SWISS ARMY KNIFE OR POWER OF RANDOM WRITING PROMPT

There is something inherently magical in taking a random topic and trying to write about it on the fly - without extensive research or even ordinary looking-through over the surfaces. It gets you out of a comfort zone into the writing wilderness - those infamous dangerous grounds where you can only count on your "particular set of skills". It evokes all of your writing skills, brings them to the forth and makes you think in a way that is very different from the one you used to. As old fella Nietzsche wrote and Kelly Clarkson sang "What doesn't kill you - makes you stronger". God bless random quotes.

Let me tell you about the circumstances of writing this article. Recently, I had a hard time writing about one particular subject. I had too much material to go through and when I was done with preparations - I was so full of it I was unable to start writing. I had no idea where to start. There were so many things I needed to tell about - it was impossible to tackle some kind of coherent structure. I needed a distraction to distance myself from it. And so I've asked my colleague to drop me a random theme to write about - as an exercise. And thus came this little text.

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Swiss Army Knife is a kind of a folded knife with a variety of tools, including but not limited to various kinds of blades, screwdrivers, wrenches, corkscrews, scissors, nail clippers, can openers, flashlights and many other useful things. It originates from a desire to make compact multi-task tool for soldiers that can be used in a variety of situations in any kind environment.

It is fascinating to look at the structure of Swiss Army Knife - the way every element is fitted inside such simple construction; the way the functionality is thought-through. The way it looks fully unfolded is mesmerizing - it is a kind of technogenic snowflake - something that can be and must be perceived outside its context - as some sort of unintended art object.

Conceptually Swiss Army Knife can serve as a metaphor of a human mind. It too combines different modes of activity and can be employed to any given task. The way mind can go all guns blazing over insubstantial subjects is as fascinating as unfolding every tool of the knife just to see what it is capable of. It can also be viewed as thing-in-itself, as some kind of mystifying force of transformation that is beyond proper understanding, but it suffers from such limited point of view.

There is nothing mysterious about the way the mind works. It is really not that different from a Swiss Army Knife. Same as that knife, mind is merely a tool, albeit immensely powerful one - a gateway to the parts unknown - driving force made of a combination of your sheer force of will, motivation and skills. It is mostly useless without direction. You can get the notion that there's something happening, but what it is will not be exactly clear. Direction is the wind that clears the mist. It helps to navigate, to know where you are and in what direction you need to move.

While such comparison is fairly crude - there is one more very important thing to mention. The way you use a knife and mind shapes your understanding of the matter you're dealing with. Using different tools makes you feel the material in a different way. You can cut it, pick it apart, digest it in parts, pierce holes to see through, scratch it to see what is underneath the surface, sculpt it the way you want to, you can light its insides to what's there or you can put a light against it and see shadows of all forms and shapes to push your imagination far beyond the usual realms. In other words - there's limitless field of possibilities. You perceive different parts of the whole, analyze it and reverse engineer certain processes to understand its nature. It's no different from opening the can. You need the right tool, right angle and right amount of force to get through.

All that doesn't mean that this comparison really makes any actual sense. It is just a useful simplification that can blow off the impending fear of unknown with dauntless jab. Something that makes it all smooth for a moment of inception.

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It's funny how interesting it is to write on something you have limited understanding of. You try to fill the gaps with the things you know. You try to put it in terms you can deal with. But you acknowledge the fact that you have this glaring void. And it drives you beyond. It enforces you to go delve deep to make it strange - something completely different.
That's why it's important to take random writing prompts from time to time.