TURN UP THE HEAT
Wednesday Oct. 11, 2017
What goes on in someone else’s mind, even when ‘telling us clearly’, can we really know what they are thinking, how they are feeling? Seriously, how well do we know/understand what is going on in our own noggin?
Collisions/meetings/brain-storming – some form of spontaneous combustion – go home from our day, from our experience elated, inflated and generally living ‘wow factor’ for hours. Perhaps days. Sometimes that’s romanticized sizzle, but more often it is ‘project excitement’, ‘planning euphoria’ and ‘big-deal-itis’. I’ve experienced them all. Heart thumping, adrenaline spiked feeling, pulling all-nighters on pitches, plans, drawings - schematics of our ‘project to end all projects’. No need for energy drinks. Intoxicating heady palpable stuff …
So too is the non-spontaneous bonfire. Start with kindling. Get fire started. Bigger sticks, bigger bigger sticks, small lumber, timbers, logs – whatever fuel our fire needs. Whether in fireplaces safely or massive bonfiresoutdoors, big blaze size isn’t what’s important. That show plays a while, shows off, dies down. What remains – embers, coals, glowing but subdued. Holding, emitting heat long after flashy flame left the stage.
There is magic in a big flame. Aprez- magic is pulsing afterglow. Both start from big fires we build – yet each one foretells a different ending. I’ve been working on such a project. Kindling lit, a small fire smoldering. Heavy timbers have yet to erupt in big flames. I need that, want that – because that is how you get to glowing embers. That's where the action is. Invisible properties of after …
Everybody loves fireworks. Spontaneous combustion. Big show – we ooh, we ahh …
Everybody needs deeper fire inside, ones we build carefully, deliberately.
