The Chair

I have a chair that is perfectly comfortable for the purpose of  watching the sunset or dreamily looking at a tree or drawing a rock that juts out over a valley. I can fold this chair and carry it on my back until I become tired, find something else interesting to contemplate or stop for lunch. I have a coat to keep me warm but when I don't need it I can fold it into a small pack that I also carry on my back.

My father once told me that he felt that he should be able to walk through walls. I agree with him. The physical parts of anything are made mostly of space in between particles. If a Neutrino through the earth and detectors in the earth unnoticed, shouldn't I be able to train my assembled particles to go between the assembled particles that make up a wall in my house?

In general, when I am hungry there is something to eat. Sometimes it takes a while but I don't go hungry. I sit in my chair and search through my pack and there is a nice piece of cheese, bread and I find a clear brook to fill my cup. Often, I find that there is more if I happen upon a fellow traveler who is hungry. I have also been the recipient of the generosity of fellow travelers. Others with comfortable chairs sit with me when they happen upon me.

There are books that render the bits of lives of some people who can, at will, move from one place to another by slowly disappearing here and appearing there, some who can go without eating, living only on water and the air that they breathe and some who do not need sleep. Either through discipline, fate or God's will these people do extraordinary things and are looked upon as saints of a sort.

I sleep very well on a comfortable blanket that also folds into my small pack. When it rains or snows, a fair shelter appears where I need it and I gratefully accept its invitation. Other nights, the stars are my welcome ceiling. Mornings are usually beautiful and I sit on my chair to find a small breakfast. Walking briskly helps me breathe and appreciate the sights and sounds that accompany another journey.

People are not often remembered so much for the stuff that they had as the stuff they liked. Some have many of those things that they like , some have none. But when you get to know someone, you begin to know what stuff they like. The focus is different, if one does not covet others stuff.  If you do covet  someone's stuff, it seems unlikely that you will know them. You just want their stuff.

Sometimes I find myself in the company of many people who are sitting in comfortable chairs. We are all looking in different directions but see similar things. There are many more people that I meet though, who do not have a comfortable chair and have difficulty getting around and sleeping and finding food. When I encounter them I will offer them a tasty bite from my pack or a blanket. I can always find something.

We all seem to need a lot of stuff, likely to ward off boredom. Sometimes it is stuff that brings us together. Would we be around people who suddenly didn't have the attraction to that particular stuff that we share? There is so much of the same stuff but depending on the person who has it, doesn't it usually look a bit different?

I have tools to build things because that is a natural inclination of mine. Ideally I would have things appear and disappear as I need them or not. That seems much more convenient and practical and often I Daydream about how it might work. I have read about people who claim that those things that they need always come to them. Those people, however, claim to  need little. Could most of us get along with a good chair and a small pack?

Institutionalization

Daydreams are among those things that should be allowed virtually all of the time. Schools are the first institutions that come to mind that squelch this sort of behavior. Another is companies whose brilliant, irascible and visionary founders are gone.

I was watching the movie "The Right Stuff" for perhaps the third time this year. It occurred to me that the sound barrier was broken by people who were driven by the desire to accomplish a goal that required a large number of people working together mostly without the kind of rules that are now imposed upon those kind of endeavors. The Manhattan Project might be another example.

The Walt Disney Company, for whom I worked, is one of those places that thrived under a man who has been called both genius and fascist. However, there was no question about the direction of the many projects he initiated. There was no committee that could spend lots of money in meetings that would decide nothing and produce only more meetings. Mr. Disney (who was long gone before I got there) would come to see what was going on and decide then and there if a direction was what he wanted and tell such to the designers. Incidentally, those designers were the ones who built models and then went to the field to build attractions in the parks. Far fewer people were responsible for far larger things.

