Saturday, May 26, 2012
Intro to Loci Method or Memory Palaces
Remember, when you get a youtube link, don't click one of the advertised videos on the screen, or you'll get the wrong video. Click the play button at the bottom of the screen on the play bar. The BBC presentation is great:
The Holy Grail of Ordering World Map Loci
Dear Readers:
I'm still looking for my holy grail of the perfect sequence for geographic loci on the map of the world. (To have the faintest idea of what I am talking about, you need to know about the Method of Loci also know as Memory Palaces--look it up on Wikipedia if you need to get filled in on this method.) I am very exited today because I may have found my holy grail of global loci sequencing depending on how people react to it when I ask my beta testers. My new logical scheme is this:
Take a map of the world that has Alaska in the upper left hand corner and Australia in the lower right hand corner. Order the Populated Continents first from Left to Right in columns like this:
1) North America
2) South America
3) Europe
4) Africa
5) Asia
6) Australia
Then break up each continent one by one and order the countries in the same fashion like this with North America:
1) The United States (because Alaska is the Northwestern most location in North America)
2) Canada
3) Mexico
(Ignore Greenland because it is and island and part of Europe politically like Hawaii is part of the United States)
Then break up the United States in the same first on the state level, and then in turn on the county level starting with the boroughs (county equivalents of Alaska). This is how it works for ordering the 50 United States:
Like the 13 Strips on the American Flag, we have 13 Columns within which we can both logically and artistically categorize the 50 United States in order. What do you think?
Pacific Ocean States:
1) Alaska
2) Washington
3) Oregon
4) California
5) Hawaii
States Once Removed to the East
6) Idaho
7) Nevada
8) Arizona
States Twice Removed to the East
9) Montana
10) Wyoming
11) Utah
12) New Mexico
States Thrice Removed to the East
13) North Dakota
14) South Dakota
15) Nebraska
16) Colorado
17) Oklahoma
18) Texas
States Four Times Removed to the East
19) Minnesota
20) Iowa
21) Missouri
22) Kansas
23) Arkansas
24) Louisiana
States Five Times Removed to the East
25) Wisconsin
26) Illinois
27) Kentucky
28) Tennessee
29) Mississippi
States Six Times Removed to the East
30) Michigan
31) Indiana
32) Alabama
States Seven Times Removed to the East
33) Ohio
34) West Virginia
35) Virginia
36) North Carolina
37) Georgia
38) Florida
States Eight Times Removed to the East
39) Pennsylvania
40) Maryland
41) South Carolina
States Nine Times Removed to the East
42) New York
43) New Jersey
44) Delaware
States Ten Times Removed to the East
45) Vermont
46) Massachusetts
47) Connecticut
States Eleven Times Removed to the East
48) New Hampshire
49) Rhode Island
States Twelve Times Removed to the East
50) Maine
PS: I think I may order island nations from largest to smallest... that seems to make the most sense for dealing with islands... except for one problem, if oceans rise the order will change as some may loose more land than others... I could order it based on the highest peaks... but that is probably hard to look up filtering just for islands. hmmm... to be continued for the island nations, but let me know what you think of my continent scheme. Thanks, Sky
I'm still looking for my holy grail of the perfect sequence for geographic loci on the map of the world. (To have the faintest idea of what I am talking about, you need to know about the Method of Loci also know as Memory Palaces--look it up on Wikipedia if you need to get filled in on this method.) I am very exited today because I may have found my holy grail of global loci sequencing depending on how people react to it when I ask my beta testers. My new logical scheme is this:
Take a map of the world that has Alaska in the upper left hand corner and Australia in the lower right hand corner. Order the Populated Continents first from Left to Right in columns like this:
1) North America
2) South America
3) Europe
4) Africa
5) Asia
6) Australia
Then break up each continent one by one and order the countries in the same fashion like this with North America:
1) The United States (because Alaska is the Northwestern most location in North America)
2) Canada
3) Mexico
(Ignore Greenland because it is and island and part of Europe politically like Hawaii is part of the United States)
Then break up the United States in the same first on the state level, and then in turn on the county level starting with the boroughs (county equivalents of Alaska). This is how it works for ordering the 50 United States:
Like the 13 Strips on the American Flag, we have 13 Columns within which we can both logically and artistically categorize the 50 United States in order. What do you think?
