"Reality" versus Ascension is a complicated dance. For an interesting view of slipping between two worlds, you may enjoy Daphne du Maurier's The House on the Strand.
This is a great piece. I especially like the way Christopher’s calm and mild annoyance at the thought of descending contrasted with the escalating chaos going on around him.
Reading lots of JG Ballard. He wrote one in which a normal suburban man experiences something similar, a kind of drastic disassociation which we experience subjectively through his overall decline. The world becomes removed, out of focus, like big pixelated blocks as he declines.
As with most inspiration the idea soon moves away from it and takes on a life of its own. In mine I noted when you stare at a word long enough it loses meaning. We kind of discard the normal process of scanning and understanding. I just went from there.
Yeah I did. You really did a good job in attempting to define the indefinable. I haven't read much Ballard but know of Crash obviously. I've always thought of the real world as hidden. The truth of a thing is not the word form, it is the experience of the thing itself which can never be communicated. I felt your protagonist might have been tapping into that "isness" but I also could be completely wrong. Either way... It stuck me as difficult to write. Enlightenment / madness. The same thing perhaps?
Yes I agree. At least subjectively he thinks there is something there, and who are we to say he is wrong? Objectively he is losing contact with reality. But is he really?
I often think fiction writing works in mysterious ways as a conduit into the subconscious. I may set out to write a piece on something obvious like a man descending into madness, but subconsciously I am preoccupied with the inability of us to articulate a subjective experience, and this somehow comes through. I think in that way themes should emerge naturally.
As for enlightenment and madness, well who can say. Thinking differently from the norm is by definition abnormal. It just happens to sometimes be right. I think most good writers are naturally non-conformist to some extent.
Well I got that non-conformist stuff in spades. I’m a menace to myself.
Losing the ability to navigate the physical world safely is a real problem. I can’t imagine what it must be like to actually hear voices and have unseen entities (unseen by others) interfere in your daily life. It must make life truly miserable to be psychically harassed - for the grace of god go us.
But experiencing that “oneness” that you sometimes get, albeit fleetingly, pulls you out of the trance of normal existence - you wake up in a Gurdjieff kind of way, suddenly alive to it all. It is bliss but unfortunately society thinks you mad. And once you’ve kissed the lips of eternity you will never be the same again. Getting up and going to work everyday for fifty years is what I deem truly mad.
"Reality" versus Ascension is a complicated dance. For an interesting view of slipping between two worlds, you may enjoy Daphne du Maurier's The House on the Strand.
I must check it out, thanks.
This is a great piece. I especially like the way Christopher’s calm and mild annoyance at the thought of descending contrasted with the escalating chaos going on around him.
Glad you liked. Thanks for reading. I like short stories as they give us room to experiment.
I still intend to write the novel as I mentioned before. Life just got in the way. But looking at that in the near future.
Curious Spiff. I pull loosely at what you describe here. May I ask what inspired you?
Reading lots of JG Ballard. He wrote one in which a normal suburban man experiences something similar, a kind of drastic disassociation which we experience subjectively through his overall decline. The world becomes removed, out of focus, like big pixelated blocks as he declines.
As with most inspiration the idea soon moves away from it and takes on a life of its own. In mine I noted when you stare at a word long enough it loses meaning. We kind of discard the normal process of scanning and understanding. I just went from there.
I hope you liked it and thanks for reading.
Yeah I did. You really did a good job in attempting to define the indefinable. I haven't read much Ballard but know of Crash obviously. I've always thought of the real world as hidden. The truth of a thing is not the word form, it is the experience of the thing itself which can never be communicated. I felt your protagonist might have been tapping into that "isness" but I also could be completely wrong. Either way... It stuck me as difficult to write. Enlightenment / madness. The same thing perhaps?
Yes I agree. At least subjectively he thinks there is something there, and who are we to say he is wrong? Objectively he is losing contact with reality. But is he really?
I often think fiction writing works in mysterious ways as a conduit into the subconscious. I may set out to write a piece on something obvious like a man descending into madness, but subconsciously I am preoccupied with the inability of us to articulate a subjective experience, and this somehow comes through. I think in that way themes should emerge naturally.
As for enlightenment and madness, well who can say. Thinking differently from the norm is by definition abnormal. It just happens to sometimes be right. I think most good writers are naturally non-conformist to some extent.
Well I got that non-conformist stuff in spades. I’m a menace to myself.
Losing the ability to navigate the physical world safely is a real problem. I can’t imagine what it must be like to actually hear voices and have unseen entities (unseen by others) interfere in your daily life. It must make life truly miserable to be psychically harassed - for the grace of god go us.
But experiencing that “oneness” that you sometimes get, albeit fleetingly, pulls you out of the trance of normal existence - you wake up in a Gurdjieff kind of way, suddenly alive to it all. It is bliss but unfortunately society thinks you mad. And once you’ve kissed the lips of eternity you will never be the same again. Getting up and going to work everyday for fifty years is what I deem truly mad.
Yes. I do understand having to go to work. But it cannot define our existence.
But I am often surprised to find many people have nothing really going on in their lives. Work, eat, sleep is basically.
I did write another piece along these lines. Although it is not a very short piece.
https://abysspostcard.substack.com/p/parity-gain-short-story