The Idea-Expression Dichotomy

I only learnt this concept recently from Terence - that under the law of Intellectual Property, an idea cannot be protected, but the expression of that idea can. Seems strange that you can come up with the best idea, but you can't protect it, save for the way it has been expressed. As I reflected upon it, I realised that this concept, this dichotomy, encapsulated my thoughts succintly. So often, I may have an idea, a thought, but the expression comes forth so differently.
Or, put another way, we often do the very things we don't want to do, or don't do the things we want to do.

Is it an issue of self-control, of discipline? I'm still grappling with that.

Many quarrels and moments of unhappiness have sprung forth from this dichotomy. We oft love a person, yet end up saying the very things that hurt them. We care with all our heart, yet tear them apart with the harshness and glibness of our toungue. And the people we despise, we wear masks to hide our distaste for them, posturing instead a hypocritical casualness and nonchalance.

Men are notoriously poor at expressing themselves. We were brought up in a generation & culture NOT to articulate how we really feel. And so we fumble around, bruising our egos and ultimately fragile hearts trying to figure out the best way to be ourselves, the honesty of being Me.

Personally, I've always thought that I spoke my mind. More often than not, tact was like a foreign language I had to learn, and re-learn, over and over again. Nonetheless, for better or worse, I was always open, and honest about my feelings. Or at least, that's what I always thought.

Now, I'm at a major crossroad of my life. I know what I need to do (the idea), and yet I don't do it (the expression). I struggle daily with trusting that one day, it will come to pass, as promised. Every single day, I get into the boxing ring with my inner demons, and we slug it out - 5 rounds, 10... it varies. And it tires me out. I find it a tremendous challenge to let go, and let Him take over. My humanness, in its barest form, tightens its grip and serves up various distractions in a valiant bid to stop me from surrendering myself. My inner being speaks to me in that gentle, small voice, convincing me that there is a far better future ahead, if I will just stop fighting.

And so the battle rages on... small victories, big defeats.

The day I can just shut my eyes tight, throw myself off the cliff of self-preservation into the wind of uncertainty and promise, is the day that Idea and Expression amalgamate into one fluid, flowing body of art.

I.E.