Pacific Ocean States:
1) Alaska
2) Washington
3) Oregon
4) California
5) Hawaii
States Once Removed to the East
6) Idaho
7) Nevada
8) Arizona
States Twice Removed to the East
9) Montana
10) Wyoming
11) Utah
12) New Mexico
States Thrice Removed to the East
13) North Dakota
14) South Dakota
15) Nebraska
16) Colorado
17) Oklahoma
18) Texas
States Four Times Removed to the East
19) Minnesota
20) Iowa
21) Missouri
22) Kansas
23) Arkansas
24) Louisiana
States Five Times Removed to the East
25) Wisconsin
26) Illinois
27) Kentucky
28) Tennessee
29) Mississippi
States Six Times Removed to the East
30) Michigan
31) Indiana
32) Alabama
States Seven Times Removed to the East
33) Ohio
34) West Virginia
35) Virginia
36) North Carolina
37) Georgia
38) Florida
States Eight Times Removed to the East
39) Pennsylvania
40) Maryland
41) South Carolina
States Nine Times Removed to the East
42) New York
43) New Jersey
44) Delaware
States Ten Times Removed to the East
45) Vermont
46) Massachusetts
47) Connecticut
States Eleven Times Removed to the East
48) New Hampshire
49) Rhode Island
States Twelve Times Removed to the East
50) Maine
PS: I think I may order island nations from largest to smallest... that seems to make the most sense for dealing with islands... except for one problem, if oceans rise the order will change as some may loose more land than others... I could order it based on the highest peaks... but that is probably hard to look up filtering just for islands. hmmm... to be continued for the island nations, but let me know what you think of my continent scheme. Thanks, Sky
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Loci Sequence for Language Lexicons
Many thanks to feedback from many friends as I have proposed various orders for arranging geographic loci over the years. I have finally decided on my core Loci Sequence as follows:
From Macro to Micro levels, we will start by arranging our sequence in alphabetical order using a double adjective before county level place names in North America. When we run out of North American Loci we will move East first to Europe, then to Asia. Moving in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere, we will move in the opposite direction on the number line from Australia, to Africa, to South America, to Antarctica. Islands will be dealt with later in separate systems assigned as Loci for topics less central than vocabulary memorization.
In North American, we will start with American, then Canadian, and then finally Mexican regions, in that alphabetical order. Then we will make the middle name (or next adjective) describing a place it's State or Province, starting with Alabaman. Thus, our list starts like this: American Alabaman Autauga = #1,
American Alabaman Baldwin = #2... etc, etc on through this list of American Alabaman Counties:
0001 - Autauga
0002 - Baldwin
0003 - Barbour
0004 - Bibb
0005 - Blount
0006 - Bullock
0007 - Butler
0008 - Calhoun
0009 - Chambers
0010 - Cherokee
0011 - Chilton
0012 - Choctaw
0013 - Clarke
0014 - Clay
0015 - Cleburne
0016 - Coffee
0017 - Colbert
0018 - Conecuh
0019 - Coosa
0020 - Covington
0021 - Crenshaw
0022 - Cullman
0023 - Dale
0024 - Dallas
0025 - DeKalb
0026 - Elmore
0027 - Escambia
0028 - Etowah
0029 - Fayette
0030 - Franklin
0031 - Geneva
0032 - Greene
0033 - Hale
0034 - Henry
0035 - Houston
0036 - Jackson
0037 - Jefferson
0038 - Lamar
0039 - Lauderdale
0040 - Lawrence
0041 - Lee
0042 - Limestone
0043 - Lowndes
0044 - Macon
0045 - Madison
0046 - Marengo
0047 - Marion
0048 - Marshall
0049 - Mobile
0050 - Monroe
0051 - Montgomery
0052 - Morgan
0053 - Perry
0054 - Pickens
0055 - Pike
0056 - Randolph
0057 - Russell
0058 - Shelby
0059 - St. Clair
0060 - Sumter
0061 - Talladega
0062 - Tallapoosa
0063 - Tuscaloosa
0064 - Walker
0065 - Washington
0066 - Wilcox
0067 - Winston
Here are some extra source materials we'll revisit later as we sketch out our entire list:
America in Alphabetical Order:
http://state.1keydata.com/
Alabama -- 67 counties
http://info.alabama.gov/
http://alabama.
