The Moriah Ruse

Coaxing Creativity Out of its Hiding Place

Read BLOGX4 and the article on Inspiration before you read the following, thank you.

There are two steps I take before creativity will thrive, first remove the disruptive influences and secondly construct (build) the appropriate atmosphere (ambiance or tone). Here is an analogy—wine.  I would not, and I hope you wouldn’t either, buy a bottle of expensive wine, rush home, uncork it and guzzle out of the bottle while watching a sporting event. That’s what beer is for, or at least that’s how it is advertised. To enjoy a good wine, on the other hand, I would chill it while the dinner was being prepared—beef tenderloin, slow broiled and medium rare with appropriate trimmings. The table set for two with a white table cloth/matching napkin, silver and china (no paper or plastic), of course, two odorless candles on silver or crystal candle sticks. No gold, it’s too pretentious, and finally, two crystal clear 10 oz wine glasses in which to receive and imbibe the customary 4 ounces of wine.   

Preparing to get creative is a lot like consuming wine (properly), it isn’t a guzzle experience for me it is an event requiring preparation. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying you must follow my prep technique but you’ll need to find yours in order to find your own vortex. Experiment with various techniques and see which works best. If meditating, or a long/short walk, or yoga exercises is your thing then try it and see what happens. I love making predictions, ball games, politics are my favorites and I’m wrong as much as I’m right but I am going to make a prediction now that will be 98% accurate when it comes to coaxing creativity out of you. Here goes. I predict you will not find your muse, neither will I, if I am listening to loud music, playing a video game, hanging out in the local sports bar, drinking too much (even a fine wine), watching TV, arguing with spouse or kids.

More later, right now I’m going for a beer and then watch a little wrestlemania on TV.

Marvin Wiebener, author of The Margin and The Moriah Ruse, is the administrator of this website and he extends an invitation to you to visit his other blogs, just scroll down and click on either of the links. He also encourages comments on any of the articles, either ‘for’ or ‘against’ his position, it doesn’t matter to him. He always responds.

Inspirational Events

Please scroll to the article posted January 6, thank you.

Included in today’s blog will be a rudimentary “how to” tutorial on achieving the event mentioned in my last blog article titled: BLOGX4

Consider this: The tutorial is how I do it. Sometimes what-I-do works and sometimes it doesn’t and for anyone reading this article you should consider that the “how to” may be a waste of your time. I make no claims about its effectiveness and there are no guarantees. As for me and the result of my events, there have been no scientific, philosophical or spiritual revelations or discoveries, no epiphanies of any kind. However, when I apply the “how to” with sufficient commitment I do experience an illuminating grasp of reality that is hard to articulate in a few words, you know what I mean because you’ve had those moments too. The short of it is that my mind seems to clear and my senses heighten which, evidently, allows creativity room to develop.

This is how achieving optimal creativeness happens best for me:

1. I’m easily distracted by man-made sounds; music, TV, radio, babies crying, sirens screaming in the distance, cars driving by the house and phone calls. If I’m going to create I must have quiet. Funny thing, I don’t find dogs barking, wind blowing, birds chirping, coyotes howling a distraction.
2. Visual distraction can be a problem also. I can create in my office because it is decorated in subdued colors and illuminated by soft lighting and indirect sunlight. Take a look around you and count those things that draw your attention away from the creative semi-meditative state you are hoping to achieve, you’ll be surprised at what distractions you may see for the first time.
3. Location is important to me, I suppose there may be those people that can clear their mind while sipping a latte at Starbucks but I’m not one of them. I must have a location free of man-made sounds and man-made distractions, I prefer a creek bank, a bluff overlooking a lake or a canyon, just about anything outdoors with a view of nature.
4. Finding the right location free of distractions can be easier than you think but it does require sacrifice. Here is an example: Every evening I watch a few hours of TV, when the late news is over I shut the TV off and make my way to bed where I usually read an hour or so. One evening, my wife had already retired; I turned the TV off and sat for a while in silence. The contrast between the yakking (the TV, not my wife) and loud commercials and the silence was unusual. Evenings before I would automatically follow my routine which was filled with small preparatory tasks for climbing into bed. But this night I just sat focusing on the quiet.

