Surely I’d heard of Ernest Hemingway’s “Iceberg Theory” before class on Monday but perhaps not as specifically. The theory says this:

“If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader; if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as if the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of its being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing”.

Suspending any tendency towards Freudian or Jungian analysis of Hemingway’s personal life, we can see the accuracy of the theory….

I would imagine that Hemingway would be horrified with the whole blogging situation and perhaps even as far as most of the internet community because EVERYONE is sharing about EVERYTHING they don’t know whether they realize it or not. And many of us are tending to lap it all up creating a veritable plethora of truisms about EVERYTHING.

What I am learning about myself through the wonders of completing my education that I had begun so very long ago is how ignorant I’ve been about so many things in spite of my cleverness. I do not mean this to sound derogatory because I do recognize the many lessons I’ve learned through living my life. But I do accept the realization and understanding of what has been haunting me lo these many years and that is that it turns out there has been a whole lot of information that I did not know that can open up my mind and heart in so many ways. I knew it but I kept dismissing it because I was able to figure out how to create a successful living in spite of my lack of education (had an associates degree and many coaching school hours but no “traditional education”).

I am wondering if part of my reticence about writing a book through to publication is the blatant evidence of my lack of education that would have shown up not only in what I said but what I didn’t say as well. Who knows? I hope I will never be able to prove this theory!

Hopefully global warming won’t hit this iceberg yet….