Thursday, March 24, 2011

Is it possible to be original?

Is it possible for a human being to produce something original, and if not, what is the closest we can get to pure originality?

To be purely original necessitates a lack of influence from one's prior experience. Thus, in order to embark on this goal, one must first produce a new language to express the original idea. If one uses an already established vehicle of expression, such as words or mathematics, to express the idea, then the idea, however original it may be, will be churned out as some permutation of symbols we are already familiar with. True, we may not have seen that particular conglomeration of symbols before, but if the very vehicle of expression is not original, then how can the idea itself be original?

An original idea requires an equally original vehicle of expression. We already have words, mathematics, and to some extent music. Word express out lived experience, math expresses amounts of space and time, and music expresses feeling or emotions.

If we are to create a whole new language, we first need to figure out what exactly it is that we might want to express. Concepts, argument,s emotions, amounts, these are all things we are currently able to express using our established vehicles of expression, such as words, mathematics, and music? What else in the universe yearns to be expressed? Once we can pinpoint that, then we can develop a symbolic system to express that experience, and from that truly create an original idea or art.

Possibilities:

peak experiences

psychedelic experiences

that nagging spiritual feeling that there is MORE

intuition

ESP

meditation

dreams


No comments:

Post a Comment