Why? This was the eternal question of my childhood. If I did not get an acceptable response or answer, I went and found one. I never really read books like the Bernstein Bears, I preferred cutaway books and picture encyclopedias, and they gave the answers I desired, in a glyphic form I could comprehend. A questioning spirit will follow me forever, I feel.
This insatiable need to know I had eventually carried over into school, and became very apparent once lab classes started. The classroom came alive to me. I learned how to test my environment so I tested and explored on my own. My grandparents got me a subscription to Popular Science after observing my new interest in the world around me. I grew love Popular Science. I longed for its arrival every month. I read the magazine just to see what scientists were doing. There is a do-it-yourself section that I would immediately flip to, trying the experiments or projects they suggested, thinking about how to change the circuitry, chemicals or design to benefit me, or just for fun. I then began to explore science, and technology, on my own.
Sometimes I have to know something is true or won’t work. If you re-cork a wine bottle and heat it the top does not shoot off, the bottle shatters. If you take apart a microwave and hook up the magnetron you will have built a primitive microwave cannon, not an ionization ray. If you mix Styrofoam with gasoline it will become dangerously flammable goo, not a fun one. Pick-up lines only work if you are in a bar, not on a run. I discovered these truths on my own! I began to realize the danger involved with my style of exploring knowledge.
I wisened up a bit in the past few years. I tried things methodically rather than on a whim. This, however, never created a need for me to write. I could figure things out as I went along and didn’t care to share any of my discoveries, many of which were proved wrong mathematically before I tried them. I found self fulfillment in merely knowing I proved something to myself. Results meant nothing, and everything, to me. Therefore writing them down was out of the question, why should I share what I discovered?
As I got into higher and more complex levels of math and science, things were more exciting, and frustrating. I began to realize there were problems I could not solve in this physical realm, or by using systems such as math and science. I began to think about life. I would ask why I was here. I tried using scientific methods, this however proved futile. I put science and math on hold for a time. The world around me didn’t need testing until I found out why it was there. I read about theories of the origins of life first. Then I consulted my faith and my Bible. Once I realized there was a God, morals, ethics and theology consumed me. Observation is the only piece of science, I realized, I needed now. I looked around for more and deeper truth. I came to the conclusion wise men speak in code to deter some from even reading their wisdom. Some of the wisest men sound like fools to the analytical thinker. This is why I like to read quotations. Even the most outlandishly comical quotes can bear the deepest of wisdom. I am on a quest to become wiser, I have come to a point where I realize that the wisest of men have no need for Plank’s constant, derivations, or biology. They need only to observe, and then share. A man who hoards wisdom is not wise.
I first started looking into the idea of wisdom during high school. I saw many “smart” people acting foolishly, and some dull people seeming very wise. This made me ponder and explore. I bought Bartlett’s quotations just to have because there were so many great ideas summed up into simple, concise quotations. As I read I found that many people who are wise speak the same truths, just in a different code for their time and society. To me, almost everything has a system and I thought I discovered one to become wise.
After weeks of trying to come up with my own quotes and trying in futility to force myself to be wise it hit me. Just be. That’s all it takes to be wise. Don’t interact too much in a situation and you can see many more facets. Sitting in a cafeteria or classroom I would always reach out and meet new people, be a clown and get a laugh or talk. now you can find me sitting alone at lunch, by preference. I like windows or eating outside. You have to eat, and if you are doing that right, you can’t talk. This creates a prime time for your mind to wander, so I let it. This is how I noticed two trees can become one and that if I truly believe something, I can state it as fact. Observance was the first step to becoming a different, possible wiser, writer.
Wise men are fools who think before they speak.
love is a like a river-it has flow-some people like it-some people sit outside-some people can’t swim-some people abuse it-some people dam it up for themselves never giving back-others just go with the flow-others try to control how deep they go-yet we all need it.
We are like a forest, plant yourself near someone, you will grow close, if you are lucky you become one tree.
If you truly believe in something, there is no need to say “I believe”, it becomes truth.
People are like houses, to become great they have to be re-invented, rebuilt, the old blueprints forgotten, and the old foundation destroyed.
These are some of my first attempts at using analogies to share what I have discovered. These may not be completely original, but they all came from my observations. They may be influenced by what I have read or seen in culture. This is how I like to think and write for myself. I had become so used to writing for someone else, trying to meet a goal, that I never really became a writer. I didn’t start writing in this code, It started with my dreams. I was given some freedom my senior year in high school. I was expected to write 1000 words, coherent or not, about three times a trimester. As I wrote I discovered my thoughts, feelings and ideals were trapped in another place. This is why some of the best ideas come from dreams. It is the only place you can literally walk through your thoughts.
I dream, often. Every night, I see images, a real life story, play out before me and I join in. Sometimes I like to believe it might be possible that when we “sleep” we are truly awake, just not here. Dreaming is that time in between the shift when we reassemble our persona in another reality. I like to transfer some of the better parts of my dreams to my computer in a coherent and edited story, like a biography of my other self. One such story is about a young man in a post apocalyptic world, I never finished part two, or even know how this story will end.
Dreaming, I feel, is important to our society. It may be caused something you ate, or maybe you should listen to it. Some of the world’s greatest stories were dreams far before becoming reality on the page. Imagine your craziest dream, that dream could become the next Alice in wonderland. As you grow to know yourself you may realize dreams are a part of you, not just something that occurs at random. Pay attention and remember what you learn from your dreams because dreams are like a wise man’s story, encrypted, but full of meaning.
Dreams, wise men and technology all have influenced the writer I am becoming today. I feel to be a great writer you must always grow. If a plant stops growing, we say its dead, what if a man stops thinking. I prefer my dreams to my reality at the moment. Dreaming is better than being here. I resolve to one day be a wise man, I know it will be a journey that takes a lifetime, but it is my goal. My present self is a scientist in review. I am always exploring and figuring out new ways to decipher what I see and feel. Life experience has never hindered a person’s ability to write. That is why I plan to discover as many aspects of writing and life as I can.
