05/30/2010: "Nine to Twelve Feet Long!"

Years ago I completed the strengths finder profile by the people at Gallup. At the top of my list was the strength of INPUT. Here is the description that followed.

"You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information -- words, facts, books, and quotations -- or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity."

I think they hit the nail on the head with this one. My desk, drawers and disk drives overflow with words, facts, books, quotations, photographs, and impressions I have collected around the world. They're a continual source of inspiration, insight and amusement to me and ensure that I'm never bored.

This morning I picked up Natalie Goldberg's book Wild Mind from my collection and took it into the jacuzzi with me. Here's the piece that stood out for me.

"After I finished the novel, I flew to La Paz, Mexico, and got on a boat for a week to follow the blue whales. They are the biggest animals that ever lived. Their hearts are the size of a Volkswagen bug. They weigh a hundred tons. An average elephant weights six tons. Their penises are nine to twelve feet long.

After the marine biologist gave a lecture one night on the boat, I was quiet and then raised my hand. "You mean, they swim all their lives?" I said in wonder. People around me laughed. I asked such an obvious question. They didn't understand that I wanted to intuit the dream, called life, of a whale."

Natalie preaches the gospel of detail in writing. Her description of the whale is classic Goldberg. She begins with the very specific details of the blue whale and uses these details to evoke the universal human longing for oneness and connection. She does this by sharing her personal quest as a writer, to capture the ineffable in words strong enough to evoke the essence of the original moment when they are read.

I felt what she felt when I read what she had written. But what sticks in my memory is the measurement. Nine feet to twelve feet. That just blows my mind.

Three morals in this story:

1. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity.
2. In order to make a real connection, you have to pay attention to the details that make the other unique.
3. Like the blue whale, we swim all our lives.

Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene

p.s. Strengths Finder www.strengthsfinder.com

Replies: 1 Comment

on Friday, June 4th, themindblowngoddessofallthingsunseen said

glad you are back at it. I have missed you...going out to buy some yellow socks now, kd