Creating something unique
To create is to make something different.
Speaking, for example, is a creative process. Writing is also a creative process. Words come out of my mouth or pen and you know that I am not repeating myself. This word “myself” is not the same as the last word “repeating”. If I spoke for two minutes and ask you to tell me what you just heard, chances are you would be paraphrasing the ideas instead of reciting it. No two eggs are the same, even if they are drawn by the same person.
What makes something different? Categories in our head.
Are we the same? I am of one ethnicity, you another. I speak one language, you another. He works in architecture; I work as a salesman. You like shrimps; I am allergic to it.
Are we not the same? You do what is necessary to keep your physical body alive, I do what is necessary to keep my physical body alive. You feel pain, I feel pain. You get disturbed by unpleasant ideas; I get disturbed by unpleasant ideas. Our reactions towards pain and unpleasant ideas may be different, but it is something that we share in common.
If you look closely, categorical boundaries are arbitrary. Yes, they help us understand the world. But still, arbitrary.
Boundaries between categories, however, can be blurry.
Thoughts arise. When I think with a keyboard, my thoughts slow down while I organize them on screen. I read and evaluate my thoughts. I examine where they come from.
Why is thought A followed by thought B and not thought C? What is the boundary between thought A, B and C? Sentences? Words? Are thoughts then countable?
Or do the thoughts form a streamline of ideas that we break down into separate ideas because arbitrarily we decide that things would make the most sense that way?
I am sure scientists or philosophers have answers for these questions, but if I read what they say, and write down on the side what I think about what they say, how much of that which I have written down are my actual thoughts? Or are they secondhand thoughts passed down for generations? What makes my thought mine, and your thought yours?
How do we make boundaries not so blurry? By naming them.
We give a name to one thing and a different name to another but in essence we could be talking about the same exact thing. Burgers and sandwiches. Soup and ice-cream. Fear and hope.
Writing is a naming process. We give different names to our thoughts and emotions. I’d like to think there is a small chance that we may be creating the same thing in different corners of the world. But because we are in such distant corners of the world, what you create is solely unique to your surroundings. That uniqueness may just be the reason to create.