Some of your Fellow Readers…
World News
- A new Hajj booking system leaves tour operators out in the coldPilgrims must now book travels via a new online portal which works on a lottery system, cutting out many agents.
- UK’s Boris Johnson ‘to resign’ after losing party’s supportThe 58-year-old Conservative became prime minister in 2019 but has suffered a series of scandals.
- UK says diplomat ‘arrest’ reports false, has left IranIranian state television accused UK diplomat Giles Whitaker of 'carrying out intelligence operations' in military areas.
- UK political crisis deepens as new ministers tell Johnson to quitNew finance and education ministers tell the prime minister to resign less than 48 hours after their appointment.
- China’s domination of solar a risk to zero-carbon future: IEAEnergy body says world must quadruple the pace at which solar capacity is growing to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
- Photos: One million Muslims start Hajj pilgrimage in MeccaThe annual Muslim religious pilgrimage is slowly returning to its pre-pandemic number of attendees.
- Biden struggles to define agenda ahead of visit to Saudi ArabiaUS president says Arab normalisation with Israel and other regional issues are driving his upcoming trip to the kingdom.
- Australia offers 4th COVID shot as subvariants fuel new waveAuthorities expand rollout of COVID booster shots to people aged 30 and above as hospitalisations rise.
- Two hours and eight years: Palestinian families split by IsraelThousands of Palestinian families are split between the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip due to Israeli policies.
- Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 134As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 134th day, we take a look at the main developments.
- Russia’s Lavrov at G20 summit set to be dominated by Ukraine warBali meeting will see first face-to-face meeting between Russia's top diplomat and some of Moscow's biggest critics.
Global Voices
- Central Asia rushes into armed drone race as regional arms transfers brewCentral Asia’s search for military drones started long before the Russian-Ukrainian war, and was shaped by the imminent rise of military drones and Russia’s gradual lag in advanced military technologies.
- “Roosyan Klassiks”: An interview with Slovak writer Daniel Majling on Russia's cult authors and the current cancel cultureSlovakian writer Daniel Majling unpacks the notion of cancel culture in regard to Russian literature, and shares his views on the danger of ethnocentrism in this debate in this interview.
- How Nigeria confronts the persistent practice of Female Genital Mutilation: An interview with Dr. Chris UgwuFGM causes excruciating pains, infections, excessive bleeding, urinary incontinence, complications in childbirth, trauma, and even death. The highest FGM prevalence rates are found in southwest and southeast Nigeria.
- Disinformation 2.0: Should we bring the notion of propaganda back into public discourse? Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the unintentional spread of disinformation added a burden on health services when the rise of conspiracies was evident beyond the anti-vaccination movement.
- Indonesia's Covid tracker app PeduliLindungi: To care for and protect?As PeduliLindungi and the government continue to fumble in its operations, one needs to ask: Is PeduliLindungi really caring for and protecting the Indonesian public?
- China: Possible police database breach exposes at least 1 billion citizens’ personal data"...the data breach is a fresh new case of a dictator’s dilemma: the more you concentrate, the more you lose control."
- The Gambia launches digital immunization registryThis novel intervention employed a novel hybrid paper-digital solution that collects, shares, stores and distributes data for the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) using Smart Paper Technology.
- Russian and Serbian officials continue to deny the Račak/Reçak MassacreRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik that was broadcast by Serbian media outlets, has denied the 1999 Račak/Reçak massacre in Kosovo.
- Iran’s latest surge in executions heavily targets Baloch minority 'Data gathered by Iran Human Rights shows that Baluch prisoners accounted for 21 percent of all executions in 2021, while only representing 2–6 percent of Iran's population'
- Sidhu Moosewala: A prodigious life cut short but it’s not the endThe news of the untimely death of the Indian Punjabi rapper, songwriter, and actor Sidhu Moosewala (Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu) was a shock to the global Punjabi community.
- Will Ukraine walk through EU's doorstep as “slow as a tortoise” like Albania and North Macedonia?Ukraine at war with Russia, is now an official candidate country to join the EU. But will it have to wait for a long time, like Albania and North Macedonia?
Bahá’í World News
- Global Conferences: Worldwide conferences have inspired hope, say societal leadersOfficials and other leaders are expressing appreciation for how the conferences have infused communities with a heightened consciousness of humanity’s oneness.
