Free Association (Or Something Like It)

The mind's a funny thing. Or perhaps, mine is. I carve out time here & there to get lost in it. It's a Bermuda Triangle. Point of no return, even.

I play connect-the-dots with concepts that seem totally unrelated with the same ease an Aquarius uses to steer a conversation far left. No longer poised at its original ball park post, incessant subject jumping serves as the captain of that ship eventually. (Dodging the bullets I foresee coming from that statement; though it's all in good fun...sorta.)

Anyway, as it happens, I remember the oddest scenes & quotes from motion pictures, songs, and even from the never-ending movie reel of life.  In fact, tonight's thoughts shifted somehow to a line about "free association writing" taken from The Sixth Sense by M. Knight Shamalamasomething. It's the part where the psychologist (played by actor Bruce Willis) asks Cole (Haley Joel Osment): "Do you know what free association writing is, Cole? A psychological expression referring to the act of just writing down (or saying) whatever thoughts or ideas comes to your mind."

How'd my mind skip to that? Who knows? But it's there...work with me. I digress. I often do. (Ahem).

I enjoy the art of finding the tiniest fraction of a similarity in naked-eye view dissimilarities and expanding on it. I figure, in the grand scheme, even nonsense has to make some sense.  That said, if I understand the concept of free association writing to even the slightest degree, it seems to be an activity that flirts with the idea of letting the psyche go psycho and then assigning meaning to it. Evaluating it. Dissecting it. Analyzing the thought processes behind it. Giving gibberish relevance. Following where it leads. Kinda what I do here in this blog. I never know what direction I'm headed in or what point will be proven. I just type continuously until my hands/fingers feel slightly carpal tunnelish.

No but seriously... It's a brilliant way to pull thoughts, ideas, repressed feelings, etc. that you never knew existed to the forefront so that you can confront and/or acknowledge them.  To ensure effectiveness, you simply let the thoughts flow freely - as the technique title implies - and avoid the conditioned human urge to censor yourself or think before writing or speaking.

Think I'll give it a go and see what comes out. Couldn't hurt. I'll try anything thrice. Anything within reason, that is <---- There I go with that friggin' programmed desire to censor and edit myself.

Soon.
- kj