Channel: Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Category: Entertainment

Tags: nostalgiainkblotthe pastjohn koenigartmemoryregretdictionaryofobscuresorrowsphilosophyawedictionary of obscure sorrowspsychologyfreudshots of awecreativity

Description: THE BOOK IS HERE, with hundreds of new definitions: bit.ly/3z1RYvH Available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook, read by the author. Your life is written in indelible ink. There's no going back to erase the past, tweak your mistakes, or fill in missed opportunities. When the moment’s over, your fate is sealed. But if look closer, you notice the ink never really dries on any our experiences. They can change their meaning the longer you look at them. THE DICTIONARY OF OBSCURE SORROWS dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig. Each original definition aims to fill a hole in the language—to give a name to emotions we all might experience but don’t yet have a word for. Follow the project, give feedback, suggest an emotion you need a word for, or just tell me about your day. Email the author: obscuresorrows@gmail.com Facebook facebook.com/pages/The-Dictionary-of-Obscure-Sorrows/137197489655526 Twitter @ObscureSorrows twitter.com/obscuresorrows ETYMOLOGY From German klecksography, the art of making images from inkblots, famously used in Rorschach psychoanalytic tests. Interpreting their ambiguity is thought to illuminate the subconscious of the patient. WHAT IS THAT SONG? "Haunted Hinterland" by Adam Paul Courtenay Burns, Jez Burnes and Christopher Mark Salt MAKING OF I created these images the old fashioned way, by taking stock footage of paint drips hitting canvas and flipping and rotating them to make figures and animations. Most images I stumbled upon accidentally while playing around, like the cover of this video, which depicts two friends in top hats toasting beers at a crowded bar. Or at least that's what I see. Making this video was incredibly satisfying. Creatively stimulating in a very simple way. I'd actually recommend inkblot art as a kind of anti-depressant. Possibly more so than actual psychoanalysis. TRANSCRIPT Your life is written in indelible ink. There's no going back to erase the past, tweak your mistakes, or fill in missed opportunities. When the moment's over, your fate is sealed. But if look closer, you notice the ink never really dries on any our experiences. They can change their meaning the longer you look at them. Klexos. There are ways of thinking about the past that aren't just nostalgia or regret. A kind of questioning that enriches an experience after the fact. To dwell on the past is to allow fresh context to trickle in over the years, and fill out the picture; to keep the memory alive, and not just as a caricature of itself. So you can look fairly at a painful experience, and call it by its name. Time is the most powerful force in the universe. It can turn a giant into someone utterly human, just trying to make their way through. Or tell you how you really felt about someone, even if you couldn't at the time. It can put your childhood dreams in context with adult burdens or turn a universal consensus into an embarrassing fad. It can expose cracks in a relationship that once seemed perfect. Or keep a friendship going by thoughts alone, even if you'll never see them again. It can flip your greatest shame into the source of your greatest power, or turn a jolt of pride into something petty, done for the wrong reasons, or make what felt like the end of the world look like a natural part of life. The past is still mostly a blank page, so we may be doomed to repeat it. But it's still worth looking into if it brings you closer to the truth. Maybe it's not so bad to dwell in the past, and muddle in the memories, to stem the simplification of time, and put some craft back into it. Maybe we should think of memory itself as an art form, in which the real work begins as soon as the paint hits the canvas. And remember that a work of art is never finished, only abandoned.