Writing down

“He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.”
-- Lao Tzu

Where does that leave a writer? Writing is a quiet business, done at my table, away from the action. Showing up for writing is different from opening my mouth.

Paying attention to writing is to translate quietly what happens in and around me in words. I work to characterize a bigger scene by focusing on a fewer pieces that make it up, using these to capture a bigger picture in words that will hopefully be spell binding in simplicity.

Like in many other things, the pursuit of perfect can be the enemy of the good in writing too. A friend reminded me last week how important it is to just keep writing. Even if one third or only one tenth turns out well, it takes writing all of one hundred percent to get there, by showing up and keeping at it. When I aim for perfect, it seems to hold me back and limit my output. There is no short-cut to perfect. It is a journey.

I found that writing is also anticipating what wants to happen, and letting myself be an instrument. I look for the bigger picture of a universe that steers things positively. The stories of human fragility and suffering in the calamities in China and Myanmar also showed what extraordinary things people can do in solidarity to relieve suffering and make things better for their fellow humans. It made me realize that for every day that I am alive, I can decide to live positively and contribute to living better now, for myself and the people around me. In every situation I can ask myself how I can make it better.

Where does this start? To help others, I need to be driven by my own program, my potential, my goals. Strangely, I found that I cannot sacrifice my own goals that I have to live by. Love your neighbor as yourself, Jesus the Christ said 2,000 years ago, implying that self-love and appreciation must take precedence as the starting point.

I need to renew this every day, even several times during the day. It is about self-awareness. Practicing Neru cultivates non ego as I realize that the universe manifests itself in me like it does in all other people. Self-love without ego can be the hardest of all to practice, yet it is an ever-present force as I become more familiar with the ties that connect me to the universe. For as long as I do not get blinded by ego, that illusion that I could live as a separate entity disconnected from the others around me.

As I feel more of the force within, I can afford to speak less, and enjoy quietness and writing more.

Photograph: A powerful flower.