I think the moral of what I'm about to write is that outside of one box is the same thing as inside another box. A "box," the way we use it in this expression, is a conceptual framework. If you think outside a particular conceptual framework, you're automatically reaching into a different one.
So last night in my dream there is this very loving unmarried couple in their mid-30s, white people with straight, dark-brown hair, and they're walking hand-in-hand into a park in or near Los Angeles, California. It's evening.
She tells him she has become a vampire, and would like to make him a vampire too. He's totally in favor of that. Her lips push forward, her jaws elongate, and long, sharp canine teeth grow out of her gums. He takes his shirt off, leans forward, and she nips him on the back, just enough to break the skin. She's not the kind of vampire that needs to drink blood to survive.
He straightens up, his mouth undergoes the same transformation, and he bites her a little too. They disappear into the night holding hands like Batman and Batgirl.
The next evening their friends go looking for them, because they've vanished from home and work. They are flying over Los Angeles in a batplane, like a silent black fighter plane with the cockpit on the underside (because they prefer to sit upside-down). They land near a woman friend. "Where have you been?" "We're vampires now." "Whoa, that can't be a good thing." "Sure it is. Watch this!" And she starts punching him really hard, but because his body is now quite different from what it once was--more supernatural--it doesn't hurt at all, he's just like a totally soft punching bag for her, and he's standing there on the wing of the plane with a huge smile on his face!
Now, what does this have to do with the theme? The fictional characters in my dream went outside the box of the human and into another conceptual framework, which makes no sense from the perspective of their friend, but makes perfect sense from theirs.
August 8, 2007 3:19 PM
Rain said...
Putting my thoughts into this box are the only way they will get posted... a limitation right at the start.
Basically I believe all innovation comes from those who are willing and able to think outside the box. Sometimes they say one generation has to die before something can really take over and grow as people become so defensive of what always was.
As is the case with so many things, I believe a society needs both those who think outside and inside the box. Some develop what has already been done or figured out but others look and think but why not-- this? That totally blows the minds of those who have spent years developing something and then along comes a johnny come lately who suggests it was for nothing. Well it wasn't really for nothing. It was the foundation but from that, the idea can go anywhere that it is physically possible.
So being a typical Libra, I think it's important for a culture to have both types-- those inside the box and those who can go outside.
August 7, 2007 10:16 PM
O.K.
August 8, 2007 3:40 PM
Natalie d'Arbeloff said...
Dave, never mind abstract. Think concrete!
August 7, 2007 3:39 AM
Dave said...
I'm still pondering the question of identity. I don't do very much abstract thinking any more - I burnt out on it during my first two years of blogging, I think.
August 7, 2007 1:46 AM
Natalie d'Arbeloff said...
Dave, yes it was/is a great conversation - why not join in? I'm sure you have an interesting take on the subject.
Towanda, I agree it's not an either/or situation. I'm just putting the challenge out to see what people will come up with.
August 6, 2007 11:29 PM
Towanda said...
August 6, 2007 11:20 PM
Dave said...
What a great conversation!
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