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Still Here
Oct. 7th, 2004 06:07 amAs Danae remarked recently: it's not that I don't have enough to say to write an entry, it's that there's too much. Here are the high points:
* Hebrew Scriptures class is going well. It's amazing how much information can be mined out of 11 verses that show two different stories awkwardly shoved together in an ABAB pattern. (Take a look at Exodus 24:1-11 some time. . . ) And I was very startled when I did this week's reading and found not one but three episodes in which one of the patriarchs (Abraham twice, Isaac once) tell people their wives are their sisters because they are afraid that other men will kill them in order to steal their wives. In the texts, the wives are silent, but I have to wonder how they felt about this mendacity, especially Sarai, who ended up spending time in a Pharoah's harem. . .
* I've been meditating on "Who I Want To Be" and coming up with a kind of mandala that I can use for tracking how well I'm attending to various aspects of my life and psyche that are important to me.
* Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
poliphilo's comments about his long dormant novel-in-progress, I've been finding some new perspective on my own long-dormant-novel "Occupation." He asked of the person who had written his own story, "Who was that guy?" and I found myself asking the same question about myself. The woman who started Occupation was herself living in a state of occupation, however benign. Seonaid's story of growing into her own power and throwing off the authority of father and invaders (to simplify the story down to its most fundamental action) is one I needed to write at that time. But I no longer have that need. Is it any wonder the story impulse died?
But the story also died when I stopped writing from my gut and tried to write episodes that I felt were "necessary" to make it a complete novel that would be publishable. I had written "the good parts version" (to steal a lovely concept from William Goldman). I tried to force it to be what it was not. No wonder it died on me.
* I spent yesterday, and will spend today, in the Business Ops Sr. Leadership retreat. It's been fascinating. Most of it doesn't translate well to an LJ entry, but many of you may be interested in hearing that when our profiles from the DiSC personality typing system were posted, Miss Vicki's profile and mine were mirror images of each other's. I was high D (dominant, controlling), low I (inspirational, people-person), low S (supporter), high C (analytical). It was, according to the chart, a classic "creative" profile. Hers was the classic "counselor" profile, with low D, high I, high S, low C. I must confess that I was surprised to see that she was a low D (which suggests that I have been projecting my own issues onto her) -- but it certainly explains why we have conflict! When I pointed out the contrasting patterns of our profiles, her response was, "That explains why we're a good team: together we have everything covered."
* Richard Bach is in town tonight to read from his new book The Messiah's Handbook, which is evidently a collection of brief wisdom culled from all his books. I'm definitely going to be attending the event. Illusions was an extremely important book for me, and I have enjoyed many of his other works as well, most recently Writer Ferrets: Chasing the Muse.
Off to get ready for another day at the retreat!
* Hebrew Scriptures class is going well. It's amazing how much information can be mined out of 11 verses that show two different stories awkwardly shoved together in an ABAB pattern. (Take a look at Exodus 24:1-11 some time. . . ) And I was very startled when I did this week's reading and found not one but three episodes in which one of the patriarchs (Abraham twice, Isaac once) tell people their wives are their sisters because they are afraid that other men will kill them in order to steal their wives. In the texts, the wives are silent, but I have to wonder how they felt about this mendacity, especially Sarai, who ended up spending time in a Pharoah's harem. . .
* I've been meditating on "Who I Want To Be" and coming up with a kind of mandala that I can use for tracking how well I'm attending to various aspects of my life and psyche that are important to me.
* Thanks to
poliphilo's comments about his long dormant novel-in-progress, I've been finding some new perspective on my own long-dormant-novel "Occupation." He asked of the person who had written his own story, "Who was that guy?" and I found myself asking the same question about myself. The woman who started Occupation was herself living in a state of occupation, however benign. Seonaid's story of growing into her own power and throwing off the authority of father and invaders (to simplify the story down to its most fundamental action) is one I needed to write at that time. But I no longer have that need. Is it any wonder the story impulse died?But the story also died when I stopped writing from my gut and tried to write episodes that I felt were "necessary" to make it a complete novel that would be publishable. I had written "the good parts version" (to steal a lovely concept from William Goldman). I tried to force it to be what it was not. No wonder it died on me.
* I spent yesterday, and will spend today, in the Business Ops Sr. Leadership retreat. It's been fascinating. Most of it doesn't translate well to an LJ entry, but many of you may be interested in hearing that when our profiles from the DiSC personality typing system were posted, Miss Vicki's profile and mine were mirror images of each other's. I was high D (dominant, controlling), low I (inspirational, people-person), low S (supporter), high C (analytical). It was, according to the chart, a classic "creative" profile. Hers was the classic "counselor" profile, with low D, high I, high S, low C. I must confess that I was surprised to see that she was a low D (which suggests that I have been projecting my own issues onto her) -- but it certainly explains why we have conflict! When I pointed out the contrasting patterns of our profiles, her response was, "That explains why we're a good team: together we have everything covered."
* Richard Bach is in town tonight to read from his new book The Messiah's Handbook, which is evidently a collection of brief wisdom culled from all his books. I'm definitely going to be attending the event. Illusions was an extremely important book for me, and I have enjoyed many of his other works as well, most recently Writer Ferrets: Chasing the Muse.
Off to get ready for another day at the retreat!
