Trying to get at the theme in the beginning of my story.

[Kitty Foyle]

Just as I thought: You merely wanted us to take a gander at your expertise. And why not?

As I say, there's really not much else going on around here, writings-wise.

*_*

P.S. Wow...I just noticed you're now "talking" to somebody who started a thread last May, and who left WN after only three posts. Jena, I do believe you have the right idea.

[Kitty Foyle]

Nobody gave Greg a critique, so I supplied one. .

Actually, yes, some of us did indeed critique Gregg in his earlier threads regarding the same topic; you weren't around then. If you check his posts, you'll see what I mean.

Scroll down to the bottom to read his threads:

http://www.writers.net/forum/search.php?searchid=100310

*_*

[Frank Baron]

I think John's lonely.

[greg winick]

John,

This was placed on a philosophical thread for a reason. The book discusses the concept that people have the ability to label what they perceive to be problems in their life. You say that I am giving untruthful information. Sure people know when they are happy or sad, but observing the source of their feelings is not an easy thing. The story is there to give supporting examples of the concept which is not an easy one to distill. I know this is difficult to show with limited text.

[John Oberon]

John,

This was placed on a philosophical thread for a reason. The book discusses the concept that people have the ability to label what they perceive to be problems in their life. You say that I am giving untruthful information. Sure people know when they are happy or sad, but observing the source of their feelings is not an easy thing. The story is there to give supporting examples of the concept which is not an easy one to distill. I know this is difficult to show with limited text.

"...people have the ability to label what they perceive to be problems in their life." And you wrote a book about that, about the ability of people to recognize problems in their lives. So this book is about this father recognizing that his son's vegetative condition due to an accident is a problem. Alrighty...sounds just a tad obvious to me, but if you think you can stoke some interest in it, have at it. As for me, I think it requires some sort of mental bankrupt not to recognize the problem.

The source of anyone's feelings is themselves. I am the source of any feelings I have. Now, there are catalysts to my feelings, and those may be difficult to observe or undergo.

Greg, I don't think you have a clear understanding of what you want to write about. In my opinion, you should simply tell the story of you and your son; that would compel plenty of readers. Jettison all this attempt at high-brow. You're not a philosopher, or at least you don't appear to possess the acuity, training, and literary precision to write about philosophy. You're a father with a gravely injured son. Write about that. That's your wellspring. Any useful philosophy you want to impart will shine bright and clear through the story of your love for your son.

[greg winick]

Wrong again John.

[greg winick]

Thought and Awareness
First, we have to acknowledge that our thoughts are separate from our being. In other words, there was me and there was my mind.
This is not an easy concept to grasp. If you really think about, there is a duality to your consciousness. You can be aware of a thought that comes into your head as if there was something within you that created the thought and something else in you that is aware of the thought. I was not my thoughts, or as Eckhart Tolle says, “You are not your mind.” My mindmy thoughtswere reflex responses based on past experiences .
That’s not how I saw it, though. If my mind told me I was supposed to do something, I believed it. Of course, we all have ignored our minds on occasion; anyone who has felt like yelling really loud in a library and didn’t do it will agree. But the mind can be tricky. It can make up things about yourself and tell you to believe them. It wants to protect you. It doesn’t want you to get hurt physically or emotionally. That’s why the guy that got turned down the first time he asked a girl out on a date will forever be apprehensive. Every time he thinks about asking a girl out, he will have to either cave in to his fear of rejection, or ignore those thoughts and ask the girl out anyway.
The mind will always try to look out for you. It will tell you not to stand up and speak in front of a large group of people because you might say the wrong thing and get embarrassed. The mind is afraid of getting hurt—its job is to protect you—therefore the mind is more cautious than courageous, more pessimistic than optimistic. If you really look into your own mind, you will see that it tends to focus on more negative thoughts than positive ones.
The mind is also repetitive. It will supply you with more thoughts about a subject or event than necessary. The mind never stops evaluating, judging, trying to solve the problems in your life, and creating stories about every single thing that happens to you. It is a big noise machine in your head that never shuts off. This is provable, because no matter how hard you try, you can almost never stop thinking. You can observe that most of the thoughts in your mind are repetitive and unnecessary.
#
This is a difficult concept to distill, so please forgive my redundancy, but often in telling my tale, I will refer to my mind as one thing of me and my “self” or “I” as another. I know this may sound like I am describing a schizophrenic. To a certain degree, I am. Mental illnesses are really just more pronounced versions of what is normal among human beings.
This duality I am describing exists in everyone. To be absolutely clear, though, when I refer to my mind, I am referring to the mechanism within me that brings forth thoughts, memories, and emotions from my past. My mind also does the job of automatically interpreting everything that happens. These interpretations are what I am calling stories.
The “I,” or self, is the part of me that has the ability to be aware of my thoughts and interpretations. The “I” has the ability to choose my actions. It’s almost like a part of me is a machine and part of me isn’t.

[leslee]

JUST MY OPINION, FEEL FREE TO IGNORE:

"First, we have to acknowledge that our thoughts are separate from our being. In other words, there was me and there was my mind."

Regarding your January 2 post:

Are you under the impression that you are presenting something revelatory here? Because there are a vast number of books, articles, blogs, performances and traveling gurus presenting the same information with greater clarity.

I'm not saying don't write it. But if you're going to write as if you're handing down a new philosophy from on-high, it's too late. This is old news.

If you're trying to say that you just recently discovered it for yourself, through your own personal experience, then connect it to your experience. As you've presented it here, it reads like you just read someone else's book on the subject and are attempting to paraphrase what you've read.

p.s. "This is a difficult concept to distill, so please forgive my redundancy . . ."

How about if you eliminate the redundancy instead of asking the reader to forgive it.

[greg winick]

Most of my book is a narrative of what happened to my family. I never claim to have discovered these ideas for myself, rather I apply these concepts as things occur.

"This book is the story of my life. Therefore, I call it an autobiography. The lessons I offer along the way, however, may dispel some common misperceptions about life. I learned a lot from teachers of motivational psychology, consciousness philosophies, and New Age practices. Not only have I read all the books and taken all the courses, but I have led a life that has forced me more than once to walk the walk of the enlightened individual. Most of the concepts in this book are not mine. I draw on_________ .
Nevertheless, I have added several distinctions for to clarify these existing concepts. This is my modest attempt to share some of the ideas I credit for helping me survive the worst of my ordeals."

[leslee]

I see. Thanks for your response. If you can make it work, more power to you.

(My p.s. stands. Don't ask the reader to overlook anything.)