From Macro to Micro levels, we will start by arranging our sequence in alphabetical order using a double adjective before county level place names in North America. When we run out of North American Loci we will move East first to Europe, then to Asia. Moving in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere, we will move in the opposite direction on the number line from Australia, to Africa, to South America, to Antarctica. Islands will be dealt with later in separate systems assigned as Loci for topics less central than vocabulary memorization.
In North American, we will start with American, then Canadian, and then finally Mexican regions, in that alphabetical order. Then we will make the middle name (or next adjective) describing a place it's State or Province, starting with Alabaman. Thus, our list starts like this: American Alabaman Autauga = #1,
American Alabaman Baldwin = #2... etc, etc on through this list of American Alabaman Counties:
0001 - Autauga
0002 - Baldwin
0003 - Barbour
0004 - Bibb
0005 - Blount
0006 - Bullock
0007 - Butler
0008 - Calhoun
0009 - Chambers
0010 - Cherokee
0011 - Chilton
0012 - Choctaw
0013 - Clarke
0014 - Clay
0015 - Cleburne
0016 - Coffee
0017 - Colbert
0018 - Conecuh
0019 - Coosa
0020 - Covington
0021 - Crenshaw
0022 - Cullman
0023 - Dale
0024 - Dallas
0025 - DeKalb
0026 - Elmore
0027 - Escambia
0028 - Etowah
0029 - Fayette
0030 - Franklin
0031 - Geneva
0032 - Greene
0033 - Hale
0034 - Henry
0035 - Houston
0036 - Jackson
0037 - Jefferson
0038 - Lamar
0039 - Lauderdale
0040 - Lawrence
0041 - Lee
0042 - Limestone
0043 - Lowndes
0044 - Macon
0045 - Madison
0046 - Marengo
0047 - Marion
0048 - Marshall
0049 - Mobile
0050 - Monroe
0051 - Montgomery
0052 - Morgan
0053 - Perry
0054 - Pickens
0055 - Pike
0056 - Randolph
0057 - Russell
0058 - Shelby
0059 - St. Clair
0060 - Sumter
0061 - Talladega
0062 - Tallapoosa
0063 - Tuscaloosa
0064 - Walker
0065 - Washington
0066 - Wilcox
0067 - Winston
Here are some extra source materials we'll revisit later as we sketch out our entire list:
America in Alphabetical Order:
http://state.1keydata.com/
Alabama -- 67 counties
http://info.alabama.gov/
http://alabama.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
9 Icons Triliteralize Enneagram Abjad Patterns
1) A Raspberry Magenta Tuque
2) A Plum Purple Baker
3) A Blueberry Blue Golem
4) A Turquoise Aquatic Dimity
5) A Spring Green Honey Thaw
6) A Yellow Blossom Vise for Khaya Posts
7) A Z-Scythe
8) Red Brick High Podia for Hyena Outlooks
9) Reddish Brown Meet on the Tsar's Seething Grill
(1) Alif, (10) Ye, (100) Qaf
-- The Icon of the Ox head in Proto-Semitic and Phoenician Roots -- meaning the First, the Leader, the Reformer, the Prophet -- the highest energy wavelength of light, near ultraviolet, a reddish violet like magenta, from Hydrogen Plasma, the plasma of the first Atom with only one proton.
A Tuque is a Canadian word for a tight warm hat (to remember the "T" in Latin, the "y" sound in "U," and Q):
(2) Beth, (20) Kef, (200) Ra
-- The Icon of the hearth, the home, the floor plan of the tent, the essential two incarnate in the pregnant mother carrying a baby inside of her -- meaning the care giver, the home, the homemaker -- like Helium, the first elemental union of two protons, and like violet, the second wavelength of color we can perceive.
A Bakery (to remember B, K, and R):
(3) Gim/Jim/Zhim, (30) Lam, (300) Shin
-- In Proto-Semitic and Phoenician alphabet icons, this was the image of a foot and represented the child who could walk off with the sheep and start to herd them. It was also the child who could walk down to the well and get a bucket of water. Hence the original letter represented a foot. In the Enneagram we call this personality type the Performer, Motivator, Type 3. It's element is the first metal, Lithium, with 3 protons. Our third wavelength of color is blue. The foot represented the TRUE BLUE kid who you could rely on to do his chores walking around now to fetch water and tend the herding of the sheep. I think of Esau selling the royal inheritance of his bloodline to his brother Jacob for a bowl of Goulash when he was hungry when he came back unsuccessful as a hunter.
