Writing practice: write a one-sentence story
Humans are emotional creatures, which means we can’t not be magnetized. Usually, we’re externally magnetized briefly, then we relax, then externally magnetized briefly, then we relax. If we are internally magnetized, then we are less susceptible to being externally magnetized in whichever direction the external force is applied. That is diluting and distracting, and can be used to manipulative effect by those who understand it and are good at it.
Plus, it’s far easier to be magnetized by emotional causes than by rational causes. Dantes was magnetized for emotional reasons – the desire for revenge.
I think you can’t use emotion to de-magnetize, just reason or time. And with reason, I think an effective way to de-magnetize is through perspective – the wider the perspective we have, the easier it is to de-magnetize not by force of will, not by deliberate evasion, but by calm and dispassionate reason.
When he saw a photo of a cheetah, whose entire physiology is adapted to hunt, overpower, and kill prey, Edmond resonated with revenge. An instant later, by a skill developed through years of patient, selfish humility, he focused his mind by widening his perspective.
[ok, two sentences and not great, but at least there’s a character, struggle, change]
There is some cause which creates life and consciousness from a collection of atoms, and then a motive to continue that life and consciousness until that collection of atoms can no longer sustain itself as life and consciousness.
For humans to sustain life and consciousness, we must live in a world of concepts – a world of things which don’t exist in order to interact with a world of things which do exist. And it’s this middleman, this screen between reality and our purposeful actions, which creates distortions, both involuntary and deliberate, because injected as a disturbing influence into this middleman’s input are things like emotion, ego, and identity. And to make matters worse, there are negative influences on our emotions, ego, and identity from outside magnetizing forces.
But there are things which can reduce the effects of these distortions. Perspective, reason, emotional calm, humility, patience, and an internal magnetization that diminishes the effect of external magnetizing forces. With an overwhelming emotional resonance with an overpowering internal magnetizing force, one can render dumb so many of the external influences that can distract, inflame, diminish, and dilute. But it can be rare to find and hard to sustain. In some ways it can be as hard to sustain as it is to act upon, but I’m guessing at some point you reach a tipping point of momentum.