After Walt Disney died, there was a slow progression toward making up for Walt's vision by adding many more people in the decision process. Supposedly it created checks and balances but instead it diluted responsibility and squelched creativity. Responsibility and creativity go hand in hand. As an institution, no one could pick up his responsibilities because no one had the vision and the trust of his employees in that vision. I fear that this sort of thing could happen to Apple when Steve Jobs is gone. We saw a bit of this when he was ousted from his own company. Pixar has been lucky indeed in that someone like Mr. Jobs has shepherded them into the big time.

Ideas are the things that drive innovation such as these examples. Daydreaming drives those ideas. But, often when such ideas are working well and those involved want to keep the success going, institutions are constructed in an effort to codify the process that led to success in the first place. once some creative or innovative process is codified, that which led to the really cool idea is smashed. The whole damn point is that the rules were broken! If you play this by the rules all you get are rules.

Places like the Lockheed Skunk Works thrived because they were making up the "rules" as they went along. Then broke them as they needed to. That is how the SR-71 come about. There was a big idea and , with slide rules, mind you, they built an airplane that is still extraordinary.

I guess that what I am trying to do is convince both you and myself that rules and the institutions that enforce them must acquire a deep wisdom about when the institution must back off. Creativity is inherently messy. It must remain messy. All of the things that drive creativity are emotional: the desire for great success, the need to help others, the need for love and attention and perhaps just to show off. There is no logic to it. That is why it works better outside of a management matrix.

Bubble

There is a mesa standing among other mesas in New Mexico. On this particular one I have a structure that is a sort of a bubble rising from the flat surface of the mesa.  This structure is a large, perhaps the size of a football field, Sculpture Studio constructed of stainless steel arches that span in  gentle curves and support movable transparent and opaque panels that can shade or allow the sun to penetrate. The apex of the bubble is about 40 feet above the ground. There is a crane that runs along  a beam in order to move heavy sculpture. The foot print of the studio would describe an oval so that there are no vertical walls.

The Studio would be a place that aspiring and established artists could come to for months at a time at no expense in order to talk and produce work without the interruptions that daily practical concerns impose on one. A metaphorical bubble. Those who would participate could interact as they wish and would have use of a pilot and airplane (located on the private airstrip on the mesa) to come and go as they please.  All of the necessary tools would be available to make the art conceived there.

This is a Daydream that I had about 30 years ago and has not yet dissolved. The power of this Daydream should have been enough to propel me to find some way to accomplish a small part of it. This is the pain of some Daydreams. The ones that are so close to the heart that they do not go away. That by their very nature fall into that "impossible" category. But they are the ones that we so dearly want to bear fruit. And yet, bigger thinkers than  I, like Ted Turner and Walt Disney, accomplished their ideas. 

How do these Dreams come about through some but not most people? The effort to accomplish big ideas seems to rely on ones ability to leverage many other people who for one reason or another want to participate in your big idea. I don't want to tell other people what to do. Perhaps this automatically counts me and many others out of seeing their big ideas become real.

Daydreams are not about compromise. Reality is largely compromise. It looks like for some of us, reality is impossible not Daydreams.

Gratitude

I think that we should be grateful for Daydreaming. My wife passed along to me an article from the Boston Globe that says that scientists are now saying that Daydreaming is necessary for thinking processes. Before I read this, I thought that we should be grateful for Daydreaming anyhow because it can take us away from reality for a bit and perhaps  give one a chance to recharge. I know that I have a tendency to drift off often and quickly, even when I am talking. Part of my mind is on its way to some other realm that can offer me refuge or stimulate ideas that carry me along paths that are closer to my natural tendencies. 

"Many Scientists argue that Daydreaming is a crucial tool for creativity, a thought process that allows the brain to make new associations and connections". When I am talking to a student who is trying to work things out regarding project and they are explaining what they want to see, I find myself daydreaming while listening and running around connecting all of those things that seem even distantly related. On occasion, I have articulated these things that are a bit wacky and have students see things in a different way that sends them on a path that they might not have thought of. For this, I am grateful, not simply because I might have been of some help, but because I could use the conversation as a spring board for my own musings and add to the repertoire of intuitive connections.

