On Sunday, I went to a lecture called Defamiliarization, which focused on how our minds are so habituated, that the essence of everyday objects become erased (think of walking into a room, you’re not necessarily going to notice the essence of a chair or windows). Since the social media craze, our minds our now hyper-habituated, and our emotions are a bit numbed out.
He went on to say our job as writers (and artists), is to recover the sensation of life, and counter our numbness/unconsciousness. Seeing the news about a bombing/murder is different than reading line by line about the act itself, or the narrator’s observation of a bombing/murder, or going in depth about how a dead man looks, feels, smells.
That being said, I’m exhausted and my diet has consisted of hot chocolate and chips for the last few days. But with this 2nd residency in Antioch’s MFA Program, I’ve not only changed my perspective and confidence in my own writing, but pieces of writing any author, or even my friends put out there.
I don’t just enjoy reading anymore. I absolutely cherish the words--the words of published novels, self-published novels, essays, blogs.
Unknowingly, we might all be striving to un-habituate our minds by putting our passion or emotion out there to gain a sense of connection to our world.
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