Fiction is no Lie

Sunday, August 18, 2013:

My morning usually begins with putting on the coffee and then sitting on my cushion for a few minutes of prayer and meditation. I then read a few spiritual texts and, after finishing that, I try to find something suitable for this blog to expand on with my own experience. I do this no matter how I feel because I have established this routine over the years as a regular practice. I write these meditations hoping to connect with, inspire and encourage, others of like mind. But I definitely do not try to convert anyone to my way of thinking. I don’t speculate on things I haven’t had direct experience with and stay within the scope of practical application of my practice. There is nothing mysterious I wish to convince anyone of and, when I can, I touch lightly on what is going on in the world around me.

This is essentially a self-centered activity that is rewarding in the training of the mind by sticking to these principles: #1. Never write about things I don’t know. #2.  Don’t take myself so damned seriously. #3.Never forget rule #1. 

I pour myself another cup of coffee after I have posted this blog and work on whatever is my current novel. Novels are where I can speculate, opine, and make-up characters that have experiences similar to mine but I can play around with a variety of alternatives that can be taken from those. Seeing things through a handful of fictional characters’ eyes has the effect of expanding my mind to other ways of thinking. I don’t have to speculate too much on this because most of what goes on in my head and heart is already there. However, I rarely have to act on every impulse that crosses my mind because the characters I create can. This too is a self-centered activity. As in a Jungian interpretation of dreams, all the characters in the dream are that of the dreamer. Ahab is as much a part of Melville’s soul as are Queequeg, Starbuck or Ishmael. Fiction is no lie. It comes down to knowing one’s self… knowing one’s self down to the core. When I hear others making up things about God or religion I can understand that even though their concept of God might be fiction, it is no lie. One's beliefs, as errant as they might be, speak volumes about that person's character... more than anything else. This is why I love fiction… writing it and reading it. So, dear preacher, tell me a good lie if you can't tell me the truth, but dammit, make it a good lie!

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