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The Cube: Something Fun
18 years ago
Here's a fun little exercise for everyone, a creative writing mini-project/pop-psychology thing that I first encountered a few years ago and throughly enjoyed. I rediscovered the book it came from earlier today, and Nightbull suggested that I share it with y'all and see what you came up with.
It's quite simple: (the following a direct quote)
1) Imagine a desert landscape. It is utterly simple. A horizon line. Sand. Sky.
2) In this desert landscape, there is a cube. See it. Describe it. What size is it? Where is it? What is it made of? (There are no rules, no right or wrong answers. Describe the cube that you see.
3) Now: In this landscape, as well as the cube, there is also a ladder. Describe it: its size, position, what it's made of.
4) Now: In this desert there is also a horse. Describe it. What kind of horse is it? What size? What color? Where is it relative to the cube and the ladder? What is it doing?
5) Now: Somewhere in this landscape there is a storm. Describe it. Where is it? What kind of storm is it? How does it affect - or not affect - the cube, the ladder, and the horse?
6) Finally, in this desert are flowers. Describe them. How many are there? What kind? What color? Where are they in relation to the cube, the ladder, the horse, the storm?
(end quoting).
You can be as detailed and brief as you like, but just go with the first thing that comes to your mind.
My scene that I first wrote down back in the day is this:
"It's the American southwest. You're standing near the edge of cliffs that lead down into desert plains that stretch off to the horizon. Behind and to the side rise great mesas, with others dotting the landscape in the distance.
The Cube stands on the earth before the dropoff to the plains. Six stories high, dust and sand piled along it's edges, it's been here for awhile, though it's surface remains untouched from dirt and fading. It's carved from a strange sleek black marble that casts faint reflections of the world around it, but also holds deep cuts of color that appear when the light casts on it from the right angle, creating faint shimmering rainbows deep within it's surface. It's carved with indented cubes in a grid pattern across all it's surfaces, looking not unlike an 80s office building by way of Aztec architecture. The multitude of angles and cuts ensures that the hidden colors within are always visible somewhere no matter what angle the sun is at.
The ladder stands against the cube's side. A sturdy, well worn child's ladder, with rungs that have started to splinter and peel it's paint. Still, it's strong, and somehow manages to reach up to the top of the cube, each rung painted a different color, with worn away flowers and spotted mushrooms along the sides and top.
The horse is a shaggy blond stallion, thick and stocky. It stands in the shade of the cube, resting from the heat of the sun. It looks out over the landscape as its sides heave, still exausted from earlier efforts. Once it's settled down, it might venture around the cube to graze from the occasional patches of scrub brush, but never venturing too far from the shade.
Out over the plains, there's a storm. It's recently past and is now moving on. The ground around the cube has already dried, though it's surface is still slick and wet, and the horse is still shaking itself off. Distant thunder rolls across the scene, and lightning strikes off in the distance, but it's almost peaceful to watch.
The flowers grow along the bases of the nearby mesas, covering them with a hundred distant colors. A few scattered ones grow near by, and occasionally the horse will roam out far enough to eat them, but they are not part of the cube's immediate surroundings.
That's my The Cube. What's yours? Of course, since this is a Pop Psychology thing as well as a writing/imagination exercise, this all Means Something, but don't worry about that yet. I'll post that part in a week or so and you can all laugh about what the above reveals about me. ^.^
So what's yours?
(Edit: Once you've done yours, head over to http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/85012/ to find out what it means!)
It's quite simple: (the following a direct quote)
1) Imagine a desert landscape. It is utterly simple. A horizon line. Sand. Sky.
2) In this desert landscape, there is a cube. See it. Describe it. What size is it? Where is it? What is it made of? (There are no rules, no right or wrong answers. Describe the cube that you see.
3) Now: In this landscape, as well as the cube, there is also a ladder. Describe it: its size, position, what it's made of.
4) Now: In this desert there is also a horse. Describe it. What kind of horse is it? What size? What color? Where is it relative to the cube and the ladder? What is it doing?
5) Now: Somewhere in this landscape there is a storm. Describe it. Where is it? What kind of storm is it? How does it affect - or not affect - the cube, the ladder, and the horse?
6) Finally, in this desert are flowers. Describe them. How many are there? What kind? What color? Where are they in relation to the cube, the ladder, the horse, the storm?
(end quoting).
You can be as detailed and brief as you like, but just go with the first thing that comes to your mind.