I believe more in intuition than logic. Logic runs backward, intuition runs forward. It took Einstein about 15 years to learn enough to assemble a logical path back to his childhood intuition that led to the theories of relativity. I have to assume that he was grateful for the Daydream that led him to that. Nothing can progress without intuition, or the human desire to dream. Logic is important to the realization of ones dreams but it cannot help you see what is not yet there.

Recently I had a conversation with someone who suggested that Daydreaming is a way to connect to the spiritual realm.  One must first assume that there is a spiritual realm. The scientists studying Daydreaming probably want only to understand the mechanics of the brain during a daydream and the tangible results thereof. This is fine with me as long as they can legitimize Daydreaming and perhaps remove the stigma that is placed upon children who must suffer through traditional schooling.

There are not a lot of things that I do reasonably well or consistently. Daydreaming is one of those things for which I am grateful that I do and I hope that everyone can become grateful for it. It is perhaps vitally important.

Thinking

It occurred to me that I must including thinking. During a Daydream, one fantasizes or allows an idea to run rampant for a while. If this daydream falls into the "possible" category, (and preferably good), there seems a good chance that one might begin to work it out. This involves the process of finding a possible sequence of actions and compromises in order to achieve that Daydream.

An example of this is the motorcycle that I ride each day commuting to and from work. It was possible, but a number of factors had to line up in order to make it real. Two rather obvious components are: money and the consent of my wife. There was a logical reason for me to promote the use of a motorcycle (other than the frightful pleasure it provides me). It would cut in half our expenditure on fuel. For a couple of years I would mention this possibility. When fuel prices began to rise dramatically, the expenditure was allowed. At this time, it more than pays for itself.

During the Daydream stage , I wanted a couple of more expensive bikes. The more expensive bikes were not only were more powerful but achieved better fuel mileage. During the Daydream stage I would imagine myself riding while driving my car, thinking carefully about the traffic and how to handle situations that might and did crop up. I daydreamed about good riding equipment, justifiable by the safety argument. I even wondered if I would find it tedious or too difficult. None of those have yet come to pass. I am grateful that I am able to do it. In the end, I bought the least expensive motorcycle that would do the job and fit my riding style. I love it. I bought a very good riding suit. 

A couple of years is a good time for the daydream to keep up in pretty much original condition and to run the possible scenarios until the right one drops into place. It is good preparation for the realization of the Daydream. I think that an effort a clear thinking is useful even in an "impossible" (preferably good) Daydream. Trying to conceive a logical sequence to achieve the impossible  must yield, in some instances, original thinking. Besides, the impossible is always more interesting. The impossible is a Daydream.

Reverie

Reverie is a word that I like very much. Most likely because it is derived from a french word, rever, "to dream". My mother is French. Among the definitions, one is "to Daydream". Others are: "a state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing", "a fantastic, visionary, or impractical idea" and "an instrumental composition of a vague and dreamy character". Incidentally, the definitions that I am using are from dictionary.com. 

At this point in the conversation (with myself, so far) I believe that the word Daydream is still appropriate. I will use reverie and fantasy when I feel that it might clarify a specific thought. For me, as I have previously stated, fantasy connotes something frivolous or sexual. I think that for me reverie will connote those thought paths that are some what foggier and perhaps more spiritual, less grounded in terrestrial life. I hope that I will arrive at some better connotations as I go along, but , this is a start.

Fantasies

I had a moment of thought about fantasies. Unfortunately it was while I was away from this keyboard. I think that I consider fantasies somewhat frivolous thoughts that really cannot be built upon. Daydreams, however can be big ideas. Daydreams are of the heart. Fantasies are of the loins? 

