Nonsense as a Path
If you walk this way, you’ll see some stuff.
Remember that time in Wonderland when Alice said: “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.” We live in that world. Everything is nonsense. Examples:
Commuting an hour to work on-site and “connect with others”, only to type away at a keyboard with headphones on. In a cozy little work silo. With only an occasional chat about movies or whatev with Ken from accounting.
Having our biases confirmed about everything and ignoring anything factual that challenges those biases. And smiling through it all. With glazed over eyes.
Eating durian fruit when we could be eating perfectly good seedless grapes! Durian? Really?
Warring with other countries to take their resources to pollute the world further to build things that generate more waste to bring all the problems of the world to our phones. So we can read about how the world is on fire every morning.
“Reality” TV. (Imagine two sets of semi-truck sized air quotes there.)
We are made of molecules. Yeah. It’s crazy.
Many other things. You get it.
Embracing nonsense
All of that, is why things like writing fiction, doodling, and dreaming up random worlds to explore are not so nonsensical to me. Tabletop games are another favorite of mine. The thing is truth is stranger than fiction. Still. After all these years of people saying that. That’s why at some point in my growth, I’m guessing around 4th grade, I decided to go all-in on nonsense.
So you’re creative. You want more nonsense in your life. The kind of creative nonsense that might come in handy for your business OR that just might make you a happier person. A few things:
Smile and wave – Especially when someone doesn’t get your art or your stories or that ironically-meta sticker collection you’re working on. You’re you. You’re a bit weird. You’ve probably always been. No one should be surprised.
Focus on your unique perspective – Walking the path of nonsense is about what you can bring to the table. You know, that Mad Hatter tea-party table in Wonderland? Where everything was just bonkers? Being yourself will not make sense to some. That’s the goal.
Have some tea – Speaking of tea parties, meet up with other friends of nonsense. For real or imaginary tea! Discuss how nonsense can be of help to others – children, students and the young at heart. How can nonsense bring a smile or a bit of joy to someone? Then do those things. Collaborate on them. Who knows what might happen.
Reality is nonsense
If true creativity is about the absence of fear, we can be unafraid of having our work labelled as “nonsense”. All our oddities or goofimisims as I like to call them, only serve to make us more unique. What makes us unique grants us freedom. And we can use that freedom to push ourselves and the tools we use to be more creative. I guess it’s like this ecosystem we can make for ourselves.
Kinda makes sense. Right?
–E
