Cake! And eat it too.

I love all literary devices, but hold idioms in special reverence. I’m a fan of “One cannot have one’s cake and eat it, too” for the reasons that I love cake and have been trying to disprove this sentiment my whole entire life.

Having it both ways, isn’t only a pet obsession of mine. I think it explains capitalism, addiction, religion and a myriad of other modern foibles that plague a majority of the population. Live but never die. Eat what I want but appear shockingly thin. Have freedom to behave however I want forever with no negative consequences to myself or those my life touches.

We’re human. We want to have it all.

Of course we do. It is a very understandable human longing to not have to experience want. Want is a hard energy. As is the discomfort of want returning immediately after becoming satisfied. We want not to want. But want is always there, wanting, even in the not wanting.

What does this have to do with writing, Devin?

I’m not entirely sure. But let’s see if the writing will take us there.

Writing, like being with oneself while practicing music, is in and of itself satisfying. Time spent in artistic practice is never wasted. Being in the moment of creative flow, there exists no future hopes, no scarcity to guard against, nothing but receptive openness, gentle attention and the willingness to receive whatever comes.

When I am writing it is just me and the sound of the keys clicking and the words are coming from a place that will always delight and mystify me. They are both mine and not mine. Once they are written down they become ours. My attempt to concretize that which is not inherently tangible, but can exist momentarily when these words meet your consciousness, is the closest thing I’ve found to having my cake and eating too.

Writing allows me to get to have a self satisfying experience AND share that satisfaction simultaneously with others. The actual dream. All the pleasure, none of the calories.

When we write, we get to be in conversation with something that is ever giving. I can come back to it, as often as I need or as infrequently as I want and it will never not be there for communion. When I come to the blank page and say, I’ve come to satisfy a curiosity or arrive at an understanding or tell a story that makes me feel differently about something than I currently do, the words find their way to me.

I’m eating my cake. But after having written, I have a cake to show for it. It’s getting to know satisfaction and potentially share that satisfaction with anyone who wishes to engage with the words that have found their way to us.

The source of those words lays waiting, always. Open for any of us to tap into and explore unapologetically. For any old reason, at any old time, in any old fashion. We don’t have to do it often to be satisfied from having done it.

I’ve never known a writer to regret having written. I invite you to sit down and face that blank page today. Go ahead, eat the cake. And have it too.