Profound thought for the Task
Being in touch with your inner body creates a clear space of no mind within which the relationship can flower.
– Eckhart Tolle
The task: Write three pages of “stream of consciousness” stuff.
When Ilka wrote all these task for me and put them on bits of paper in an eggbox, we were both working through ‘The Artists’s Way’, a book by Julia Cameron. There are lots of little daily/weekly/monthly tasks in this book oriented towards finding your inner creativity, and part of the journey towards that creativity was to write ‘Morning Pages’ – basically three pages of stream of consciousness stuff each day. So I don’t have to explain the concept behind this, but at the time (ten years ago now!), I diligently streamed 3 pages of consciousness each morning before Muesli. Nowadays, I do very little before Muesli, but this is because I’m more grounded and have found myself artistically. (I’ve found myself to be artistically bankrupt!).
Anyway, it was a delight to be reminded of how enjoyable the Morning Pages were, so I set about this task as soon as I could find an A4 notepad and a pen that worked. No nonsense, no hesitation, just three blank pages to fill without conscious thought. Normally these stream-of-consciousness ramblings would be thrown away afterwards. They serve no purpose other than to spend the time doing them. Perhaps sometimes there will be a quote, or an idea, or a truth that will emerge from the pages, and these can be copied or set-aside for when there is a different world order, or for when a new gizmo arrives through the post. Whatever – my ramblings on this particular day have been reproduced below in the hope that the world can accept them as samples of my inner non-thinking mind.
Here, for your delectation, are my original handwritten pages. These are followed by the voice-recognition text.
Thursday mid-april 2026
Here we are then once again writing with a pen. A pen! it’s quite an instrument. not quite as musical as an oboe or a flute but a bit more descriptive than a bassoon perhaps. it’s wonderful to see ink coming out of its bottom and producing writing on a page in a way that a squid would be envious of.
I must admit I feel a little old fashioned writing things on paper and although the idea is great it’s a little uncomfortable to hold a pen and guide it across the page as my mind does the streaming from above. I have to hold the pen tightly so that the scribbles become at least a little bit legible, although my thoughts are coming thick and fast and are too quick to capture accurately if at all.
If I could write things at the speed of thought a) these 3 pages would be finished by now b) I could capture my thoughts without my thoughts having to wait an age for the pen to respond and c) I’ve forgotten Point C already because I had to write about points A&B.
So where would my thoughts go if they didn’t have to wait for my pen? that’s an interesting thought. they would probably amble down profound avenues of imagination, run through forests of wonder and conjecture, and muse through oceans of meditations and perception. and probably more.
It’s all happening at the speed of thought and I’m not really allowed to let my pen stop for a moment of calm contemplation. where would contemplation lead me? It would most likely be logical and practical stuff that would bubble to the surface first. basic things like what should I eat today, what should I do, does the lounge need re-decorating, should we get a whole new set of crockery etc etc.
Of course I’d hope that my mind could contemplate on the meaning of life and of all the things spiritual and worldly wise. it does a lot of that in the background before language kicks in. I think it’s something to do with mankind’s most basic instincts and primordial mystery. perhaps the pineal gland has something to do with it because that little bit of original brain has a lot to answer for if only we didn’t put a hell of a lot of other brain activity over the top of it.
Like for example I have the answer to life the universe and everything but I can describe that in a few nanoseconds in my head. it would take the whole of this notepad to formulate that innate knowledge into meaningful sentences that others could begin to understand. I’m not sure this pen has got the courage to go on that particular journey. it’s already extremely painful just inking out the words I’ve written thus far. I think I’d better invent a keyboard or something that I could use instead. I suppose voice recognition is now good enough. I might try and voice recognise this entire stream of conscious after I’ve finished and see whether the computer can do it properly. at least then other people would be able to read it and I wouldn’t have the pain I’m currently experiencing in my right thumb, because my right thumb does most of the heavy pushing when I write with a pen (or a squid).
Anyway three pages just about done. as usual I have no respect in the line markings of a notebook. It’s clear to me now that notebook manufacturers have no idea how much space the average scribbler needs per line.
- ends –
Being in touch with your inner notebook creates a clear page of no sense within which the relationship can baffle.