- Azerbaijan: Bahá’í principle of unity inspires national conference on coexistenceThe first national conference on coexistence in Azerbaijan was inspired by discussions about the Bahá’í principle of unity in diversity just days before to the event.
- BIC New York: Recasting humanity’s relationship with natural worldReleased on the occasion of Stockholm+50, the BIC explores root causes of escalating environmental breakdown and highlights principles and proposals for action.
- Tunisia: TV interview explores constructive role of religion in societyA representative of Bahá’ís of Tunisia draws on the experience of the Bahá’ís of that country to explore the concept of religion as a force for social progress.
- “Family a seedbed for change”: Fostering a new culture of equality in IndiaThe Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs of India shares insights and ideas relevant to the national discourse on the equality of women and men.
- “We are all one family”: Religious leaders highlight moral education as foundation for peaceReligious leaders and government officials gather to discuss collective efforts toward fostering peace, amity, and concord.
- “Radiating peace and hope”: Bahá’í temple in Panama marks 50th anniversaryGovernment officials and leaders of diverse faith communities reflect on the unifying role of the Bahá’í House of Worship in Panama over the past fifty years.
- BIC: Promoting principle of oneness in African-European partnershipThe Brussels and Addis Ababa Offices of the BIC release joint statement to EU leaders, calling for recognition of the principle of oneness in AE-EU partnership.
- Global Conferences: Grassroots gatherings imbue communities with sense of common purposeGatherings in diverse settings inspire consultations about fostering vibrant communities based on the Baháʼí Faith’s vision of a peaceful world
Notes from An Alien 
I think a lot of our ideas come from our surroundings. Real life with a twist. I think we do borrow from others. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you read and like a vampire story you try and write your own… end of the world stories are very common. I am attempting to write one of those.
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Hi, Gwen!
Yes, we do borrow lots of what we write, some from conscious sources, some from little-known sources…
I imagine writing within a specific genre presents a unique challenge–the balance of the borrowings with the creative use of what’s borrowed.
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There are so many sub-genres in Mysteries, that it’s easy to borrow a little of the structure, or formula from each. In real life, different disciplines have tried to break human characteristics into stereotypical descriptions, but my characters are inspired by people I know, and I don’t think I could fit them into any one category. They’re unique to me.
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It’s great you know the kind of people who can inspire your character creation…
As far as stereotypical people, they only exist if the person, for whatever reasons, refuses to develop their God-given individuality. I think this applies to all people, fictional and real…
As far as stereotypical human characteristics, these, beyond what could be termed our common humanity, are the shabby clothes worn by worn-out people…
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I’m betting on the bookie, too! I can’t claim any ‘bright’ ideas, but many of my ideas come to me through a quirky view of the way the world works.
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“…many of my ideas come to me through a quirky view of the way the world works.”
Oh, my, do, please, expand on that sentence!!!
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Kind of like today when the water man came to turn my water off. I forgot to pay again. I went running outside with the money for him. On the way I thought it’d be funny to yell, “Hey you! Get off my land!” And throw snowballs at him. Luckily he knows me so he just laughed when I said that and volleyed a few of his own snowballs back at me.
That’s an example of how my ideas come to me. What I mean by this example is I like to take a rather stressful situation from real life, then in a story turn it into something different.
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So, did the snowball fight really happen? :-)
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Of course. Grown people don’t usually have snowball fights on a whim so that would be ludicrous if it weren’t true. The water man was just reading my meter though. I **thought** he was coming to shut off my water when I saw him headed my way. That’s why I ran out with the money. In a way, that’s what you were saying about knights running out of dragons to fight. I imagined I saw a dragon which gave me an idea!
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Thanks for the clarification, Simone :-)
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Alexander, I absolutely love this post! I believe in the Collective Unconscious if only I knew how it functioned. I get many of my ideas in dreams. I guess that is my collective unconscious at work. Sometimes ideas just pop into my head without anything prompting them. Later when i try to think of how I got the idea no logical answer. Nothing I had watched on TV, read or the people I’ve observed make sense as influences. I am convinced that some ideas are divinely given and I have found those to be the most powerful story ideas.