Goulash (to remember G, L, and SH):
(4) Del, (40) Mim, (400) Te
-- In Proto-Semitic and Phoenician letters, the Del originally meant the door flap on the tent, and the outsider beyond that door flap. In the Enneagram this is the Tragic Romantic of the worldview that states "something is missing, other's have it, and I have been abandoned." They are blue, and a little green with envy for the greener grass on the other side of the fence -- the side of belonging from which there is a least a little bit of a feeling of being cut off. This blend of sad blue and green envy is like cyan, also known as the beautiful aquatic color of turquoise. Interestingly enough, root words derived from the original name of this letter also referred to the ocean, and the water, and being a mariner out on the water. The boron flame -- presumably the plasma state of boron is also a greenish color.
Dimity (to remember D, M, and T):
(5) he, (50) nun, (500) theh
-- This was a pictograph of a man with standing with hands raised praying. This was the lover of the high world, the world of God, the world of ideals. The original Theodore. The meanings derived from the name of this letter "he" and that which follows it are reminiscent of the part of Psalm 23 that says, "thou anointeth my head with oil; my cup runneth over." Imagine the devote holding his cup up for the honey thaw dripping from a thawing bee hive at the end of winter as the green new life of spring sprouts forth. This is the wavelength of pure green, and this Enneagram point, the Observer, Intellectual is covetous by nature of everything that can be soaked up and hoarded, both intellectually and materially. It is the element Beryllium that makes Emeralds green too.
Honey Thaw (to remember he, nun, and theh):
Quick Summary of the rest for now:
6) Vise for Khaya posts -- W/V, S, Kh -- yellow diamond carbon
7) Z-scythe -- Z-eye-The -- Orange Harvest -- Nitrogen Rich Food Builds the Body
8) High Podia for the Hyena -- Hy, P/F, D -- Red Wall of Passion and Force -- Oxygen Burns
9) The Tsar's Seething Grill -- Ts, S, THE, & Gr -- Reddish Brown Roasted Meat -- Brown Dwarf Stars
.JPG)
2) A Plum Purple Baker
3) A Blueberry Blue Golem
4) A Turquoise Aquatic Dimity
5) A Spring Green Honey Thaw
6) A Yellow Blossom Vise for Khaya Posts
7) A Z-Scythe
8) Red Brick High Podia for Hyena Outlooks
9) Reddish Brown Meet on the Tsar's Seething Grill
(1) Alif, (10) Ye, (100) Qaf
-- The Icon of the Ox head in Proto-Semitic and Phoenician Roots -- meaning the First, the Leader, the Reformer, the Prophet -- the highest energy wavelength of light, near ultraviolet, a reddish violet like magenta, from Hydrogen Plasma, the plasma of the first Atom with only one proton.
A Tuque is a Canadian word for a tight warm hat (to remember the "T" in Latin, the "y" sound in "U," and Q):
(2) Beth, (20) Kef, (200) Ra
-- The Icon of the hearth, the home, the floor plan of the tent, the essential two incarnate in the pregnant mother carrying a baby inside of her -- meaning the care giver, the home, the homemaker -- like Helium, the first elemental union of two protons, and like violet, the second wavelength of color we can perceive.
A Bakery (to remember B, K, and R):
(3) Gim/Jim/Zhim, (30) Lam, (300) Shin
-- In Proto-Semitic and Phoenician alphabet icons, this was the image of a foot and represented the child who could walk off with the sheep and start to herd them. It was also the child who could walk down to the well and get a bucket of water. Hence the original letter represented a foot. In the Enneagram we call this personality type the Performer, Motivator, Type 3. It's element is the first metal, Lithium, with 3 protons. Our third wavelength of color is blue. The foot represented the TRUE BLUE kid who you could rely on to do his chores walking around now to fetch water and tend the herding of the sheep. I think of Esau selling the royal inheritance of his bloodline to his brother Jacob for a bowl of Goulash when he was hungry when he came back unsuccessful as a hunter.