More on the subject of achieving that state of mind that will open the door to your creative potential—it does mine—in the next posting.  

Marvin Wiebener, author of The Margin and The Moriah Ruse, is the administrator of this website and he extends an invitation to you to visit his other blogs, just scroll down and click on either of the links. He also encourages comments on any of the articles, either ‘for’ or ‘against’ his position, it doesn’t matter to him. He always responds.

BLOGX4

I now am the proud author of four blogs, not one or two but four. I’ve asked myself why and the answer hasn’t yet materialized. Sometimes I just write thinking my words are enlightening, instructive and even edifying. The next day, however, I read what I wrote—REMEMBER: enlightening, instructive, even edifying—and I find only gibberish. We all have something to say, problem is 99 percent of it has already been written and published. Perhaps even more articulately and creative than what we are capable of. Nevertheless, we want our thoughts and opinions out there, after all it is our right to write and publish as long as we don’t plagiarize. Who knows, one day when we are least expecting brilliance it may flood out onto our legal pads or computer screens, so we keep typing. Now here is the kicker; when that event happens (inspiration and/or spark of brilliance) are we quick (intelligent, attuned, observant, clever) enough to recognize it or will it disappear like home equity in today’s housing market?

January 1, 2010 What Decade Is It?

It is January 3, 2010 and I began this New Year blog by explaining that 2010 was the end of the first decade in century 2000 and NOT the beginning of the second decade in the century 2000. I bounced that “fact” off my wife resulting in our first disagreement this New Year. She claims January 1, 2010 is the beginning of a new decade. Not to be outsmarted and to prove my point I Googled the question and found out that none of the online contributors seem to know for sure. There is some reasonable evidence that my wife is right and vice versa. I did not want to settle for a tie so I emailed the experts at the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. To my delight, and astonishment, the USNO responded almost immediately and offered one of their websites that would answer my question. My thanks to Demetrios Matsakis of the USNO for his help.

When dates were first established man did not use negative numbers such as -1 nor did they use the number zero, now we do and if we found it necessary to toss the Gregorian calendar—and adjust date-keeping—zero and negative numbers would be used and that would change things making 2010 the beginning of a new decade. As time/date keeping stands now 2010 is the last year of the first decade of the third millennium. Verification: http://www.usno.navy.mil:80/USNO/astronomical-applications/astronomical-information-center/millennium

IRAN’S ATTEMPT TO DESTABILIZE THE MIDDLE-EAST:

I posted this article to another blog on April 21, 2009. The article is still current and the question still relevant:

These facts are irrefutable; the world knows Iran has interfered with Iraq’s new political process by furnishing money, training and weapons to Shi’a extremists. They disrupt the Arab-Israeli peace process by providing support to Hamas as well as other Palestinian terrorist groups; Hezbollah in Lebanon, and they have provided weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan. All of this while continuing to enrich uranium and telling those who’ll listen that they are just using uranium for energy production. Keep in mind Iran is atop a huge reserve of clean burning natural gas that would fuel all their energy needs for eons. There is only one reason to enrich uranium and that is to manufacture the fissile material pure enough for bomb making. We can be assured that if Iran continues down this path the Gulf Cooperation Council made up of countries on the other side of the Persian Gulf, will undoubtedly follow suit, and they have the money. Throw in the fact that Pakistan—that could fall to the Taliban—and India already have the capability.

This writer believes that those of us who ignore the signs or refuse to be enlightened will fall victim to our own misplaced optimism and eventually regret our lack of action.