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Haley,
You’re the person who suggested the idea to me :-)
I’ve studied Jung for years and have taken pains to do what he called Active Imagination; mostly to bring my Muse to a higher level of conscious apprehension. Still, any conscious “understanding” of the actual working of the Collective Unconscious is, at best, mere reflections cast on the actions we take because of the glimpses our conscious mind can grasp…
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Hmm this topic really interests me. I will have to study Jung’s Active Imagination myself. I like the idea of bringing my Muse to a higher level of conscious apprehension. Clio and I have our issues. Maybe that would help our relationship :)
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Get ready for a Wild Ride!!! And, read all the Jung you can…
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Are you sure Alexander? I agree everyone should read Jung, but did he really get it? Did he ever create anything? Can a non-artist understand imagination of the artist? I believe I learned a lot more about the imagination from reading the personal correspondence of William Blake than I did Jung. And a lot of other writings by artists, as well.
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I’ve never read the personal correspondence of Blake, Simone. I might agree with you if I ever do…
I feel Jung created the only form of psychology that freely admits the human spirit into its structure. Plus, I’ve actually done the things Jung suggests and they’ve helped me with my creativity…
Interesting how two writers can find their elixirs in quite different wells, eh?
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Well, Simone, I will have to make time to read the personal correspondence of William Blake too. You made a good point– a non-artist cannot truly understand the imagination of an artist. However, I’m sure I’ll learn from both Jung and Blake.
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I couldn’t help it, Simone and Haley, I had to go find a quote by Jung about artists. From my study of his life, I know he had an artistic side but he was so very busy with his patients that most of his obvious artistic work was focused on the architecture of his house. Still, being a psychotherapist could be considered an art, eh? Anyway, here’s that quote I found:
“The biographies of great artists make it abundantly clear that the creative urge is often so imperious that it battens on their humanity and yokes everything to the service of the work, even at the cost of health and ordinary human happiness. The unborn work in the psyche of the artist is a force of nature that achieves its end either with tyrannical might or with the subtle cunning of nature herself, quite regardless of the personal fate of the man who is its vehicle.”
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I think I was reading Blake’s correspondence at the Library of Congress during my intern years, but Project Gutenberg has an great free ebook: William Blake a Study of his life and work that does a good analysis of his view of his imagination and how he lived his life in it.
You’re right to say our elixirs are different, Alexander. I’m glad Jung was helpful to you. With the quote though it seems we are victims that need help in some way. I’ll admit I haven’t read Jung since 1990, my how time flies, but in this quote a bio is a secondary source to a great artist’s life. Was Jung saying this so others could see his personal experience with artists? Or did he draw his conclusions from reading artists’ biographies? Feel free to analyze my elixir if you get a chance to read about Blake :-)
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Oh, my, Simone. I sure hope this response doesn’t sound like I’m arguing with you. Critical conversation or even friendly jousting with ideas are great but I abhor arguments. And, even if I liked to argue, I couldn’t now since you wrote about my book offer in your blog :-)
First, I will honestly try to read Blake but my days are now very full of all I must do to properly promote my book before publication. Self-publishing means self-promotion and lots of other self-stuff…
I can see how the mention of biographies could make you think Jung was somehow “outside” the artistic experience, yet my remembrance of his artistic activity in my last response in this thread was irremembered <if that's not a real word, it should be).
I searched a bit more and found this site that has this quote: “Jung himself painted and sculpted his dreams and visions so that he could better understand them.”
I hope I can rearrange my thinking about my schedule and get to reading Blake. Till then, here’s a possibly friendlier quote from Jung on art:
“Therein lies the social significance of art: It is constantly at work educating the spirit of the age, conjuring up the forms in which the age is more lacking. The unsatisfied yearning of the artist reaches back to the primordial image in the unconscious, which is best fitted to compensate the inadequacy and one-sidedness of the present. The artist seizes on this image and, in raising it from deepest unconsciousness, he brings it into relation with conscious values, thereby transforming it until it can be accepted by the minds of his contemporaries according to their powers.”
