My thoughts on jinn, observation, imagination, and dreams
Many thanks to those of you were able to attend my Reddit AMA live. For those who were unable to attend, I’ll be sharing a selection of questions and answers over the next couple of weeks. To view the entire AMA, please click the above link.
Q. Let’s say you pissed off a Jinn. Big-time. He says: “I intend to punish you. But before I do, I’ll let you choose who or what you are going to be next. You can be anyone or anything except you.” Who or what would you choose to be?
A. I’d want to be transformed as a man on a journey with a magic ring on his finger. The ring can’t create wealth of any kind, but can lead to fabulous adventure.
Q. Are there any things one can do by one self that would help one to concentrate and observe better or can that only be helped with special training?
A. I think it’s a question of learning to focus in a new way. I’m so against the kind of instruction we all had in school because I think it kills the default settings in us.
I often sit in a cafe — say here in India — and will not allow myself to get up until I have appreciated something obvious in a new way. It’s a kind of game. It takes retuning, but it’s surprisingly easy.
Q. How is one to tell if one’s imagination is not running away with one?
A. I love imagination and attuning myself to it. Again, listen to your gut and don’t allow your programmed mind to take control. Look for the default setting within you.
Q. When you are engulfed in one of your projects, do you also dream about it?… What i mean is, do dreams, sometimes, show you solutions to problems at hand?
A. I am obsessive and it’s a mixed blessing. It gives me huge energy and commitment. But, at the same time, it means I’m a bit of a nightmare to live with. Because when I’m working on something, that project is all I can think about. Yes, I certainly dream of what I’m working on. And, I try to go on long walks and allow my subconscious mind to solve the problems and conundrums that always surface. The subconscious is the greatest problem-solving mechanism we have. But we seem to forget that it’s there, waiting for us to ask its help.
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Oh dear! Doing retuning: My cup of tea on the low and small glass table- I like the reflection of a part of the tree out the window in the tabletop better than the little plum tree growing. I’ve always loved glass things very much, from the time I was a little girl. They are my first gift choice for others. Startlingly rich in implications. Backwards and upside down to the world and on and on.
Even imagination tends to be restricted into narrow little channels of what is politically correct and acceptable. And when you get beyond that, and write about things you’re not supposed to, people just look at you strangely and ask what you’re so angry about.
Also, people are very territorial. The American Indians don’t want white people writing about them. American Blacks don’t want whites writing about them. Etc. We’re supposed to stake out little racial territories and not wander off the rez. Well, not me. I’m going to write about whatever I feel like. The world is a big, interesting place, and I intend to address it in my writing.
I’d like to see you do a fantasy, Tahir. You write of the djinn in The Caliph’s House; you could easily do an Arabian Nights-style fantasy with magic, flying horses, religious miracles, etc. That would be fun to read.
About your last paragraph Randal–have you read Scorpion Soup–Tahir did pretty much that in this book of his. I loved it. I took it with me to Mexico to read on an out of the way beach because the setting begins in a secluded cove, palms rustling, hot– and it was as enthralling –that being my 4th reading of Scorpion Soup— as my first reading. When I was at home in the mountains of CO, by the 2nd reading I could remember the individual stories for a day or so after I read them and repeat them– I do not have a good memory. I just kept picking it up and reading it again over about 6 months with a lot of reading between. His nested stories are that enchanted. Scorpion Soup is a terrific read.
You mention; “The subconscious is the greatest problem-solving mechanism we have. But we seem to forget that it’s there, waiting for us to ask its help.”
This call to mind something I read recently, a London based hypnotist wrote some observations on Milton Erickson’s method of therapeutic hypnosis and one take-away realization of Erickson’s main achievement, so to speak, went along the lines of pointing out that “The unconsciousness was benevolent; it was only ever trying to help a person.” Perhaps the same may be said of the subconscious, ultimately it’s benevolent and so too is the imagination.
I wrestle with the realizations of the misuse, however, of the subconscious and the misuse of the imagination, and in a sense their enslavement through certain modes of our schooling and entertainment media, much less than their veritable murder daily in the office cubicle or retail counter.
What you say about long walks resonates with me, there is something almost magical about them, and it is not just the walking but also the surroundings that feels like such a fresh kick to the mind.