What is uplifting? A spark. An idea. A connection.

What do I mean by “The Uplift Blog”?

My original idea for this blog was to look at Uplift in Science Fiction, the name being formalized in the Uplift series by David Brin. A book review blogger. I guess in a way the novel I am writing is in the Uplift genre. But if you think about it, there’s fictional uplift and real uplift.

NON-RELIGIOUS?

I had this idea in my mind that ‘uplift’ was a religious word. Try searching the term online, and you’ll see something different. For sure faith and prayer are there. But there are other types as well. Mountains experience uplift. Mental health is uplift. This blog is about that different kind of uplift. An engagement with the world, the natural world, the human world. And the imaginary world of creativity.

CONSIDER AN ‘UPLIFTING TRIAD’ —>

A thought: the Uplift of SciFi is in the mind and the mind is also a real world thing.. We hope! LOL The fictional and the real weave together and support each other.

Interestingly I find that ACTION can be a most uplifting thing: things that we SAY or things that we DO. More than just thinking or feeling inside, but reaching out with our means of action.

We can experience UPLIFT in THOUGHTS or EMOTIONS. Just thinking or feeling something positive, doesn’t always translate to motion in the real world! But thought can take you in new directions. And emotion reenforces the ties we forge.

So I’ve decided to make this blog a tapestry of all uplift: my favorite of speculative fiction books, of course. But also things that uplift in real life. Nature and the sciences, in books and real life. And community.

As I continue to write and review, I am touching base with this Uplift Triad in my mind. So for example, a review of Frankenstein would be in the Words pillar. A post on a new Meetup group I am just absolutely loving, would contribute to the Actions pillar. And then thoughts and feelings that emerge from those, or from other things happening in the world would be at the top of the Triad, under Feelings and Thoughts.

I won’t be reorganizing with tags and categories based on this triad! There is no manifesto on the way. Just a thought that is growing in me.

~ Lizzy