Goulash (to remember G, L, and SH):
(4) Del, (40) Mim, (400) Te
-- In Proto-Semitic and Phoenician letters, the Del originally meant the door flap on the tent, and the outsider beyond that door flap. In the Enneagram this is the Tragic Romantic of the worldview that states "something is missing, other's have it, and I have been abandoned." They are blue, and a little green with envy for the greener grass on the other side of the fence -- the side of belonging from which there is a least a little bit of a feeling of being cut off. This blend of sad blue and green envy is like cyan, also known as the beautiful aquatic color of turquoise. Interestingly enough, root words derived from the original name of this letter also referred to the ocean, and the water, and being a mariner out on the water. The boron flame -- presumably the plasma state of boron is also a greenish color.
Dimity (to remember D, M, and T):
(5) he, (50) nun, (500) theh
-- This was a pictograph of a man with standing with hands raised praying. This was the lover of the high world, the world of God, the world of ideals. The original Theodore. The meanings derived from the name of this letter "he" and that which follows it are reminiscent of the part of Psalm 23 that says, "thou anointeth my head with oil; my cup runneth over." Imagine the devote holding his cup up for the honey thaw dripping from a thawing bee hive at the end of winter as the green new life of spring sprouts forth. This is the wavelength of pure green, and this Enneagram point, the Observer, Intellectual is covetous by nature of everything that can be soaked up and hoarded, both intellectually and materially. It is the element Beryllium that makes Emeralds green too.
Honey Thaw (to remember he, nun, and theh):
Quick Summary of the rest for now:
6) Vise for Khaya posts -- W/V, S, Kh -- yellow diamond carbon
7) Z-scythe -- Z-eye-The -- Orange Harvest -- Nitrogen Rich Food Builds the Body
8) High Podia for the Hyena -- Hy, P/F, D -- Red Wall of Passion and Force -- Oxygen Burns
9) The Tsar's Seething Grill -- Ts, S, THE, & Gr -- Reddish Brown Roasted Meat -- Brown Dwarf Stars
.JPG)
Thursday, April 12, 2012
You Need the Enneagram for Character Development
Can you imagine Winnie the Pooh bouncing enthusiastically up trees without a care in the world, while Piglet went over to Rabbit and started bossing Rabbit around while Rabbit shied away timidly and never dared to contradict anyone. And can you imagine Tigger sitting around all day under a pile of sticks he calls a house feeling sorry for himself, rubbing his tearful eyes and going no where while Eeyore runs around from flower to flower exclaiming that they all smell so wonderful while telling Tigger to get over his blues and look on the bright side of life? Ugh! It's all just so wrong, isn't it? The animals of Christopher Robin's Forest all have their own personalities, and they don't just trade them with each other like clothes do they? Melancholic Eeyore doesn't suddenly become Sanguine Tigger one day while Tigger suddenly becomes Melancholic Eeyore. That would ruin everything won't it?
~
That's why one needs a good paradigm of personalities to write a good story with good character development. You could start very simplistically with the four ancient humors, but that really only works best for childhood and anthropomorphized stuffed animals. Once you start dealing with adults you really need sometime that is much more intricate and dynamic--and the Enneagram is the only thing that can really to the job. Myers-Briggs is even more intricate topping the Enneagram's 9 personality types with 16 personality distinctions; however, doesn't have any of the dynamic movement between stressed disintegration states and thriving integration ones that the Enneagram has. That is why I say the Enneagram is the best. And it's much more seductive, because it is shrouded in mystery that I would argue is an ancient as written language itself.
