You Can Say, or Write, Anything You Want
Not only is it possible to write any combination of words and create a sentence that has never been written or spoken before — such as "The palimpsest corrugated cartwheel, deranged by meaning, catapulted precipitously in the sunset light towards my dreaming dulcimer, delighted by the crowded confetti of considerable participants interested.¹" (1) — but you can write anywhere, anytime: in a jail cell while being denied writing materials (it has been done!²); on a scrap of old paper, a piece of toilet paper or napkin, or in the edges of an old book; you could scratch on the wall or on the bed frame; and barring that, write within your mind. One could be thrown in a dungeon and still write.
Prove it to yourself, if you dare: write a new sentence right now, in your head...
You Have What It Takes
Now, you might say, "That's just you — you have a special talent and love for it" (as I have heard people say about me: “you can go direct from brain to paper” — fair enough, but…) That is true, up to a point. But is it really "just me"? No — it's you too. You have the power.
It takes no special talent to simply write, to simply be, create, and put one word after another (assuming you learned to talk and write — and if you are reading this right now, that is a pretty fair assumption).
Freedom has no pedigree and no requirements, and needs no justification. While I may have had a particular path, or more practice at the "craft," I am not special in this. Everyone has some ability — and it’s not about how "good" you are.
The Value Is Unknown, but Real
Who is to say what value your expressions have? You may not want to share them — if they are, for example, therapeutic rantings, "brain dumps," or inner meditations too subjective to communicate — and they may not be worth sharing in every context. But that is beside the point. It is simply liberating to express oneself through this "channel."
Writing Is Listening
Writing is listening.
When at its best, the writing process is a listening: to a silent thought emerging from our deepest self. This is how poetry, great fiction, and philosophy emerge — or even simply highly meaningful memoirs. Even when merely listening to the mind’s deranged ramblings, it’s given a voice — so it's brought out and seen by awareness... and indeed, choices can be made about who or what to listen to.
Writing Is a Unique Power
Writing is a unique form. Was the Magna Carta³ made with just images or pictures? The Declaration of Independence? Images have their power too, but words are special — and their power goes far beyond being a set of rules and tokens agreed upon in the past. Words are infinite, fluid, and flexible. They can stand for something far more than pictures ever could. How would one, for example, make a picture that clearly communicated the concept of "freedom" if we did not have words for it first, and the ability to "reach inside" another, and share that meaning? Somehow, we are able to know, in a very subtle yet direct way, what is behind that set of sounds we call words.
Writing Is Fun
In any case, writing is a fun, joyful activity; writing is love (or can be...), and love is power.
Liberation Is As Close As Your Pen
Freedom is a word away. One thought away. So please do it — in whatever form writings take — from tappings on a phone, to wild scribblings on a napkin of one's latest greatest fever-dream of an idea — from a place of freedom, guilt-free, yet aware of its "charge" and power — and without judging yourself, or what its usefulness is. You never know...
Footnotes:
Or, as Stephen Fry said in “Language Conversation”:
"Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers."
— from A Bit of Fry & Laurie (link)Notes from the Gallows (also published as Report from the Gallows) is a collection of notes written by the anti-Nazi communist journalist Julius Fučík, originally on pieces of cigarette paper, while imprisoned by the Gestapo in the Pankrác district of Prague in 1942.
Wikipedia linkThe Magna Carta, also known as the "Great Charter of Freedoms."
Wikipedia link
P.S. Stay tuned for more on how AI and philosophy shape our creative future.