Logo of the Museum of Vestigial Desire
The Museum of Vestigial Desire

Fabric

Ideas are of many types.

Some ideas are concepts. Concepts are entities at the scale of a building (architecturally speaking). They contain smaller entities called rooms. Rooms can still be divided further — and even the smaller entities are called rooms. So each concept is a building, a building that contains smaller rooms within it. Such conceptual ideas are independent structures. If you picturize them on a map, they would touch the earth and soar into the sky. This earth to sky range is very special. Based on this logic, in urban areas some more analogies can be made. Apartment buildings are concepts of a kind, but with a different level of magnification. Each flat within an apartment building can also be classified as a concept. Because behind each closed door of an apartment building, a new unit can be delineated. Every time a new unit can be delineated, its a new sub-concept.

Some ideas are not concepts. Ideas which are not concepts have dependencies on other ideas. To go back to our earlier analogy, ideas which are not concepts are neither apartment buildings nor flats. Maybe, a hostel building is more akin to a concept. The individual rooms in a hostel all are linked to each other by the semantics of function and also by the semantics of hierarchy that exists among the students. Some students are elected representatives and some are not. Some students are figureheads and some are not. This is more akin to a patterned fabric. A fabric which can be zoomed in and out of. Through this magnifying activity —fabric holds patterns together when it is zoomed out and holds patterns apart when it is zoomed in. ‘Unity in diversity’ is the catchphrase. The motifs which are the common and the motifs which inshrine the difference.

So we have come upon three entities now.

  1. Ideas which are concepts.
  2. Ideas which are not concepts.
  3. Fabrics which can hold the two together.

Patterned fabric creates abstractions. These abstractions holds all kinds of ideas together. Ideas which are concepts as well as ideas that are not concepts. This holding together and holding apart need to be understood here. When patterns of lines and dots are zoomed into, pure abstractions emerge. These abstractions are spatial with dots and lines floating about. Concepts and non-concepts when magnified startle us as their components are so primary and end up forming new abstract forms as well.

When different nebulous ideas combine together, something flares up by the benefit of the connection. The sparking up because of the combination of these nebulous ideas is particularly wondrous. Things come together which were never imagined together. This act of creation is truly to be pored deep into. What sense does it make? Patterns which appear to be composed only at a particular scale; recombine in the form of abstractions at different scales. These abstractions are precious. What do they mean if anything? Meaning? Nothing at all. Meaning is overrated. When none is apparent, gibberish is the only option.

What?

Ideas sometimes occur in two heads at the same time. How does this happen? And more importantly why does this happen? Before ideas are born there is smoke and ashes in the air. The idea is born after bits of it are already in the air. This prefaces the idea in a rather interesting manner. In two states rather than one. This also means that we are able to resonate with the idea in multiple ways. If the idea is corrosive, it will take a toll on us. We will no longer be the person we were before…

How will the story unwind?

Ideas float around in the air. There is no reason to know how to implement the idea just because you got access to the idea itself. A million different ways exist for implementing each idea that you come across. But which of these ways are going to be yours. That is the question. With so many options, actors need to constantly be alert and vigilant. They cannot afford to make mistakes. So besides access, actors also need a schematic of the future. Which action will lead to which consequence?…

How do stories capture the mental state?

How do stories capture the mental state? Stories sometimes originate with specific ideas. But most times they just combine with other ideas of similar character and make a nice mixed-up entity. This mixed-up entity very closely resembles a fable or a myth and very few know what they mean. In fact because very few know what this mixed-up entity means, they are deemed similar to a myth or a fable. Dealing with this overall blurred entity casts a sharp filter onto all our actions. Deluded by this…