Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: How do you know a vision when it hits you?

Author:Nick Sweeney
Posted:6/12/2000; 7:48:32 AM
Topic:How do you know a vision when it hits you?
Msg #:17737 (In response to 17731)
Prev/Next:17736 / 17738

Visions have to be grounded. Truly original ideas are impossible to communicate, because there's nothing for others to latch onto; so you have to deal with the transitions, the leaps of understanding. Metaphors are good, because they're transitional by nature -- they yoke the unfamiliar to the familiar, they hack language -- but the choice of metaphors is often the key to communicating well.

And to be honest, it's not a vision unless you communicate it. That's what separates the prophet Isaiah from the inhabitants of the local asylum: the ability to turn a vision into something people will listen to.

The painter Degas once said to his friend, the poet Mallarmé, that he too would make a fine poet, since he had so many wonderful ideas. The reply: "Ah, my friend, poems are made from words, not ideas."

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