Blog: Thoughts about writing, writing about thoughts
Text: Matias Lahti
Translation: Sirkka-Liisa Leinonen
”I do not know what I think before I write about it.” This is what the writer Joan Didion is reported to have said. I think I understand well what she means. While reading expands our mental world, writing helps to organize its content. Incomplete thoughts have their value, but the need to put them into writing is uncompromising: what exactly do you think, and what precisely is your opinion? What can be said clearly has been thought clearly.
Many people find writing difficult. One of the main reasons is probably the difficulty to verbalize one’s thoughts as precise sentences and coherent text. Mental content is multidimensional, and the way most of us experience the world is non-verbal.
Our thoughts are not complete sentences but unconnected words, impressions, observations, feelings and fragmentary ideas. The ability to organize this content into coherent text requires work and practice. That work pays off: an ability to express oneself verbally facilitates interaction and helps one to deal with difficult matters. Verbal incompetence, on the other hand, makes it hard for people to understand each other and often leaves difficult matters unsolved.
It is exhilarating to meet someone whose oral or written presentation is crystal clear. At some point in my life, I met a person whose expression was exceptionally insightful, rich and precise. I was dazzled and began to strive toward similar competence myself. I realized that versatile vocabulary not only makes for precise expression but also serves as a stimulus: a few unconventional but apposite words may puncture a hole in the mind that allows us to see further. The hole also lets in fresh oxygen.
My history as a public writer is short. I have written a lot, but mostly either work-related factual texts or comments to a discussion in a small circle. Although self-expression through art is natural to me, I have never seriously considered written language as a tool of expression. I have written a few poems, but they remain buried in my desk drawer.
Blogging as a text type is new to me. It seems especially challenging because of the need to find a balance between the public and the private. A blog post should not be a lecture, nor should it be the kind of emotional outpouring we might write in a diary.
I have spent my youth and early adulthood on many different things. I have had a variety of jobs, I have read and studied, spent time with my family, discussed and pondered. After the years of youthful uncertainty and diffidence, I began to construct my world view and philosophy of life. Maybe now is a good time to verbalize some of these thought processes and to share them with others for re-processing. My intention is not to say how things are, but rather to suggest some approaches and possible ways to think as well as to offer stimulation to other people’s thinking. Let everybody create their own reality – and write about it.
Minä odotan Herraa kuin vartijat aamua, hartaammin kuin vartijat aamua. Ps. 130:6
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