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[Father Luke]

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Two part exercise.

Part 1.
Write your real name


Part 2.
Write an alias for yourself.

[Brecht]

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Part 1.

Ying

Part 2.

Ying

[Father Luke]

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Now here's why:

What this little exercise reveals is that the creative process requires a mode of
thought that is diametrically opposed to our usual way of thinking.

Part one has only one correct answer, and an infinite number of incorrect ones.
Part two has an infinite number of correct answers and only one incorrect one.

Part one is called "convergent," since it requires us to converge on the only correct
answer, and the second is called "divergent," as it requires us to diverge from the
only incorrect answer -- the fact -- and consider a range of possible correct answers.

As has been said about art:

"Not-knowing is crucial to art, and is what permits art to be made. Without the
scanning process engendered by not-knowing, without the possibility of having the mind
move in unanticipated directions, there would be no invention."

Uncertainty is to be, as the narrator in William H. Gass's "The Pedersen Kid"
describes himself, "alone with all that could happen".

This exercise is taken from a book I'm reading called:
Alone with all that could happen, by David Jauss.

Just thought I'd pass it along.

 

[Father Luke]

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Actually the book covers a lot of this. I'll do a book report on it when I'm done and
poast it with the rest of my book reports here:

Father Luke's Book Reports[CLICK]

I still like this exercise. The space for uncertainty is usually avoided like a
prickly heat rash, but uncertainty is where it all lays. Or lies, which would be a
nice pun. Uncertainty is great. I love that sphere. I mean, I really dig it.