Friday, November 19, 2010

Finding freedom: In broken images

There are people who have the gift of clarity. They always know what they want and what needs to be done to get it; they can assess a situation and determine the appropriate course of action in the blink of an eye. They shine in a crisis, rounding up the troops and firing out instructions like traders on Wall Street in a dream sequence of pure left brain brilliance. These are the folks who are quick on their feet, witty and resplendent in their ability to produce inspiring and flawless ideas during workplace brainstorming sessions, while the rest of us can only beg, cajole or butt-kick our brains into coming up with ideas that turn out to be so asinine that the team discards them before we even finish articulating our poorly conceived thoughts. These are the folks who then take our dumb ideas, pimp them up and re-brand them into the Hail Mary we have all been waiting for in the boardroom torture chamber. We are reduced to tears, slowly shaking our heads from side to side as one by one we stand and ovate. Let's face it.These people suck. Big time. They make us feel like inadequate buffoons.

The thing is, though, it's not like I don't have great ideas. I have fantastic ideas. Later. When I have had some time to let them simmer a little it turns out my ideas "out-bling" the Hail Mary in the boardroom in their sheer brilliance. They are rounded and balanced and have a low center of gravity giving them good stability. They take into account all the internal and external variables they need to, they consider local context, they are commercially viable and sustainable, they are innovative and exciting. These are ideas to last through the ages and maybe save the planet. I have ideas that give me wings! After applying my mind a little it turns out I can come up with some startlingly sharp thoughts.The problem is I live in a world built for quick thinkers so my life appears somewhat off tempo. But go figure;it turns out I have amazing clarity too. Later. Eventually. A minute after the fireworks. It turns out that after groping in the darkness and wading through the marshlands of my brain, digesting and assimilating the wealth of information around me and simulating all the different combinations and permutations, I really, really get stuff and I am a rather sharp shooter too. So cheers to that!

Here is a poem I found when I was 15...
He is quick, thinking in clear images; 
I am slow, thinking in broken images.

He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images; 
I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images,

Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance; 
Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.

Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact, 
Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.

When the fact fails him, he questions his senses; 
When the fact fails me, I approve my senses.

He continues quick and dull in his clear images; 
I continue slow and sharp in my broken images.

He in a new confusion of his understanding; 
I in a new understanding of my confusion.
 - Robert Graves- In Broken Images
I read it and thought to myself, well there we go. That's me he's talking about. Clearly...

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