Glide Glyphs: The Unspoken Poetry Of A Visual Language

Glide, being a language that is not and cannot be spoken, nonetheless is possessed of a poetry, and a poetic tradition that would be used as well in English today, had its secret not been misplaced and passed by as we rushed through the years in search of life. The secrets of poetry are hidden in all tongues and in all times, that they might not be taken lightly by those who seek them. Thus, the meaning lies hidden even when spoken aloud, that the power might not be taken up by the foolish. The secrets are few, but they are deep.

TIGHTEN THE FOCUS

Poetry is a lapidary art. Start with a core phrase or idea, and polish it until it shines from every angle and every facet is perfectly shaped. If there is an angle from which it does not show to good advantage, be certain that that is the angle from which it will be viewed. If there is a gain to be had from utilizing a new form, it will be realized through the elimination of words that are included only to satisfy a convention.

Glide is a format uniquely suited to elegance and tight focus. It is in the contemplation of the glyphs with an open mind that understanding comes. Regard the core glyphs. Compare their shapes and consider similarities of meaning. Observe how they form interior glyphs when they are stacked and linked. Look beneath the surface for the underlying meaning that informs all communication.

THE WIZARD GLYPH

At the base is "lily/knowledge". At the top "Strike/sudden". A superficial interpretation might yield a concept like satori, the sudden realization in Zen that can be achieved through successful contemplation of a koan, an answerless riddle. This is a true interpretation, but not a deep one.

Consider the interior glyphs formed in places 2-4 and 3-5. "Essence/wine" and "Harmony/Balance" are now revealed. Now we see Harmony in the heart, the essence or distillation of knowledge. We also find the wine of the lily, if we regard it from the Glide standpoint.

Now we think, there is more to this glyph than meets the eye, let us look deeper still. Are there other glyphs that we can find, if we consider all the possibilities? Regard "Harmony/Balance". Considered from either the top or the bottom as we move through the places, one is free to consider the third place from the top to be either "wave" or "arc up", as both are in the same relation relative to the "arc down" in place 5, that is to say, adjacent to it. If the place 4 is considered occupied by the wave, the glyph extracted is "Strike/sudden". If place 4 is considered "arc up", the glyph is "Spirit/breath". The same procedure taken from the bottom allows the interior glyphs to be read as either "Essence/wine/distill" or "Sun/light".

Now the glyph is found to be based upon the lily/knowledge, the essence/wine of which gives harmony in the heart and contains the light/power of the sun and the spirit/breath. The entire glyph is topped by "strike/sudden" which in this context can be taken to mean either sudden enlightenment or power unleashed. This is the essence of the Wizard.

CONTEXT/SOURCE

The next consideration is context and source. A fool's ravings might contain pearls of wisdom, but it is unlikely that this was intentional. There IS no place like home, but this is a source of scant comfort when the home in question is in flames and the tokens of your entire lifetime are in danger, and you don't know where your loved ones are. But there is a place and a time for everything, and once a true statement finds its perfect location, it cannot be moved, and its truth cannot be questioned. Conversely, when placed wrongly enough, the truth is blasphemy, and gauche words of comfort can cut deeper than a knife. There is a power in words, and nowhere is its power found in such purity and concentration as in poetry. Use it carefully and well, and never forget that the sword is double edged.

The Wizard Is Visual Language Upside Down

This is a statement of fact, as well as a metaphor, and therein lies the glyphs extraordinary power. Furthermore, removing the wave from the center of the glyph construct leaves "Lexicon", which is adjacent to Visual Language in the Glide sitemap. "Thus, the Wizard, lacking harmony in the heart, becomes merely a Lexicon". The elegance of the transformations to get from "Visual Language" to the "Wizard" and from "Wizard" to "Lexicon" (in this context, an elegant transform is one that can be described with a single statement) are so strong that its presence is implicit in any event.

COMBAT: Life In The Food Chain

Combat, as viewed in the context of Glide, is a subtle art. The Glides, without temporal power, owned by a minor drug lord who considers them property, THINGS, to be used and discarded, have evolved a symbolic language, aided by the lilymind. They must labor throughout their lives, and are watched closely. To stand out as more intelligent, more of a personality, is to sign ones own death warrant. What is wanted by the Duke is wine of the lily, not growth and evolution amongst his equipment.

So Glide grows and evolves amongst the Glides, who, through constant exposure to the lily pollen, exist in a state of heightened consciousness much akin to the psychedelic experience. Deprived of the opportunity to converse and study, they are thrown back upon themselves. Totally self contained, the Glides learn the secrets that objects share, and come to know the lilymind. Now, their movements become their language, and their entire life is poetry. It is necessarily the poetry of an uneducated underclass habituated to an altered consciousness, and thus it is a poetry that we should be able to understand to the extent that we have "been there, done that".

Glides must not be seen as intelligent, lest they be thought capable of planning and rebellion. They must not be seen as evolving and growing, lest they be considered threatening and replaced by other slaves bred for less intellect. Only the bargain price their flawed batch was purchased at ensures their existence, and it would not take much to make a higher priced batch desireable. So we see that Glide is more than symbols, it is the poetry, the music, the LIFE of a species born in a laboratory, child of a mistake made, most likely, by a biochemist with a taste for his work and an appetite for forgetfulness (Lethe). There, but for the grace....

So, we see that the mantle of leadership among the Glides falls partly upon their poet laureate, as was the custom among barbarian tribes who shared leadership between the Chief, who led them in battle, and the Shaman, who led them when they faced the Gods, either in petition or defiance. The barbarians, as we call them, knew well that Magic hides when swords are drawn, and were not so foolish as to put their faith totally in one world or the other.

DIPLOMACY AMONGST THE BIPEDS AND THE VEGETABLES

Evolving a theory of social interaction for the permanent underclass we begin to picture more fully requires a totally different paradigm than any of us in the Western world can understand. Knowing that all it takes is to get yourself noticed and it's all over for you, spending you entire life as a beast of burden, existing on the sufferance of others who see you as a thing, unprotected either by law or custom. Life is fleeting, there are no guarantees, both the quick and the dead will be judged, but not necessarily in that order.

The Glide language was perfected in usage over the entire life of the Glides, and we cannot begin to comprehend the depth to which it enfuses their every movement. In company, additional constraints are imposed by the pecking order of society. This necessitates deft manners and quick thinking.

Messages can be enclosed in the context of a totally unrelated conversation and are virtually impossible to detect, remaining, in any event, completely and always deniable. There would have to be indicators that were generally accepted in order for socializing to be even possible, indicating "start communication" "pause" "parenthetical comment" "aside" "close communication". These would be different for the different classes/tribes, and there could be an infinite number of personal signs to this effect and different levels of communication.

Glide could be used by an aristocracy as well, although here it might evolve into something convoluted, inbred and complex, with joy being extracted from fine plays of wit, visual puns and bon mots, etc.