My scene that I first wrote down back in the day is this:
"It's the American southwest. You're standing near the edge of cliffs that lead down into desert plains that stretch off to the horizon. Behind and to the side rise great mesas, with others dotting the landscape in the distance.
The Cube stands on the earth before the dropoff to the plains. Six stories high, dust and sand piled along it's edges, it's been here for awhile, though it's surface remains untouched from dirt and fading. It's carved from a strange sleek black marble that casts faint reflections of the world around it, but also holds deep cuts of color that appear when the light casts on it from the right angle, creating faint shimmering rainbows deep within it's surface. It's carved with indented cubes in a grid pattern across all it's surfaces, looking not unlike an 80s office building by way of Aztec architecture. The multitude of angles and cuts ensures that the hidden colors within are always visible somewhere no matter what angle the sun is at.
The ladder stands against the cube's side. A sturdy, well worn child's ladder, with rungs that have started to splinter and peel it's paint. Still, it's strong, and somehow manages to reach up to the top of the cube, each rung painted a different color, with worn away flowers and spotted mushrooms along the sides and top.
The horse is a shaggy blond stallion, thick and stocky. It stands in the shade of the cube, resting from the heat of the sun. It looks out over the landscape as its sides heave, still exausted from earlier efforts. Once it's settled down, it might venture around the cube to graze from the occasional patches of scrub brush, but never venturing too far from the shade.
Out over the plains, there's a storm. It's recently past and is now moving on. The ground around the cube has already dried, though it's surface is still slick and wet, and the horse is still shaking itself off. Distant thunder rolls across the scene, and lightning strikes off in the distance, but it's almost peaceful to watch.
The flowers grow along the bases of the nearby mesas, covering them with a hundred distant colors. A few scattered ones grow near by, and occasionally the horse will roam out far enough to eat them, but they are not part of the cube's immediate surroundings.
That's my The Cube. What's yours? Of course, since this is a Pop Psychology thing as well as a writing/imagination exercise, this all Means Something, but don't worry about that yet. I'll post that part in a week or so and you can all laugh about what the above reveals about me. ^.^
So what's yours?
(Edit: Once you've done yours, head over to http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/85012/ to find out what it means!)
cube> 4 stories tall, stone, grey, roughly hewn
ladder> 30 feet long, laying flat a hundred yards away from cube, metal
horse> white shetland pony, average size, hoofing at the sand in between the ladder and cube
storm> it attracts the attention of the pony, dry lightning, scaring the animal, the storm is far away from the whole collection
flowers> cacti with flowers budding along with them, red roses, peculiar but the bushes grow abundantly among the cactus around the cube
...this will be interesting ^_^
Leaning against the ladder that provided access to my now useless craft. the bottom of the ladder was bent upwards as badly as the ignition bell of my engine, I looked over at the obstacle between me and that inviting stretch of shadow.
The black..well, horse, I had no better word for it, stood facing directly towards me. Never lowering its head and never coming either closer, nre further form my position but turning as I padded along the edge of the ridge where I had landed...and shortly thereafter crashed. He looked like a horse. but no horse had eves like that one. They swirled and flexed like something that had a better place in the eyepiece of some vast telescope than in the big beasts eyes.
A soft echoing push of a boom forced its way into my chest as overhead the storm of combat continued. Flashes of ships winking into existence, back out of it..and some never making it quite that far, clashed and revolved overhead, mimicking the maelstrom in the patrolling stallion's eyes. He and the cube were of one, somehow I knew. Connected in some deep way that had little to do with the needs and desires feeding the combat over head.
I looked down at my feet for a moment, noticing a tiny line of some sort of desert iris, growing from a crack in the stone. Their tiny purple blooms, were all I needed. Their presence showing me the way to face what I had to face. I started to pick one, then stopped, instead brushing my gloved fingers across their blooms in almost a benediction. At least a salute from one piece of life to anotherand lastly, a farewell.
Squaring my shoulders I stepped out walking over to where the stallion still stood. Glaring at me with war in his eyes. I kneeled down and bowed my head. "Welcome home son..." snorted the stallion as he took one step towards me.
In the desert stands a cube of red-brown stone. It's at the center of an oasis of green.. standing on one of its points suspended four or five feet, give or take, above the oasis' pool. The pool's water is the same persian blue as the sky near the horizon.. it feels like twilight or sunrise..and the cube is warm to the touch.. about thirty feet on a side. The surface of the cube is swirled in appearance.. it's like washed out red porphyry- It's carved in geometric patterns, with scrollwork, and floral motifs.. a strange language interspersed among the patterns like an acid trip of runes and arabic.. the whole of the cube worn, and clearly not new, but shiny, even still.. not shiny enough to be reflective, but shiny enough to captivate, to turn the head. It's not making the oasis or the water, but it has somehow decided that that's where it belongs, and somehow it couldn't really be anywhere but in the place that it is.