Our President has offered a peaceful hand to our proven enemies, and everyone hopes this gesture will be the beginning of a new respect that will circumnavigate the globe and eventually lead to peace. Realistically this will not happen, it is culturally impossible when religions pit their assertions of supremacy over the other. With that said, is President Obama playing into the hands of leaders who are not going to play fair, or has he a strategy up his sleeve the general public isn’t yet privy to?

Save the SEALS

War is hell. No truer words were ever spoken. War is a battle to the death or surrender of an apposing army and in the twentieth century we have tried to civilize it so that no more harm than is necessary will come to either side and especially to prisoners of war and non-combatants who generally are societies most fragile. Winning or losing a battle or war is misleading, no one wins and everyone loses something. The USA may have ‘won’ WWII but at what cost did that win come? What did we loose in order to win?

In 1859 Henry Dunant was horrified to see wounded soldiers being abandoned with no offer of aid. Dunant, A Swiss, suggested a voluntary relief society and in 1864 sixteen nations signed the treaty which became known as the Geneva Convention http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions. Since that time nations that signed on tried to stick with their commitment but most have failed miserably. As far as I can tell the USA is the most successful nation at accomplishing this very complex task. I say complex because most countries with whom the US has battled with over the last fifty years do not adhere to international rules of engagement making the playing field and its referees very unfair. This unfairness brings me to the point of this article. Once again our own government has taken upon itself to make sure we spotlight our undying adherence to articles of the GC. As a result three Navy SEALS will stand trial for actions committed during the capture of Ahmed Hashim Amed http://www.nowpublic.com/world/navy-seals-face-assault-charges-after-capturing-terrorist .  I do not believe our government is pursuing charges, or even considering them, because they believe in the rule of law and that it is our moral obligation to follow GC protocols. Instead, I believe, the decision has everything to do with covering-their-own-ass. Those government officials—whoever they are—in actuality fear falling prey to left-wing prying eyes, those common among legislators and liberal watchdog groups. The real casualties in this mess will be the patriots not the perpetrator. The Navy SEALS will suffer a wound to their careers and reputation more devastating than a lost limb, and no Purple Heart for the injury.

Pundits Ride the Confusion Train

It is cold today, a fact of life in December and I should be grateful last nights hard freeze finished off the insects.

Most of the world news today focused on the planned surge President Obama has authorized. Criticism came in torrents from all over the place, the middle, the right, the left, former military strategist and of course the pundits. Everyone has their opinion, even me.  And I wonder if fussing over who is right and who is wrong is upstaging our  common sense and thoughtfullness drawing our attention away from the real subject matter and wasting it on arguing among ourselves. I say surge and you say don’t surge, we argue. We get angry-not because of the surge but because we’ve now incerted emotion into the equation and we are determined to prove our point. Our point, supercharged with emotion, now becomes the focus and we do what every self-rightious voter does when our side is challenged-we call, email, text and visit our legislators. We pound on their desk to emphasize our point, then threaten the congressman with, “…you won’t get my vote!”  The legislator, fearing for his job, passes our opinion along in session and to party leadership dowsed liberally with emotion he caught from us. I say surge, you say don’t surge and neither of us really understands the situation well enough to influence our senators and congressmen to push the issue one way or another. By now all I want is to prove you wrong and vice versa.  What would it hurt for those of us who are less informed (I guesstimate 90%) on a particular subject-for example the surge in Afghanistan-to just stay out of the way? My motives may be driven by emotion and I may have an ulterior reason for my fanaticism that, in the end, may do more harm than good. Not too long ago we gladly left those matters to the experts and the people we voted into office.

For the record, here I go shooting my mouth off, I do not agree that the US should set a specific date (July 2011) to withdraw our troops for the obvious reasons. Although I don’t agree I will support the decision, pray for the troops and hope for the best. If six months after the last humvee leaves town a flegling government of the people (kind of) is emerging then it stands to reason that announcing a withdrawal date did no harm. However, I am of the opinion that the Taliban will regain their supremacy, at first, in very subtle ways. Either way in a year we should know the outcome of Obama’s decision.