Many times the answer to the mystery of the universe has been revealed to me. Alas, I didn’t have a pen and paper handy, couldn’t write it down, forgot it. Had I been suitably equipped, I’d be in proud possession of a Nobel Prize or something.

I’ve learnt it the hard way: the instant an idea comes into your head, make a note somewhere, somehow. If you’re in the kitchen, tear the lid off your cornflakes carton (or, as in my example here, your Bazuka Verruca box). If you have nothing to write with, bite yourself and use your own blood.  Keep a pen and notebook next to your bed. Ideas often come during the night, in dreams rich in image and metaphor.

The idea in the image above came out of the blue while I was cryogenically freezing my verruca (with my newly bought supply of Bazuka Verruca). I don’t know why the idea came then. The idea has no connection with verrucas, as far as I’m aware. Excruciating self-inflicted pain can awaken dormant parts of the nervous system?

The idea has no connection with cryogenic freezing, but since the idea of a connection between my idea and cryogenic freezing and even verrucas came into my head, it’s worth checking it out, bizarre as that may be. An unexpected image is always a seed. It is triggered by something in your environment at the time it arises. The bizarre is always worth investigating.

Taking notes is fundamental advice, I know. It bears repeating. I bet I’m not the only one who has had the solution to the universe presented to him or her and let it slip for want of a pencil and the lid of a Bazuka Verruca box.

The idea that came to me is about blotting. You know those images you made as  kid by folding a piece of paper in half and dropping ink or paint onto one side, then folding it over. You got a mirror image that looked like a butterfly or some kind. Isn’t blotting also imprinting? Isn’t cryogenic freezing about sustaining one’s imprint on the universe? Wasn’t I trying to blot out a verruca?

Everything is art, even a verruca, it seems. Da Vinci saw cloud formations in stains on walls, Francis Bacon liked images of diseases of the mouth.

P. S. I receive no stipend from the makers of Bazuka Verruca for advertising their product.

Ann

Related articles

• Forget creams and ointments – duct tape really can cure verrucas (telegraph.co.uk)
• Cryogenics: Life source to the flying force (dvidshub.net)
• Cryogenics: Freeze your melon, man (greenfudge.org)