Getting ideas

Zeitgeist and other spirits - Gathering Flowers

The Zeitgeist is the collective spirit or mood of a moment in time. It is a word that grew in popularity as an opposition to the idea of a nationalist spirit. If I were to visualize this I would imagine a Nationalist Spirit to be a raging consuming fire across a land. And a Zeitgeist to be dark clouds as far as the eye can see, dark clouds that never turn into rain, a ghostly image as its name would suggest.

I want to talk about a different kind of spirit, unnamed and unknown, that flows like a river and is always changing. This is the place I get my ideas. But not just me, because so often when I sit down to write, or after I’ve sent a post I notice many others writing about the same topics it’s like we’re all drawing from the same river at the same time.

I’ve been collecting some ideas about ‘getting ideas’, and before I could turn them into a post I find this post in my inbox by

Brian Klaas

about Conjuring up ideas.

The first idea he brought up was a Medieval practice called florilegia, which means Gathering Flowers. An elaborate version of collecting ideas on notecards. The point is that one way to get ideas is by visiting these gathered flowers.

Austin Kleon

might call these stolen ideas. And Remixing them.

The second idea Brian proposes is called “Leisure-time-invention”, And this means coming up with ideas while walking the dog, taking a shower, going for a picnic, and even daydreaming. If this is a technique that could be taken seriously, then you dear reader are very likely in a great position to employ this technique! Perhaps you are in a time for collecting a storehouse of ideas for a season that is to come, where you can plant, water, and grow them!

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Where do you get ideas?

How do you get ideas?

Where do you put them?

How do you use them?

And how do you feel when you have a great idea, and you find someone else has a better idea? How do you react?

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One last thing, if you would like me to write a book about “Leisure-time-invention”, cast your vote by becoming a paid subscriber. I’ll write a post on the topic for each paid subscription I get this week.