Engage

Posted on July 4, 2010 in Encounters Folly Watch Thinking

The first person who asks me what I mean can go soak her/his head in a vat of near beer.

I’ve been told by the well-meaning that I “lack social skills”. This may be true, in the usual sense of the word, but I employ a different variety of social skill to get by. I play dumb around strangers and family I seldom see. Talking, you see, brings questions, and when questions come too quickly, the mind loses its place.

“What do you mean?” is probably the most vapid, unimaginative and aggressive question you can ask me. It’s the prelude for an attack for some, a perfunctory exercise for most who are like a dog given a cucumber: they haven’t any idea what they are supposed to be doing with it.

So I’m not a big talker when I am with people. I prefer to observe. When gazing upon things or otherwise experiencing the world, I do so with the minimal possible intrusion of language. The machine gun minds want you to do more than this. They want you to layer a hefty meaning on it all ((Ask them “What do you mean by meaning?” sometime. When they balk, insist that they define their terms because without a clear and detailed explanation, how are you going to be able to give them what they want?)) because they are uncomfortable with the perplexing lightness of the world.

If you want to enjoy the world with me, don’t look for shortcuts. If it is one of my pictures, examine it without asking me to say what it is. If it is my writing, remember that I take care to write what I mean — sometimes using metaphors. It’s a waste of my time and yours to step away from what is before you, to demand that I provide you with Cliff Notes for each and every one of my creative acts. Engage.