Whilst riding my motorcycle to work I was thinking about James Joyce's Ulysses. I have read approximately 200 pages and find it somewhat impenetrable and fascinating. It is largely Daydream. The book goes into a sort of poetry that transcends time and becomes a free-associative line of thinking about and around the events at that moment in the book. It veers seamlessly between reality and the poetic musings of and about that reality. It is a daydream that has been somehow delineated in language. This probably contradicts my earlier statement about language perhaps being an enemy of Daydreams. Now, perhaps I should ask an obvious question: Is the book part fantasy? Again, I fall on the side of Daydream. I have difficulty attributing such depth to a fantasy. I am still unable to define the difference. My only definition seems to be based upon how I feel about the word. 

In looking up the definitions of both Daydream and fantasy, I find that Daydream and fantasy are synonyms and that there are many more definitions for fantasy. Daydream is simply "reverie while awake". Fantasy includes "imaginative conceptualizing".  This among eleven other definitions. It seems that I might be mistaken in using the word Daydream in spite of an emotional attachment to it.

So, if I follow the word fantasy or fantasize, then I have to ask: am I good at "imaginative conceptualizing" and the other eleven definitions? A supposition based upon no solid foundation, visionary idea, illusion? Have I instead found something else I am not so good at? I had a feeling that this would cause me trouble.

Partial definition

It seems that daydreams can be divided into two large categories: Possible and Impossible. Within those two would be Good and Bad. This might seem too judgmental for some of you, but I like the clarity of these opposites. 

The Possible are those that one may reasonably expect to accomplish. The Impossible are those that one may reasonably expect never to accomplish. These might include expecting that you can (on Earth) fly by flapping your arms. In other words, something with which you have the same chances of winning a big lottery jackpot. Including winning a big lottery jackpot. The Possible includes things like opening a restaurant or taking a cross country motorcycle trip. One must allow for the kind that Albert Einstein had as a child that formed a question that was answered by the Special and General theories of Relativity. Those that seem impossible but can be tackled by indomitable intellect or perseverance.

The Good are those that are likely to have a positive, constructive or happy outcome. Acquiring a puppy or creating a piece of sculpture or doing volunteer work. The Bad are those that are likely to have a negative, destructive or unhappy outcome. Destroying or causing harm to people and or property.

I experience all four and have a tendency for each at different times of the day. For instance, the end of the day is the time that I have the most fun daydreams. Possible or Impossible. The beginning of the day (or work day) is the worst for me.

The assumption here is that these are fantasies in which one places oneself and feels as if it is happening. Are these simply fantasies? I think that daydreams should be  taken more seriously than fantasies.

In the beginning

Unaccustomed as I am to writing anything, no less anything public, I thought that I might make an effort to discover what I am really thinking. Language, to a daydreamer is perhaps an enemy, but it does require clarity of thought. The effort to solidify those pesky fleeting ideas that are much more beautiful in passing might destroy my fun at simply free-associating until I fall asleep or become distracted by some other really neat thought. 

At this moment I have decided that I am best at daydreaming. Perhaps I might become an expert at it and realize an income from this. Free-associating is one of those things that I do naturally and is probably a bit of a frustration to those people who know me and have taken the time to listen to me blather on in a rather undisciplined way about whatever it is that I am trying to describe. 

I have no doubt that there are those of you who will happen upon this and claim that you or someone that you know is a better daydreamer and will challenge my ability to daydream. Go ahead. Competition in free-association as in free-enterprise might prove to be a growth experience. Can someone cultivate daydreaming into a well oiled machine or is it in its nature an untamable animal?  Are those of us who depend upon daydreaming inherently undisciplined? If cultivated, can it become useful to others?

I might be mistaken in using "free-association" as a synonym for daydream but at least for now the two go together for me.

All of this has begun on account of my working with college students who are artists and designers and having the occasional conversation about their work. There is little that I enjoy more than discussing those directions and ideas with them. Not even my motorcycle rides to and from work. Now I am stuck wondering how I can make something useful (for both them and me) out of those really exciting and emotional interactions about their ideas. Perhaps an analysis will help clarify a direction. 

That is what I hope this will catalyze.

Onward.