An Open Space

For anyone reading this, I greatly encourage you to respond. I enjoy seeing what other people will say, how they view life, overall and specifically, in regards to various ideas and situations. I decided I'd like to try starting a thread based on nothing other than honest answers. This is about instinct and the direction thoughts take in different individuals.

I'm going to think of an idea off the top of my head and I'd like whoever reads this to reply with whatever the idea made them think of. Try not to reply with "I don't know", "Nothing, really", etc. It can be brief or detailed, but it should definitely be honest. Just tell me how whatever I say makes you feel, or what it means to you, or what it reminds you of.

I have two specific ideas for your discussion: the first is "walls"; the second is your thoughts on this topic, "An Open Space".

Anything else you'd like to add, feel free to. This is an open space for the expression of subjectively related ideas.

I don't know what the phrase "subjectively related ideas" means. Typically, this would make me feel uncomfortable and "less than", but for some reason, right now it does not. I don't even feel the compulsion to Google it until I reach a Journeyman-level understanding of it, like I usually do with unfamiliar things. This is odd for me. So, um, what exactly are subjectively related ideas?

I'll give my response anyway, before knowing exactly what they are. Actually, I'll give two versions.

The first thing I thought of is a combination of "walls" and "open space". I see (from first-person view AND from third-person) two white walls made of polished granite blocks. They are about one and one-half times my height. I can see the sky. They are not parallel like a hallway. They are at an angle, and would meet in front of me, like a long, irregular triangle. behind me, they extend indefinitely. The wall on the right is longer than the wall on the left, and instead of meeting, they create an opening, kind of like a doorway. These walls are the only structure in a field. I can see evergreens on the left and right edges of the field. The grass is a greenish yellow. There are no trees in front of me. The field slopes up from where I'm standing. The sky is a cloudy gray, but white over the horizon (or the crest of the hill, I don't know, it slopes gradually). It is not warm but also not cold. It will rain, but not sadly. The grass needs water. There is no one and nothing in the field except for probably some silent bugs and I am not afraid. There is barely any wind. I like it here.

The second thing I thought of is the background on my phone. It shows a gray/white hallway that looks like the outer layer of an onion: it's near the outer layer of a sphere. (It doesn't actually have to do with a vegetable.) It makes a curve, and I don't know what's behind the curve. It's an unending curve, though. The wall is high and I can't see over top of it. When I look at the photo, I think of hiding quietly in a neverending maze, taking soft footsteps. For some reason, I am never hungry.

The third thing is the open space. It's the same field as in the first one. But I am exposed. Kids and adults are laughing, but I can't see them. The laughter and conversations are close to me but seem distant. The clouds strike shadows/fog instead of lightning, silently. I see them out of the corners of my eyes, but they disappear before I can get a good look at them. They are behind me and to the sides, flanking me. Their only intention is to scare me. But I still feel trapped. I don't know which way I should walk. "It will be wrong," say the shadows. I feel like I'm falling straight down. The dry grass hurts my feet, even through the thick soles of my boots. The colors and edges sharpen and soften a few times as I breathe. Then they blur into a muddy gray. I sit, uncomfortably bent over, slightly in front of a corner of nothingness--if that's even possible. There are whispers all around me, white noise, the sound of blood pumping through my ears. I am alone, and if I leave the corner I will be completely lost.
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OK, I don't know WHAT the hell I just wrote, but that's what came to mind. I'm completely sober, I've been awake for roughly 18 hours...and that's probably the first time I've ever been able to just write down whatever came to mind. It's kind of freaky to see my train thought all laid out.

Oh well. Your turn, folks.

That's really good. Thank you very much.

To answer your question on "subjectively related ideas", it is just a phrase I created to show that these things don't need to be related by anything other than YOU thinking they are related. For example, a train and train tracks might be objectively related, as would a train and a bus. But for someone, a train and a rock may be be related in some way, but not so much objectively. They are subjective relations because they are only as related as you feel they are.

And I'll also note that your reply doesn't need to be anything like any of the others or it can be quite similar. You can read the response of another and take something from that and write about that, if that feels right. Take whatever you want from anything in this thread and extend. Just say what feels right to you.

P.S. You can reply as many times as you wish, whenever a thought comes to you.

That makes perfect sense, 1234321. Thanks for explaining!

I wonder what my dream sequence-like verbiage actually means. I can sit back and analyze the 3 parts, but I don't understand how they can be so distinct and alike at the same time.

Is it a "good fences make good neighbors" kind of thing?

Walls - I imagine being confined in a room with towering walls, very dark, and alone sitting in the corner of the room

An Open Space - Art. A blank piece of paper, I have the pen so I can create what ever I want. I'm a god

Both cases I'm alone, but I like #2. I control the world.

I feel like walls in the mind are placed so erratically most of the time. Like constructing a city without any planning. Just placing walls here and there, missing windows and doors and having only one, two or three sided rooms in some buildings.

And as for what things really mean: does anything really mean anything?

1234321 wrote:And as for what things really mean: does anything really mean anything?

If you sensed something and it meant absolutely nothing, would you be able to comprehend its' existence? You build associations between 'the something' and how you perceive it, so I think everything means something on a personal level.

Everything means something on a personal level. That's very nice. I like that.

I have something new for you now. Three words.

Courage.

Perception.

Storm.

Walls- I see a room with four walls, and a hardwood floor, and a window on the left wall. A chair, a pencil, a pencil sharpener, pencil shavings, and writing all over the walls.

Open space- An endless field with fierce wind blowing everywhere. There's a lighthouse that shines its light as far as the eye can see. The moon is always outs.

Courage- A.......golden power? I think I played too much Zelda for that one.

Perception- An.....upside down room, with stairs made of mirrors and doors behind doors. Vertical, Horizontal, Diagonal, Inward, Outward, All kinds of ways.

Storm- Greys, flashing whites and blues, swirling raindrops of technicolor being blended by the howling wind, which kinda makes me think of a wolf on a cloud blowing as hard as it can, which makes me think of the 3 little pigs. So storm= 3 little pigs? Nah...