There is a ladder in the oasis. A standard stepladder, self-supporting, good for painting, or anything that requires a steady surface without assistance from the outside. It's made of wood, with old-fashioned copper fittings holding the steps in place and bracing it open.. and looks a little oddly out of place in the context of the other things that are there. It's a little sandworn.. but the wood is evidently well-cared for, and the metal parts evince no corrosion. If you were an enterprising person, you'd realize that with the shallowness of the water in the oasis, you might be able to fold the ladder, and float it out into the water, and touch the bottommost point of the cube. Who knows what would happen if you did? But there's the faintest hint that someone must have done so in the past.. little tiny crystals of salt and sand in the joints of the stepladder's steps.. it's kept well, but it's definitely seen use.
There's a horse. There's always a horse, it seems. Large, and black-furred, and muscular. Sleek and sweaty. Very utilitarian. Draft. A stallion. Solid and sturdy the same way the ladder is, with workmanship that's completely traditional, but sleek.. the kind of animal that could carry a knight into battle, or bear a collar and plow five or six oxen worth of field.. but all of that strength and virility very much with a price. Flashing eyes of brown, almost red like blood, and a perverse and powerful mind that puts the body to shame. He doesn't much care for the ladder, or much of anything else.. such strength and power of mind bespeaks caring about most things. He's very much about the water in the oasis though. He's sheened with sweat, so the water is sweet to him, and he's not got qualms about munching on plants, either in the oasis or in the desert. He's not too terribly comfortable with the desert, but he manages just the same.. He knows -all- the tricks.. so in the end, for the horse, it's all good. You're not really sure.. I'm not really sure either, what it'd do if someone did bad things to the cube.. but.. it kind of makes you wonder, since the oasis doesn't seem to have anything to do with the cube, even though the cube seems to benefit and like the oasis, if the oasis isn't the horse's? Every once in a while, now that you think about it, you see that he does kick around a little bit, circling the cube, investigating it, seeing what there is to see. Sometimes he noses, or kicks at the ladder, but mostly disregards it.
There is a storm.. maybe that's why there's the watery smell in the desert.. but it seems like it's far off now. It's got high, columnar clouds, and there's the faint, -faint- haze of rain long-distant, but it's not clear whether or not it will affect the cube, the oasis, any of this. The appearance of the sand implies that water sometimes floods the entirety of the desert, and on second (or maybe third) glance, it's easy to see that the desert has plants.. more or less everywhere, tiny, but succulent, and full of water.. so it has to come from somewhere, but .. the cube is clearly unending.. the horse.. looks as if it'd spit in the face of something that would storm at it.. or maybe would take advantage of the rain to slough off the sweat and the stink and relax. The ladder? The ladder is fine. It might fall over, but somehow someone will put it back up. It'll be oiled, and cleaned, and there it will sit. Unless someone takes it. But that's all right too.
And then the flowers. It's hard to imagine why you wouldn't have noticed them all the time.. because there are so many of them.. scattered throughout of the plants in the desert.. but not really -that- big, or noticeable.. more like little buds or spathes of greener green among the rest, subtle blues, and the occasional spike of red or orange.. There are more showy ones nearer the oasis over which the cube floats. Maybe the storm has passed recently, after all? None of them are too too big.. more like the flowers of ice plants, and other little desert-like things.. but all of them beautiful, and all of them unique all the same.
A cube, harsh metal like white steel sits close to the viewer, an intruder on the bleak landscape
A ladder lies on the desert floor, farther out from the cube, aluminum, it's a collapsible ladder, closed, lying parallel to the horizon.
A horse walks into view slowly, it's older, but still in the prime of life. It's white, with brown spots, and it's viewing the scene, ignoring the viewer, waiting. It's standing between the cube and the ladder.
A storm is far away in the scene, past the buttes and the mesas. It's pretty from this far away, but the blackness beneath it shows the lie of the pretty white anvil shaped clouds, when it arrives it will be massive and powerful, a force of nature, but for now it's far off, and the sky is blue and beautiful. The horse seems to notice it, but does not seem to care. The cube and ladder are not affected.
Hardy desert flowers, small yellow cups with a few petals, reach out of the rock near the horse. They spring from slender brown-green stems with tiny leaves, a small reminder of beauty and fragility that can survive in these harsh desert climes.
