{"id":2184,"date":"2012-03-10T19:30:40","date_gmt":"2012-03-11T00:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=2184"},"modified":"2012-03-10T19:30:40","modified_gmt":"2012-03-11T00:30:40","slug":"in-praise-of-editors-and-editing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/03\/in-praise-of-editors-and-editing.html","title":{"rendered":"In Praise of Editors and Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>If you think you’ve got a lock on reality, think again. We are constantly commercing in impressions, approximations, and constructions. What can you do with this glimpse of reality, especially if you are trying to write about it? \u00a0A good editor will catch your gaps, your departures from reality.<\/p>\n

A good editor will show you where you have not expressed what you intended to express and guide you towards what you meant in the first place.<\/p>\n

No text is truth. All text is context. Every moment adopts a perspective. You, as the author of that moment, are blind to that perspective (even when you edit your own creations). This is where an editor becomes worth her weight in gold.<\/p>\n

I miss a lot of linkages in the continuity between now and what I think is now. I drop words, assume meanings that could not possible be so, given current conditions, and assume my reader is along for the ride when he fell out of the car a few sentences ago (not to mention my copious grammatical errors).<\/p>\n

I beg your forgiveness, Dear Reader,\u00a0for forgetting what you might be experiencing. I am blind to my obfuscating texts, unaware of my dropped associations, and my obtuse to my implied senses.<\/p>\n

It is hard to examine a text in much the same way that is hard to examine a moment of being alive. We are rushed, hurried, pressured to move on to the next moment, so much so that we take shortcuts that compromise clarity. It is hard to sit with now; it’s hard to see what is hear in front of us. We “construct” this moment out of guesses. If you are lucky, you guessed well. I am often astonished how poorly I guess. What seemed so clear is a train wreck. Really? Did I really write that (and then not notice how I wrote that!).<\/p>\n

I am working on my latest book project. I have profound gratitude to have an energetic, candid, and skilled first editor (well, second if you include my haphazard efforts). She is a writer, too, an accomplished author of several books<\/a>, including the award-winning, While in Darkness There is Light. <\/em>She is also\u00a0a faculty member of Spaulding University’s MFA program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thank you Ellie. How fortunate your Spaulding students and I are to have your editorial eye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you think you’ve got a lock on reality, think again. We are constantly commercing in impressions, approximations, and constructions. What can you do with this glimpse of reality, especially if you are trying to write about it? \u00a0A good editor will catch your gaps, your departures from reality. A good editor will show you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[406,405,407,408],"class_list":["post-2184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-shelf","category-buddha-101","tag-editing","tag-louella-bryant-spaulding-university","tag-perception","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Praise of Editors and Editing - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/03\/in-praise-of-editors-and-editing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Praise of Editors and Editing - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you think you’ve got a lock on reality, think again. We are constantly commercing in impressions, approximations, and constructions. What can you do with this glimpse of reality, especially if you are trying to write about it? \u00a0A good editor will catch your gaps, your departures from reality. A good editor will show you…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/03\/in-praise-of-editors-and-editing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-11T00:30:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/2012\/03\/BS13062-300x198.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Arnie Kozak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Praise of Editors and Editing - Mindfulness Matters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/03\/in-praise-of-editors-and-editing.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Praise of Editors and Editing - Mindfulness Matters","og_description":"If you think you’ve got a lock on reality, think again. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2184"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2194,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions\/2194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}