Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Local and nonlocal and creativity

Forgive me, I might not explain this as well as a smart person would, but local connections are those connections and interactions which are subject to the laws of physics. I cannot see a person faster than the reflected light from her person travels the distance between us and strikes me in the eyes. The electric pulses of a phone call, whether over wire or through space, cannot travel any faster than the speed of light. Local connections all submit to Einstein et al.

The concept of nonlocal connections need not follow these laws. Picture Hollywood's so-called voodoo doll. Someone sticks a pin in a doll made to resemble me and even if I were a light-year away, I would instantaneously feel the pain. This means the transmission of the "pain signal" moved faster than the speed of light, which according to Al Einstein and his crew, is strictly verboten.

So, that brings me to part three. Creativity. Many of us who are creative believe that ideas "come to us." Is this a local connection? Is our muse close at hand and the inspiration moves equal to or less than the speed of light? Or are we fed by our genius (read genie here, as in spirit that helps the artist, not as in really smart person) through a nonlocal connection, faster than the speed of light?

If it is the latter, and the connection is so fast as to violate the laws of physics, I would ask why the connection is, at times, so poor in quality? Wouldn't most of us sacrifice speed for clarity? When I write, I often suffer a stream of ideas pouring into my head, but the signal is often so garbled and crackly that it is difficult to make heads or tails of what I'm receiving.

So, I propose that I convert to low speed interaction with my muse(s) (I can live with a slower-than-light connection) with hyper-clarity until such time as the nonlocal faster-than-light connection can be made clear enough as to not leave me confused, frustrated, and ultimately deleting chapters out of new novels.

1 comment:

  1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGt3-fxOvug

    John Cleese may be able to help :)

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