The cube is pretty small and metallic. It looks heavy, but it’s small enough to be carried. It’s dark and it has strange markings all over it. It doesn’t have a lid or a keyhole or anything. It’s a mystery.
The ladder is made out of plain wood and it’s sticking out of the sand. It’s pointing up at the sky, but it doesn’t go up to the skies. Quite the contrary - it’s a pretty short and rickety ladder. It touches the cube, but it’s not supported by it. It looks a bit out of place there, if you ask me.
The horse is a black shire. It’s very muscular and docile. It’s standing nearby and doesn’t seem particularly interested in doing anything. It looks dumb, but potentially powerful. It has a grey mane, big hooves and strong legs.
The storm is looming in the horizon. The grey sky is gradually darkening and there is a sound of distant rumbling, but it has little effect to the scene.
The flowers are small and red. There’s a few of them, scattered around. They form little huddled bushes beneath some rocks. They look like thistles. The desert itself is rocky and barren. The horse lowers its head and sniffs a lone flower, but doesn't eat it.
The ladder is made of a dark wood, and it's leaned on one side of the cube to my left.
The horse is standing beside the ladder, it's black and not realy doing all that much. It's looking at me. It's the same height as the cube...0.0
The storm is off to the left, Far in the distance. It's dark clouds with the occasional lighning strike. It's not close enought to touch any of the ladder or cube or horse.
They are tall 5 pettled yellow flowers. There are 5, all in a bunche, evenly spaced. They arent' in sight of the cube, horse, or ladder. They are probably behind me.
It's the purple lunchbox. Smash Brothers or something equally overplayed (yet still fun as hell) is probably inside.
The ladder is wood, about 5 "steps" and near, slightly diaganonl, pointing up and towards the cube on the right side.
The horse is brown and just standing on the left side of the cube, it's a sideview.
The storm is off to the right in the distance.
The flowers are generic and suddenly I can't picture sand anymore, just grass and flowers.
Booyah. I bet it says I'm Nazi Einstein.
The cube is just over a story high, and a dark, almost ebony, red in color. Small lines cut into its surface outline 9 smaller squares on each of its faces. It isn’t far, but distance is hard to judge in the desert, so its exact distance is impossible to guess. What it’s made of is hard to say, but it looks like a massive ruby gem, though it isn’t transparent in any way. No light can penetrate it.
A metal ladder rests on its belly next to the cube, nearly hidden by the cube’s shadow. It doesn’t appear to be brand new nor very fancy. Just a regular ladder one might use at home to get on one’s roof. If stood up it would be almost as tall as the cube itself.
There is a healthy stallion, as golden and powerful as the desert itself, whose shoulder stood almost as tall as a man. It was an Arabian horse, and knew this land and its dangers well. The horse stands next to me, and scrutinizes the land with its hard gaze while it waits for its next command.
Far off in the distance are black, deadly clouds. Even from this distance the flickers of lightning are easily seen. It is probably a storm blown in from the ocean, but it wouldn’t likely make it this far into the desert. However, its murderous winds could drive their way this direction, and unleash the fury of an inescapable sandstorm.
A little ways away from the cube in the distance is a thriving oasis buried in the mouth of a rocky crag. Exotic flowers, vibrant colors of blues, reds, oranges, yellows, purples, and countless others, have taken solace beneath the thriving pine trees surrounding a shimmer pond. Oh how I wished I knew all their names. This little oasis was, after all, why I had come, and my horse was getting a tad impatient for a drink, but this cube posed the most curious of questions.
The cube is a giant-sized reflective metallic cube.
The ladder is a medium sized step ladder. Like the one we have in our basement, it's made of a grey metal splattered with paint from years of use. It stands in the upright open position as if someone were about to use it.
The horse is a white, full grown male Palomino horse. It stands off to the side of the cube and ladder, looking for grass and/or water.
Off in the distance, a tornado rages and rips apart the landscape, shedding anything in it's path. The cube doesn't move but reflects the storm on its reflective surface, the ladder sways lightly with the wind (because it's rather wobbly), the horse notices the storm but does his best to stay away from it.
The flowers are a good sized patch of about 10 beautiful red roses, the horse goes near the flowers to look for food, the ladder stands outside of the flowers. The cube reflects the flowers and the storm on the same side because the storm is "behind" the flowers in the distance.
