In the Sandbox #4

Daytalking prompt

“The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.”

—Carl Jung, from Memories, Dreams, Reflections

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Imagine you’re feeling at loose ends and your friend says, “You up for some fun?”

Instantly you lighten up. “Yes! What do you suggest?”

“Talk nonsense to me.”

When we were kids (obnoxious teenagers, actually), we took it upon ourselves to mercilessly skewer all adults, teachers, authority figures, TV commercials, and radio disc jockeys. Not sure this was a feature or a bug of growing up in the 1970s, but there you have it. It was our bread and butter. Our lifeline. We circled ’round them and slammed ’em into a full nelson.

—Which of course was utter nonsense.

You may be wondering: Well, what’s the value in that?

(Photo by Completely in the Dark/Michael Maupin.)

Well, what indeed.

As we’ll discover in this weekend’s essay on Stargazing, there’s “nothing to get hung about.” And that’s coming from the same guy who gave us crabalocker fishwives and pornographic priestesses—all with a side of semolina pilchard (whatever that is)—which is quite an achievement!

But as Benedict Carey writes in the New York Times article linked above, “the feeling [of nonsense] is disorienting. At worst, it’s creepy.” He goes further by citing a study that revealed nonsense’s disorienting qualities “may prime the brain to sense patterns it would otherwise miss—in mathematical equations, in language, in the world at large”—in which case the value of discerning sense from nonsense sharpens our focus.

But for Daytalking purposes, I like to think nonsense is less disorienting when the weight of its ambiguity is shared with other people, you know, in an attitude of playfulness and exploration. Like when you’re Daytalking.

Which is what I hope our prompt today will do.

This is yet another “In the Sandbox,” our Friday community huddle around each aspect of Daytalking, Nightwalking, and Stargazing, where we get all handsy-on about these aspects and share ideas with each other. By actively writing and reflecting on your personal history, you’re better able to grapple with your present and more confidently approach your future. Which is just good housekeeping IMHO.

Furthermore, interacting with the rest of our Substack community brings in possibly new and untried ideas and encourages further reflection, support, and action.

So don’t be afraid to dive in!

Daytalking is entirely lost without playfulness, so here’s how we’ll accomplish that:

Noodle some nonsense words (three at the least, five tops) consisting of only one word. As you write them down, be thinking about what they could possibly mean—but don’t include that in your response. That’s where the rest of us will come in and see if we can make meaning of each of the nonsense words you post in the comments.

I’ll chime in after everyone else has had a chance to comment.

Excelsior!