Chapter Thirty: Dali's Technique (or: It's All In The Wrist)

Based on an exercise outlined in the book "Thinkertoys"

1. Think about your challenge

I'm envisioning a character design for a Death-like deity.

2. Totally relax your body

I sink into the comfortable armchair, holding a die in either hand and draping my arms over the armrests.

3. Quiet your mind

The TV drones on in the background. I can hear the scratching of my friend's pencil on paper. His laptop fan is whirring gently near my chair. I focus on the soft whirring noise.

4. Quiet your eyes.

I close my eyes, inclining my head so that my face points at the blank white ceiling. It takes a couple of minutes for the muscles of my eyes to relax; since I'm trying to relax, I keep moving my eyes behind my lids accidentally.

5. Record your experiences immediately after they occur.

Eventually, I am sufficiently relaxed (and/or sleepy) for my hands to unclench, the dice clattering to the floor. One lands on '1', the other '2.' I was contemplating a figure with a face swathed in scarves and eyes hidden in shadow.

6. Look for the associative link.

The association between fortune and fate is traditional, and everyone's overarching fate is to die. I've heard many stories that involve challenging death to a game such as chess, to win the right to continue to live. I like the idea of a gambling Death, an inefficient Death that agrees to simple games of chance.

Closing thoughts on this exercise:

I liked this exercise, if only because it was much less ridiculous in principle than a lot of the exercises involving relaxation techniques and visualization. There was no explicit guiding principle for this one, so I got to make connections on my own.

A short note about my creative environment:

I wrote this in the living room of my friend's apartment late at night, sitting in a cushioned armchair across from an ancient television. It's mostly dark in the room, though there are lights on in the kitchenette. The sky outside is dark, though the room overlooks Drexel's sporting field and its always-on bright white lights.