“Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual.” (Ernest Hemingway).
The life of the mind is inward, dreaming, walking in another world. You become a new person and your mind is aflame with the brightness of your creation.
Every day you add to the corners, fleshing out the streets and neighborhoods and the people who walk there. You see into them and behind their veils where they hide their problems, weaknesses and secrets.
You respect them but find them exhilarating. Nevertheless, you back away to look again at a safer distance, picking up your brushes to paint.
Words spill out on the canvas before you–ideas, thoughts, fits and starts.
Skeletons become flesh, animated and dressed. They develop personalities, connections and boundaries. The vivacity of this new world envelopes you as the people of your mind live, love and breathe.
The life of the mind allows us to walk in our own mundane existence. We love the people here, our relationships and our work but the responsibilities and stresses of life stir our souls to another place.
We long for those stolen moments so we can return to the soil of our mind. We catch glimpses of it in store windows and on the panels of passing trucks.
We dream of merging our two worlds so we can be whole.
The written word allows that to happen. Get it down, shape, mold and polish until it’s ready to steal their imaginations. Produce something special so that your readers will mourn the sweet parting of the page as real life grumbles and beckons.
Walk there in your world and lead others to its shores. Read, write or scribble, anything to get the words from the canvas onto paper where they can live and breathe.
Think and see the world anew. Find the cracks in the cement, the turmoil in the lives of those you see.
Creation has a price but boundless opportunities. Live through its storms, sunsets and summer days.
Nourish your land and never stop dreaming and reading. The mind can starve without them and that would be tragic.
