Of Idea Banks and Tangled Webs

 

“The patterns are simple, but followed together, they make for a whole that is wiser than the sum of its parts. Go for a walk; cultivate hunches; write everything down, but keep your folders messy; embrace serendipity; make generative mistakes; take on multiple hobbies; frequent coffeehouses and other liquid networks; follow the links; let others build on your ideas; borrow, recycle; reinvent. Build a tangled bank.”
— Steven Johnson

 

Given my love of crossroads and tricksters, it is not surprising that the Spider is one of my favourite totems. He spins out in all directions and connects (sometimes inconveniently) disparate ideas, concepts and objects. Anything and anyone may be drawn into the spider’s web and it all tends to incorporate beautifully into the somewhat chaotic design.
I draw ideas for my art and writing from many different schools of thought. I love finding connections between different mythos and belief systems and love things like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Penny Dreadful that bring together characters from different fictional worlds to see how they may interact.
Sometimes the connections may be tenuous and may fall apart under closer examination. Many spider-webs tend to be fragile and transitory. Similar things happen when I bring together friends from two different areas of my life. Sometimes it works out beautifully and we find commonalities that no one would have guessed existed. Other times it may lead to an afternoon of stilted and forced conversation.
When a new combination of people or ideas or strand of design works tho it is well worth it. It can lead to other connections and before you know it a web network is there. It may be tangled but that can all be worked out later.
Blessings, G

 

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Lady of the Two TowersLady of the Two Towers by G A Rosenberg

 

Force RenderingsForce Renderings by G A Rosenberg

 

Mind Tangled Not Stirred

 

“The patterns are simple, but followed together, they make for a whole that is wiser than the sum of its parts. Go for a walk; cultivate hunches; write everything down, but keep your folders messy; embrace serendipity; make generative mistakes; take on multiple hobbies; frequent coffeehouses and other liquid networks; follow the links; let others build on your ideas; borrow, recycle; reinvent. Build a tangled bank.”
— Steven Johnson

 

For some people it’s easy to be organized and focused on one thing to the exclusion of all others. This however has never been my way. I tend to let my distractions grow into new projects of their own and then get distracted from them by what I have to work on in the first place. The different areas of my life overlap and form fractal patterns with odd synchonicities and strange convergences. Thus I think of ways of describing complex ideas using characters from old sitcoms (tho Neil Gaiman came up with the best one when he described Endora-Samantha-Tabitha as a prime example of the triple goddess in literature. Still these archetypal connections do prove useful at expanding awareness of a concept. Conversations with friends tend to evoke blog entries and blog entries connect to conversations and it all becomes a jumble that brings about dividends of understanding. Would I make faster progress and get more done with a more ordered and disciplined mind and work schedule? Quite possibly but my road would not be nearly as interesting nor as fun and I’ll take the sphegetti trail narrow or wide any day.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

MarchosiasConquering Wolf (Marchosias) by G A Rosenberg

 

Keeper of SecretsKeeper of Secrets by G A Rosenberg