A New Socratic Sign, or: Writer's Block as a Work of Grace

This image is protected under the "Fair Use" doctrine of US copyright law regarding derivative works and low-fidelity reproduction I wrote previously about my experience of a "Socratic Sign" as a student: how my experience of wonder and exhilaration in my studies kept me going through the relative stress and difficulty of that experience. Of course, I took a bit of artistic license in describing it as a "Socratic Sign," since the sign Socrates described was actually a kind of warning to stop, rather than a direct encouragement to continue a course of action. In my recent writing endeavours, however, I've felt a new kind of Socratic Sign, more like the original. As I prepare to tackle a difficult and complex or controversial subject, and as I start to feel the creative juices begin to flow, it will at times just suddenly stop and revert. The launch gets scrubbed at T minus twenty seconds and I find myself just sitting there, wondering what happened. Now, writer's block is nothing new,…