In my investigations of Proto-Semitic, Ancient Phoenician, Biblical Hebrew, and Quranic Arabic, I've been shocked to find what appears to be an archetypal correspondence between the original pictographs and derived root words corresponding to the original symbols for the world's first alphabet. I now believe that the Semitic Alphabets represent hidden secrets about a past understanding of 9 core human archetypes and their personality evolution from the baser instinct up through their higher powers to unify and bless a larger human community in which they all belong. I am not going to try to prove this theory now--if any of you out their want to dig deeper I'll give you some more leads--but for now, lets move on to simply memorizing the order of the Ancient Hebrew alphabet sounds connected to the numbers they represent with the addition of the extra Arabic sound in sacred order as well added at the end of the Hebrew sequence:
__1 = "t" like in Latin,
_10 = "y" like in yoke
100 = "Q" like in Qatar
(Personality-1's Totem) t + y + q = tuque
In some sections of Canada a tuque with a brim on it, commonly worn by snowboarders, is nicknamed a bruque (a brimmed tuque). The tuque is similar to the Phrygian cap and, as such, during the 1837 Patriotes Rebellion a red tuque became a symbol of French-Canadian nationalism. The symbol was revived briefly by the Front de libération du Québec in the 1960s. It is considered outerwear and is not commonly worn indoors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuque
__2 = "b"
_20 = "k"
200 = "r"
(Personality-2's Totem) = baker
__3 = "g"
_30 = "l"
300 = "m"
(Personality-3's Totem) = golem (Adam was a golem, a person animated from the inanimate)
__4 = "d"
_40 = "m"
400 = "t"
(Personality-4's Totem) = dimity
__5 = "H"
_50 = "n"
500 = "th"
(Personality-5's Totem) = High (to the) nth
__6 = "w/v"
_60 = "s"
600 = "kh"
(Personality-6's Totem) = Vise for Khoa
__7 = z
_70 = ayin (gutterol "I" sound, means eye)
700 = dh
scythe (original proto-semitic pictograph)
__8 = h
_80 = p
800 = d
high podia
__9 = t
~
That's why one needs a good paradigm of personalities to write a good story with good character development. You could start very simplistically with the four ancient humors, but that really only works best for childhood and anthropomorphized stuffed animals. Once you start dealing with adults you really need sometime that is much more intricate and dynamic--and the Enneagram is the only thing that can really to the job. Myers-Briggs is even more intricate topping the Enneagram's 9 personality types with 16 personality distinctions; however, doesn't have any of the dynamic movement between stressed disintegration states and thriving integration ones that the Enneagram has. That is why I say the Enneagram is the best. And it's much more seductive, because it is shrouded in mystery that I would argue is an ancient as written language itself.
In my investigations of Proto-Semitic, Ancient Phoenician, Biblical Hebrew, and Quranic Arabic, I've been shocked to find what appears to be an archetypal correspondence between the original pictographs and derived root words corresponding to the original symbols for the world's first alphabet. I now believe that the Semitic Alphabets represent hidden secrets about a past understanding of 9 core human archetypes and their personality evolution from the baser instinct up through their higher powers to unify and bless a larger human community in which they all belong. I am not going to try to prove this theory now--if any of you out their want to dig deeper I'll give you some more leads--but for now, lets move on to simply memorizing the order of the Ancient Hebrew alphabet sounds connected to the numbers they represent with the addition of the extra Arabic sound in sacred order as well added at the end of the Hebrew sequence:
__1 = "t" like in Latin,
_10 = "y" like in yoke
100 = "Q" like in Qatar
(Personality-1's Totem) t + y + q = tuque
In some sections of Canada a tuque with a brim on it, commonly worn by snowboarders, is nicknamed a bruque (a brimmed tuque). The tuque is similar to the Phrygian cap and, as such, during the 1837 Patriotes Rebellion a red tuque became a symbol of French-Canadian nationalism. The symbol was revived briefly by the Front de libération du Québec in the 1960s. It is considered outerwear and is not commonly worn indoors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuque
__2 = "b"
_20 = "k"
200 = "r"
(Personality-2's Totem) = baker
__3 = "g"
_30 = "l"
300 = "m"
(Personality-3's Totem) = golem (Adam was a golem, a person animated from the inanimate)
__4 = "d"
_40 = "m"
400 = "t"
(Personality-4's Totem) = dimity
__5 = "H"
_50 = "n"
500 = "th"
(Personality-5's Totem) = High (to the) nth
__6 = "w/v"
_60 = "s"
600 = "kh"
(Personality-6's Totem) = Vise for Khoa
__7 = z
_70 = ayin (gutterol "I" sound, means eye)
700 = dh
scythe (original proto-semitic pictograph)
__8 = h
_80 = p
800 = d
high podia
__9 = t
Mystography? What's that?
You've heard of historical fiction, right? You know, James Michener's famous books—Hawaii, Alaska—that sort of thing. If you know what historical fiction is, I can explain to you what mythography is. So just to be sure we have this down pat, let's look at Dictionary.com and Wikipedia for some definitions:
~ .
~ .