2) My cube is off in the distance about 1/2 of the distance from me to the horizon. Its fairly large, almost as tall as me and the/a corner of it is facing me. Its a dark colour somewhere between dark blue and.... blue. Its corners/edges are fine and sharp. Its surfaces are sleek and gleem from the sunlight. Its either wood or metal.
3) Theres a step ladder against the cube, a bit taller than the cube, on right side facing me. It is made of wood.
4) The horse is an american saddlebred stallion, of chesnut colour, fully geared. Saddle, harness, and reigns. Its looking at me or atleast in my direction. Its between the tree I saw (on the left edge) and the cube but a little closer.
5) I look up and the storm is far off in the distance, almost at the edge of the horizon. Its mostly to the right but not all the way to the side. One tall grey cloud is in the center spreading out on each side of it. I see a lightening bolt flash once, imagining rain is coming. The horse is slightly spooked, and shifts a bit on his hooves, flagging his tail, but otherwise remains still. The cube and ladder are unaffected, other than the casting of the clouds reflection/shadow.
6) I see... what I can only desribe as red and yellow and white daisies ((i think, not to well known on plant names)) scattered also sparsely throughout the landscape, one or two in the centerline of the image near the cube, most are on the outside edges, some around the dead tree and under the horse. One is almost smushed by the ladders leg. The rest scatter off in the distance.
In reality I fiercely reject "shutting down". I actually tried to in the second pic. (did 2)
another note: -they- say I take things to seriously. -I- dont think man is able to do so ;D
allthough the first pic was all intuitive, it did not fit. What came out was a beautiful view with danger, victories, sense/purpose, possibilities. But as usualy it didnt fit to the script. it didnt fit to the given symbols at all. I was tempted to call this game a horroscope.
Now another picture, this time all reflex-ive. Symbolism fits now.
the simplicity (obvious weaknesses) of it now unnerves me; the contrast of the pics intrigues me deeply.
in terms of psychology that isnt new in any way though (not that I wanna say -anyone- said so) .. :
second try:
desert: just a straight horizon. barely visible dunes.
Cube: central, near horizon. feet deep stuck in sand.
scale is a bigger moving box. material is flawlessly hard and even.
storm: cataclysmic (fierce lightning, for now in the clouds; fierce rain).
comes from left, building up, barely reaching the cube atm.
horse: stands faced away, just being a horse. 12 meters left from cube. getting first light slaps of the rain.
ladder: is about ten meters to the right, just put on the ground.
flowers: extremely few spread absolutely evenly (randomly too) over the whole area.
the storm doesnt visually influence anything.
there are only parallel lines: the storm composes the main line I think, horizon is background, horse and ladder are on a third line, cube is between all those (in 2d, its way nearer towards horse&ladder (luckily ;))
for who cares: first try (the intuitional picture):
1. before the flowers appear it is boring, I say. 2. there IS a viewer. one of the reason why the symbolism doesnt fit anymore.
view:
3,5 levels through the dunes. (1,2,2.5,3.) lowering to the horizon.
viewer: back, central, towering, body height.
width: back - a good mile / 1,5 kilometers. front - good 5 meters. (Id say its comfy)
cube:
position: if there would be put an even "#" over the picture, it would be on the upper right cross, through the horizon. scale: two hundred meters+ in diameter.
ladder:
level 2,5. like a usual bigger working ladder (these aluminium pull-out-and-lock things), just broader and more massive. position: carefully stuck in the sand, sunk in on the left a little. middle of picture. very reachable for the viewer,seems very off site to the cube. (looks abandoned)
horse:
level 2. just entered view: goes straight (diagonally in the pic) to the cube.
storm:
a little less cataclysmic to the first. wandering parallel to the horse, but missing by far to the left.
flowers:
composing meadows of 1-2 hundred meters, devided by small strands of weak but not neccessarily dry grass.
a little grass is growing aroung the ladder, there is not much directly around the horse, allthough I never cared, and the most fascinating thing is, that one upper right meadow seems partly destroyed by the moving of the cube.
I guess thats where the rotation comes from. strong desertgrass getting weaker towards the cube emphase this to me.
when I put the two pics besides each other, I see why I hate doing reflexives things: its so terribly ... few oo.
way much more honest, and frightening too (bla) but its just so awfully empty.
there is nothing to go from or actually to talk about, think about.
well but it seems to wave the forefinger, so as unpleasant as it is, I seemingly cannot ignore it.
I tried to go deeper in there, if anyone got constructive (in the word meaning) critic (and only that) im unlimited open ;)
thats something to follow & know more about in both cases, I do say.