One Saturday evening, I attended a philosophy discussion and met a British gentleman with a beige-checkered flat cap tilted on his head. He said that too many people today are lost in the flood of online information. After the talk, I approached him to say how much I loved his idea, and that opened the door to a conversation that touched on Buddhism, Samsara and Samskra, the cause and effect, the five aggregates, and the void.
At one point, he looked at me and said with a smile, “But you don’t seem to very lost, do you?”
I replied, “Why, I feel lost sometimes. Not as much, though. Writing grounds us.”
The topic naturally turned to writing. he told me he had been writing for decades, self-publishing under several pen names, and he spoke with such passion that I couldn’t help but say, “I would like to live like you, reading and writing.” He encouraged me to write no matter what. His words nudged me back to my own novel draft. Flawed in structure, but this raw text is a window into my thought process.
The momentum carried me into a writers’ meeting, where I met a young woman working on sweeping historical novels. Her eyes lit up as she spoke of Caribbean revolution, the Tang dynasty, and ancient Korean history. All themes were woven together into a single thread: oppression, and the fantasy of vengeance that follows.
“You know,” she said, leaning closer, “The Count of Monte Cristo, Wuthering Heights, and The Cask of Amontillado…”
“No way!” I almost jumped in my seat. “My favorites, too! Have you seen Lady Vengeance? It’s a Korean film, a sharp and enticing story. And the Handmaiden, by the same director, Park Chan-Wook.”
Her eyes widened. “No, I like Korean TV series but didn’t have a chance to watch a movie. I have to. By the way, they are talking about utilitarianism over there. You know this short story? One person should be locked away so the whole village can thrive.”
“Well no, but there’s an old Asian folktale, where a girl sacrifice herself so a ship can sail safely through the sea. That’s how the story begins.” “Wait, the story begins with it?”
Stories spark stories. The night reminded me of the joy of dialogue, the thrill of discovering common ground, and the way one narrative can ignite another.
