patent leather beetles, long horned beetles, cockroaches, bees, wasps, ants, and many others. Anyway, I forgot where this story was headed but the point is, well I forgot that, too. Oh yeah I was bitten by an assassin bug, had a severe allergic reaction, and almost died. But thank God I didn't because otherwise I wouldn't be here commenting on your blog.
Which one is not quite as common as the others?
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