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There are so many levels to any given question that it seems to me to be somewhat simplistic to goad a writer into revealing where he got the material for his work, especially some particular work he has written. When it comes down to it, it certainly is evident that with many great writers, in fact some of the greatest writers of all time who were so great at what they did that the language underwent a massive change, revolution, evolution, even a transformation such that they are recognized as the “Father” of this or that stage of development of the language in which they wrote were not, at the same time, innovators when it came to content. Generally speaking, often it is acknowledged that with Chaucer came the swift acknowledgement from about the end of the 14th Century of the transition between the Anglo-Saxon, or “Old English” versions of the Germanic language we call English to what became Middle English; we associate the same sort of transformation with the effects of the works of William Shakespeare. Chaucer is at times called the “Father of Middle English” while Shakespeare is credited more often than not with being the “Father of Modern English.” Neither were original in the content of their work as both “borrowed” their plots and characters from earlier works and historians. What made their particular works of monumental importance was the evident ability that both of them had to recreate formerly known classical narrations from earlier times but in a manner that called attention to the crafting of the dialogue and narration that was in and of itself superior to the originals from which they “stole” their material. How’re you going to keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paris? Once exposed to Chaucer (apparently, considering the almost instant positive reaction of the English to Canterbury Tales there was not going back; once exposed to Shakespeare’s peculiar expression using his own dialect of English, not to mention his minting of some 1,800 words that are still in use today, Shakespeare’s dialect and vocabulary rapidly became the standard or model for what we refer to as “Modern English” beginning around 1550, especially as it coincided with the end of civil wars in England with the reigns of all the Tudors and most especially after the defeat of the Spanish Armada 1588 that secured ascendency of the English Kingdom among the super powers of the entire period of the Renaissance in Europe. At any rate, the idea of originality so far as content is concerned is beside the point with the greatest writers of all time, the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, Virgil, Homer, et cetera.
These writers could get away with this because clearly, they understood and comprehended their language in a manner that engaged their peoples in an unforgettable manner and in such a way that a kind of avalanche of change came to pass because they were in fact artists, not artisans; their respective experience in the observation of life and captured within the “tale” that each of them told through sheer magnitude of intimate intercourse with their respective peoples and periods, matched by the advent of similar fortunes in the history of their homelands at the time of their writing married the effect of greatness in their art spent and given bent almost by accident because they did what they did at a time of change whose time had come.
There is more to this, of course, than what I have cited here, but having said this, still your comments on the possibilities of original content as having everything and little to do with plagiarism are well grounded; originality in content rarely has to do with any work of art’s success.
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I’m posting this comment as the next blog post………
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My ideas come from my own life experiences – nothing else. It could be due to the fact that I’m kind of a ‘lazy reader.’ I like to write, but I’m not so big on reading….
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Shaina,
That’s for coming over from Facebook to share your comment with my readers :-)
I certainly understand your need to write much more than you read. And, even though a few big-name writers say that one has to read widely if one wants to write, I feel the writing act itself is a form of reading.
You read your life, the outside and the inside, and you write about it.
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I encourage everyone to read Shaina’s blog !!!
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I also hope you don’t take my questioning as argument. I’ll admit I enjoy a debate if the aim is to learn. It’s difficult enough to do that face to face, but even more difficult in the virtual world. I’ve been clicking madly on my ‘read subscriptions’ button as I await your promised post. ;-)
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I’m super interested in what you think of my friend’s comment in my new post…
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My ideas usually come from my fascination with the quirks of the human mind and with how societies impact on their thinking and their lives. Psychology and science fiction combined. Nothing mysterious about muses or collective unconscious.
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Welcome to the blog, Catana!
I’d love to hear more about, “Psychology and science fiction combined.”………
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Hey, folks!
Go visit Catana’s blog :-)
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Oh dear. Now I’ll actually have to think about it. A prompt for another blog post, it seems.
And thanks for the welcome — and for the friendly pointer in my direction.
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Looking forward to that post :-)
Some folks say my WIP is science fiction but I think it’s Speculative History/Biography…
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Dear Alexander,
Thank you for writing about how the writers come up with ideas for stories. I have tried to apply that to the painters too – to check out my personal creative work and was greatly enriched ultimately. It was good to comprehend the essence of my being more consciously than I was used see it. While the writers and the visual artists remained the identical twins, some differences became the obvious too. I never need any idea to start my canvas. As I take my paintbrush, I need just to open my eyes. The creativity starts later, with the need to respond to the caught symbols with personal being. Then the painters look around too and thus become the artists.
The experience of the light’s omnipresence awakes out of itself, we need the prompts just to guide the way we are breathing.
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Thank you for your comment, Tomas.
If anyone could see the commonalities between writers and painters, it would be you :-)
What a totally beautiful thing you’ve written: “The experience of the light’s omnipresence awakes out of itself…”
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Archetypes- I am learning about this now. What a great reading, and learning experience. I joined good reads too. :) I have to ponder all of the wonderful conversations on this comment section. Just wanted you to know I was visiting today and will be back!
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Glad you visited, Jackie :-) Very glad you’ll be back!!
I’m also glad we’re friends at GoodReads…
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