Robert C. Day's Blog, page 46

Dharma

Dharma is the belief that the universe has an inherent order. Basically, you repeatedly do things which leadyou to develop habits. These habits make you fit into one or more section of society. Your place in the order of things then dictates the obligations you have to the people around you.

For example – if you hit people then you become a thug, go to prison and then learn how to become a real criminal, which obliges you to rob banks and go on the run before getting killed in a hail of polic...

Caste System

There are four kinds of writers:

Brahmins. In life them does tend to do hinterlectual things like be priests and teachers. Thempeople as what is like this does think that they is better than the other writers. Them does write literary books full awonderful descriptions of the tiniest things. Them does also think that them can write poetry and also that them can hunerstand poetry but this is rarely true. Kshatriyas. Politicians and soldiers and the like is good examples of what them does do....

Samsara

Samsara means to ‘flow together’ and refers to the continuous cycle of reincarnation to which all human being belong. The quality of one’s next body and life is based on one’s karma in this one. For example, if one builds a hospital in this birth, one will enjoy good health in the next.

If you give any credence to this philosophy, then you will quickly realise that karma is not just important between births, it is also a vital component of your day to day living. You might have noticed in you...

Agnosticism

Some say that we have no idea whether God exists or not. Otherssay that there are lots of things that are beyond human comprehension. Thomas Henry Huxley thought up a word for this: agnosticism.

One thing that is surely beyond anyone’s kenis the mind of a writer. I would say that not even the most self-aware writer is fully cognisant of the nuances of meaning of his own words. It, therefore, amuses me to see learned critiques of books and poems written dozens, if not hundreds of years ago, wh...

Atheism

In reality, there are no experts in the field of writing. There are only self-appointed authorities who have some knowledge of the history of literature and who love to compare the present to the past without any knowledge of the future.

In this realm – that of creative writing, there are no gods, no divine beings and no supernatural phenomena that have any right to tell you what you should or should not be doing.

Here’s how to break yourself free from the bounds of what-should-be and leap in...

One Eyed Banana

Question – What do you call a one eyed banana?

Answer – Anything you like! Itdoesn’t have any ears andso can’t hear you.

Atonement

Here’s something that you might not know: there is an old English concept of ‘onement’, which means reconciled. To be at onement (atonement) thusmeans to set aside differences.

One little-known aspect of creative writing is Creative Confession. This is where a writer confesses to past sins, by writing them down, in the hope of attaining a state of absolution.

These are the essential steps required for this often difficult discipline:

Code. Subscribe to a moral code. There are many available...

The Drowned Sky

Oh elysian depths
Superlunary beauties
Empyrean splendours;
Thou art nothing compared to mine own splendid sky
Which doth cover me and protect me both in waking and sleeping hours.
Oh how I love thee, sky – for thou art a joy to behold,
Dressed as thou art in becoming cloak of azure,
Trimmed with lace of pink and gold as thy companion clouds and sun court thee.
If I could but spend one more day in thy arms,
Then t’would be recompense for all and any days of darkness to come.
I am spent from...

The End of the World

“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” (R.E.M.)

Let’s talk about paradigm shifts. Let’s talk about the end of one world order and the start of another. Let’s talk about Mary Poppins.

In 2013, Mary Poppins,a 1964 movie about a magical and loving nanny of the same name, was selected for preservation on the grounds that it was ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’. Why was that? I think that maybe it’s because it epitomises a well-loved theme in movies – t...

Zero

Wouldn’tit be nice, for a change, to read something undemanding – something that doesn’t need your attention, concentration or memory to be able to appreciate it? In much the same way as you know to turn left because the arrow points that way, or you know which toilet to go in because there is a picture that looks a little like you on the door, you can use language to make all our lives easier.

Here’s how to create something that supports zero effort on the part of your reader:

Plot. Don’t i...