is writing channeling?

exploring the metaphor with the embodied writing practice "image+idea"

“What does it feel like, when you’re dancing? “Like electricity. Yeah, electricity.”

Is writing channeling?

To see what you think, take 2 minutes to write a response to this prompt, by hand if you can:

When I think of “channeling,” what image do I see?

No need to try and see anything. Take a moment to let the word sit in your mind, and you simply will see, and then record what you see and what you come to see more as you write and the image fills in more of itself. Let your mind fill in the image as you write, and the movement of your hand fill in your mind.

Read out loud what you wrote. What do you think about this image? What is this image all about? Does it surprise you or not? Does it make you feel something? What meaning do you make of it? What significance? Did it come from somewhere you know? Does it take you somewhere else in your thinking now?

This is an exercise I call image+idea. When we think of a word, what do we see naturally, first, and what ideas does that image trigger in us? What new images occur to respond to, then what ideas in response? You can go on and on if it feels like it’s going places.

I was going to explain here all of the reasons why image+idea is cool and different and embodied, but it’s too much so subscribe and I’ll unpack it next time!

Best practice for image+idea is to do it with others.

If we could go around the room and share what we all saw when we thought of our trigger word, “channeling,” the diversity of responses would stagger and delight you! This word has so many meanings and infinitely diverse possible associations for us. If we were together, we would respond to each other’s images with images of our own, with new ideas and meanings that could be related to these images, and broaden our understanding, together, of the infinite worldview potential hidden in language we often take for granted! Is writing channeling? You decide!

As we heard from one another, we would realize that a word we assumed had inherent meaning, or “correct meaning,” had many interesting possible meanings, that all revealed things about the holder and receiver of the original image. Maybe we realize that we had agreed with the idea that “writing is channeling” without thinking it through, or treated it as a cliche instead of something we chose. Maybe we realized our associations with the idea of channeling were negative, and not pleasant, and we don’t want to bring those associations into our writing relationship. Maybe we’re now certain it’s the most beautiful metaphor possible for how we hope to relate to writing. What an opportunity to decide for ourselves—the meaning of something in language! the meaning of something important in our relationship to writing!

But, is writing channeling?

Ok, since we can’t all share our thoughts here, let me see what I can fill in. We would ask, what do you think about the metaphor of channeling in your relationship with writing? What makes this resonate with you or not, with the meaning you have made so far? I would be listening for: What other beliefs are associated with the ones you just gave voice to? What other language would you use? What values are associated with this way of “seeing writing”? What does this consideration help make possible for you? What’s interesting?

For folks who say to me that writing is channeling, the metaphor of channeling is often about connecting through writing to a spiritual sense of the beyond, to the unified field we’re all pulling from, something Out There, or something Mysterious that is communicating through them. They might refer to themselves as “a vessel.”

I guarangoddamntee that some of you are like “yeah me too, I feel like a vessel through which something is working. And others of you are like “absolutely not, that’s disgusting.”

Great, now we’re engaged with our language. Look around the room at all these people. What else could it evoke in someone to think of channeling, channel, to channel? Something about water coming through, flowing through….

Channeling, to channel, channel… Think with me here. “Channeling” could be something natural, like a river through a canyon. Or something manmade, like when a meandering river is artificially straightened between concrete by men destroying ecosystems and costing lives. Or something manmade, like precious water irrigated through acequias to be shared communally in desert spaces, in New Mexico, the Southwest. Or channel as in some pipe through which city sludge is led to the open sea. A channel could lead through, or to, it could connect two things, it could be a boundary.

It could be do to with a transmission channeled through something to someone, as in circuits, as in changing channels, as in picking up and receiving.

It could be channel as in passageway, as in the sea channeled between islands.

Channel as in something through which something else passes. Or something by which something else is guided. It could be about channeling the voice of someone or something beyond you, something supernatural, or something here and of the earth, body, consciousness. It could be about channeling a voice within you so it pours neatly onto the page, a voice without a source. It could be channeling something held in common. It could be channeling like light through a prism.

Channeling could be about conducting, guiding, conveying, by way of. It could mean that the channeler is cutting something through, is wearing through. It could evoke a metal tube, a pipe, a groove, or an ancient eroded bed of earth.

The word channel is connected to canal, they come from the word for reed in Latin, cannas. Canal once referred to passages in the body through which things flow. A reed is a hollow straw, a cane. A cane! Who knows what someone could see? Any of these things, any of these associated meanings, and more I’m sure.

As always thank you to my favorite website Etymonline for helping me with the source of the word and its many contexts and interpretations! Please sponsor me.

Maybe after reading through these images and ideas, you can pause again and let the word settle in your mind. What meaning feels the best? What feels helpful to imagine? What brings you somewhere?

Is writing channeling to you? Is that the word you want to use? Does that help you? If not, what would be better? What image would you prefer to see when you think of writing? And if it is the right word, that’s beautiful—explore why. When an image is right, and a metaphor is right, it will hold a worldview within it, it will radiate endless associated beliefs and ideas, images and memories. You’re writing, and you’re creating your philosophy of writing when you investigate these important metaphors we commonly use and do not often take the time to visit with.

How respectful is it to language to visit with it, instead of just using it? Kind of like respecting yourself.

If you have thoughts on the idea of writing as channeling, or want to share where the metaphor takes your imagination, please comment!

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Thanks for reading!