Cluster

Because “the genius of childhood” is a “common human possession” I will attempt to tap into the “spontaneously creative imagination” (Cobb, 710-711) of my inner child via the exercise invented by the author of Writing the Natural Way (191) called “clustering” (example on pg. 197). Clustering was developed “as a way to gain access to the right brain” (199) and “often evokes the emotionally tinged associations interpreted by our right brain” (197). The idea is that, by evoking these emotionally tinged associations with spontaneity, creativity and imagination I will rediscover the genius of childhood and even “the perennial sources of happiness” (Mill, 695) to some degree at least. However, to uphold Ryan’s argument for written text over typed, I will hand-cluster this cluster because it is a truth that a hand-clustered cluster is far superior to a typed cluster when it comes to promoting spontaneity. Also, to further aid spontaneity and because every person has within him children of varying knowledge and intellectual capacities, I will not censor associations with knowledge I’ve acquired more recently than the age conventionally accepted as “childhood”. In fact, I will incorporate the material from the readings and from the lecture in order to “only connect” and just because these issues are fresh on my mind.
I will start with “the Mystery” (167):

I came to the conclusion that one of the instances where I felt the most lost and "left behind" in childhood was when I my lost my faith. Whether I ever had faith to begin with is debatable, but I had never questioned anything, which seems to me to be an aspect of faith. When I began to question myself and others I began to feel extraordinarily lost and left behind by those who did seem to have faith. I have since been able to embrace my beliefs and accept all beliefs as a form of truth.