Pictured here is a word salad constructed in 1982 on an old Underwood typewriter. Presented to a pair of Yale Literature Professors who were on site at the time for a writer workshop; the expectation was to have it red-lined for grammar and punctuation. After reading it the three of us stood looking at one another in an awkward moment of silence. “Did you write this?” was their response. “Yes, but it needs help with punctuation and grammar.” They handed it back to me and said, “don’t change anything.”
Reproduced now in digital real time:
A.
In any birth, there would seem to be a union.
The utter miracle of cohesion
The joining of oppositions
Of greater things than the sun
Of lesser things than the atom
Extremities of creation coming together
To enable the parental element
The capillary and the cause
The dependent
The independent
And the interdependent
B.
A conception
In consequence to a conception
In consequence to the same
A society not unlike a flower
More than words imply
Its very gender
Being and constitution determined
Per element
Its relative purity
Direction and origin
Of paramount importance to the whole
A malleable thing onto which is poured
A decision making process
To tread the untrod path
Of paths trod and untrod and laid over
C.
The secondary
The prior conception
The environment as hierarchy
All things becoming metaphor
In the face of necessity
Nature - creation creating
Chaos and order in the same
Moment and movement
Perceptions of the elders becoming
Both right and wrong deeds
Of good and those of evil
D.
Repulsions of an internal nature
Becoming apt to disperse
To employ itself in attempting
The expression of potent intuition
Laboring producing and consuming
The environment
Sustenance becoming
The eye of purity
Growth becoming the decipherance
Of fields and quarries
For cultivation
And assurance
E.
O primal conception
Symmetric initial solution
Environment the eminent
And all that is beyond
The house to shelter from
The elements corporeal and incorporeal
Real and unfelt
All encompassing all directional
All of all
And that is and is
The philosophy
The sagacity and the self
Whew! That was intense!
Have no idea what it means. And here comes the strange and unusual part: it was never intended to have any meaning. Instead, it has a purpose.
Want to play?
My devious and crafty mind at the time decided to insert key words and subliminal messages into a word salad. Pulling notions from an old sociology textbook it became my personality analysis.
Read the parables again, only this time write down the letters A,B,C,D,E in any order that comes to mind, rearranging the order of the text to suit your mood. Don’t overthink it; in the scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter. Since there are 124 combinations of the five letters, (#125 is a repeat) you have options.
But your choice is your choice so don’t change it. Your choice gives us insight into some of your personal traits at that moment.
Example:
You could of course choose A,B,C,D,E, the original order; people do (yes, it has gone through extensive testing) which tells me you might be a loyalist, and maybe just a bit of a smartass.
Share your choice here if you like and Strange and Unusual Places will share its insight with you, such as it is.
But don’t ask for the secret because there isn’t one. Nothing is certain here.
Cesar, you're very brave. You must have noticed that here in the Comments section, we are quite alone (for now); we cannot become so encapsulated in fear that we will no longer step foot beyond our lodge.
CEBDA: Justice, Governance, Authority were fresh on your mind when you made your choice; these are masculine traits. Faith factors largely in your choosing since it comes second in line; the nature of that faith is yours. The passing on of knowledge is in the middle (The Crossroad). Money and finance takes on a somewhat lesser role, although no less important. The nuclear family occupies your final choice - do not overlook this. Without either end there cannot be a middle. A house is built on its foundation.
We could go on, but space is limited here; maybe a dedicated post, or even a series?
This exercise is diabolic in the extent of its mystery; the more we puzzle it out the deeper the mystery goes. None the less you made your choice and it is now your identity for eternity. Of course we can code switch easily and we do to mimic our surroundings, and this is entertainment, so none of this is real.
To summarize: your choice turns out to be quite interesting, outside common patterns, you might be someone other than the image portrayed to the outside world.
And thanks for your reply.
Share this - it is a useful tool when contemplating a relationship or entering into partnerships.
DBCEA. Looking forward to your insight.
Song for the day, rockin' start to the week - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJtf7R_oVaw