Writer’s Group
I went to a writer’s group yesterday. I don’t go for the criticism — I’m pretty good at this point at self-revision. But it is nice to actually see people and watch their reaction to particular pieces of writing, in person. I also admit that I like hearing other people’s work, and do my best to offer constructive advice. I really enjoyed hearing the poems and stories that were read in my sub-group (there were enough of us that we had to break into two groups).
Afterwards, we went out to a bar. One of the fellows began lecturing someone else in the group about how “we’re all just energy, vibrating at certain frequencies.” I sighed audibly. Sometimes, I feel like I got my work cut out for me. Heh.
July 27, 2007 at 10:43 pm
You realize he’s technically correct? That doesn’t do anything about the unmitigated stupidity that usually follows on from such a statement, of course, but still, it’s actually the case, as far as I can tell. Just as we’re also made up of “star stuff”, and if you think the patterns of vibration leads to pain, oh good gods, you should hear the fluffy bunny “star stuff” folk sometimes.
July 28, 2007 at 11:13 am
Well — he’s technically correct from a materialist standpoint. But that’s not what he means. He wanted to take that statement and move to a lot of unfounded conclusions about the nature of reality. For one thing, he assumes that energy is non-material, which is obviously not true.
And looking at this later, I realize what a jerk I sound like. Mostly I was annoyed not because he expressed this rather common theory, but because he was trying to sum up something I had said by using this theory I certainly don’t hold and didn’t mean to communicate. That gets frustrating — people falling back on what they expect to have heard, instead of listening to what someone is saying. Now, to his credit, it was late, we had just responded to a lot of writing (exhausting at the best of times, actually), and he had two or three good solid Irish beers in him. I just meant it as a sort of comment on the way in which theories just take over people’s minds and expectations.