Historical Fiction, noun:
1. the genre of literature, film, etc., comprising narratives that take place in the past and are characterized chiefly by an imaginative reconstruction of historical events and personages.
2. works of this genre, as novels and plays. .
~ .
~ .
Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the main characters tend to be fictional. Writers of stories in this genre, while penning fiction, attempt to capture the manners and social conditions of the persons or time(s) presented in the story, with due attention paid to period detail and fidelity. .
~ .
~ .
Great, now imagine a new genre with me that I would like to call "geographic fiction." Apparently though, I’m not the only one thinking of this new turn of phrase since a quick Google search reveals that someone else has posted the following online just two months ago as part of an academic thesis at CUNY: .
~ .
~ .
Geographic Fiction
My thesis, tentatively named Geographic Fiction, is a compilation of several of my poems, as well as one short story, detailed notes about each piece, an introduction, and a collection of photographs and maps in the appendix. Much of the project is about the design of the book itself. The cover will likely be a topographic map of New Hampshire that I picked up on a visit to Portsmouth. (1) .
~ .
~ .
Many thanks to Joseph Pentangelo for this work! By adding imaginative impressions to a presentation of a landscape, at least with several poems and a short story, Pentangelo is making a geographic landscape come alive in the feeling world inside of his and his reader’s minds more than it might otherwise have made an impression. This is what the author of historical fiction also does with history. I remember much of the sequence of the history of Hawaii because of how Michener personalized it for me with plausible, salient, personal narratives of fiction in his novel. Geographic fiction on the other hand will naturally deal more with space than with time, but in the same manner..
~ .
~ .
Space can be explored on many levels. We can explore the spaces in our bodies, in our homes, and in our world to mention a few of these different levels. Generally, the closer we get to our personal spaces and to our own bodies, the more privately we hold our graphic understanding of our topographic details in space. On the level of global geography, however, we are now sharing increasingly vast amounts of information with the entire global community. And with Google images we are now sharing street level camera views of nearly every major street in the United States of America! This is a new and thrilling opportunity in shared imaginative space, and it is ripe for exploring with geographic fiction.
~ .
~ .
Perhaps you now understand my vision of graphing out space in imaginative stories and why the name of this website ends in -ography, like geography. But what is this “Myst-” part in the beginning of “Mystography?” .
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Well, you’ve heard of mystery novels, right? That’s a good place to start. But in fact, I intend to go much deeper than the ordinary mystery of hidden events and the everyday curiosity of who did what. I want to dig past the mystery of what has simply been in the material world and delve into the mystery of what it might all mean. And then, even further in than that, I want to dig into the mystery of how we find meaning in the first place. And this ultimately leads me to a place of Mysticism. What is mysticism? One way I would put it is that is the openness to awe and wonder at sheer being—awe at sheer existence on every level, material, perceptual and conscious. It is awe and wonder with both the incarnate and the transcendent. It is pure skepticism in all human knowledge and pure belief in all phenomena of being. It is the religion of calling God first and foremost, The I AM. It is the ultimate source of mystery, magically connectivity and religion. It is the salt of the earth which gives it it’s flavor and it’s life for us. Therefor, the genre of mystography that I conceive of is the mystic mythologizing of geography. .
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And why geography? So that we can remember and know so much more, and know it with the power that we describe metaphorically as “knowing something as well as we know the backs of our own hands.” This is the power to remember and to expand one’s inner capacity through what the Roman’s knew as the Method of Loci, also known as memory palaces. .
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And will we only learn geography this way? Oh, no. This is a gate to remembering anything and everything, starting with the memorization of the entire core lexicons of foreign languages. So let the adventure begin!.
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If you do not know me and wish to participate in this project, email me. Mostly this initial blog is written for my friends, adult students and fellow mystographic developers and artists. But, I’m putting this out on the web live, so perhaps we’ll collaborate across greater degrees of separation through this medium than we might have otherwise. .
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I am going to create a template for this work that I claim as my own and for which I claim copyright ownership. If you wish to use my template as a foundation on which to build your own instructive geographic fiction or mystography, I might be happy to grant you license to do so on three conditions, as follows. I ask that you get my personal permission first; I as that you reference me in your work; and I as that you grant me the freedom to quote and use pieces of your work in my future projects as well. Thank you for your interest...
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Sky Thoth. .
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