Image: Hunting Net, Zaire (Ulele Region), Fiber, 1910.

Here is the image for the September Invite to Write:

Our symbol for this month is net.

Nets are ancient trap, capturing prey and pest on land, in the air, and the sea. The net can be used in as a passive weapon, letting prey walk itself into its own destruction. However, the net is not a precise weapon, many things are accidentally captured and destroyed along the way. In deep sea fishing, the use of massive nets to capture valuable fish also leads to the destruction of a great deal of wildlife.A Net also works as a filter, capturing larger objects while letting the little things through. A net is an important metaphor for how we process stimulus in the world and also how we reflect that world back outwards. Sometimes someone is said to be speaking without a filter, expressing challenging, upsetting, and otherwise uncomfortable thoughts when most would keep those thoughts to themselves. Another angle to approach from the net is safety as expressed in "working without a net," where we understand the net as ensuring safety in risks that we take, should we fall or fail. The structure of the object is key too, as nets are a combination of many small nots and fibers made into something strong yet flexible. This can refer to a community, stronger together than apart. However, the most prominent association is with the flow of information in the form of the internet and networks. The overlapping connections build a grand structure of ever growing complexity, making a stronger and stronger net that perhaps even becomes a fabric in its intricacy. At the same time, that same metaphorical net can be a trap. As one looks through a net, you can see through it and your mind tries to see a full picture. However, the complete image is fractured and obscured.

Reflect on these various meanings of net. Do you see it as a trap? Do you see having a safety net as something that emboldens you or do you see it as compromise? Do you see it cull your unconscious? Does a net mean safety to you? Where do these meanings oc net intersect and where do they cause dissonance? 

Happy writing!