My sense, though, is that it is always good to share what comes through, or at least, which emerges, from the murky recesses of whatever my or anyone else’s mind may actually be.
I remember a saying that “The Sufi begs to give you himself”, which I have probably commented on. When you give, you are not taking a thing from you, and giving it to someone else. You are not even sharing it, so that you both have it. You are creating a flow of energy, from somewhere deep, through you, to the external world. It is this flow which a wise person seeks. They are seeking connection to that energy.
And the way you connect to this energy, and protect this connection, is by giving everything freely which you can.
I remember Hayek commenting way back when that he saw many mediocre minds stumble onto one good idea, and horde and milk it like it was their sole source of nourishment, their solitary cow. Indeed, one sees people make careers off of extended riffs on one idea, itself usually not their own, but rather its unique exposition their personal coin, combined with their concerted and diligent marketing.
Me, I had some mild notion of making my way with my ideas. But this is much more fun. I don’t know if anyone reads this, but as far as my unconscious is concerned, as far as the flow of energy, it doesn’t matter. I continue to see more and more vistas the more I write. THIS is the point.
And I see how insipid must be the life dedicated to recognition. I think of all the writers of Hemingway’s generation, and most of those who have come after, who wanted not particularly to write great novels, but to be KNOWN as having written great novels. Hemingway himself committed suicide when the ideas stopped flowing, ideas about stories, about phrases, about skillful fabrication. His focus was on the wrong thing, in the wrong place. His focus was on himself, and not on giving but on taking. He snatched his ideas from the air and brutalized them onto the page. They belonged to him, goddammit. Nobody else. HE was the auteur, the genius, the admirable madman.
Perhaps I misstate the case. I don’t know. I know a bit about Hemingway, but not a lot. I often exaggerate the extent of my knowledge. This is my imagining, to be taken as such. I think I am done with being quite as certain as I used to be.
But this is my story for today. Give, and ye shall receive. It is not a complicated principle.