Aphorisms use as few words as possible.

An aphorism in a luccaph can be a thought, a joke, a bit of free verse, a loose haiku, an image, a glance, a paradox, an observation - almost anything, as long as it's short and concise.

An aphorism stands or falls by itself. It does not support nor is it held up by a system.

Aphorisms are often playful.

Aphorisms can be illogical or paradoxical. They are different than logical discourse.

Aphorisms are non-commercial. They are gifts from your spirit to yourself and possibly others. They require very little work, only good ears. Selling them will corrupt you and them.

Aphorisms are often seen as clever tidbits of wisdom. They are more than that. They are a means to express a philosophy or a spirit.

Aphorisms do not need to contain a word or direction "twist".  They can be simple and direct.

Aphorists almost always see their aphorisms as going deep. (Of course, readers often disagree.)

Attempts to categorize your aphorisms lead to an essay or a treatise. Within a category you start filling in the holes. You start changing the wording of each aphorism so that they fit into a broad system. New aphorisms are immediately warped by the system of categories. The aphorism loses its chance to be a symbol, a lonely inspiration, a tickler of the subconscious.

The uncategorized luccaph achieves a unity or "theme" or "story" because all the aphorisms come from one person.

It's better to resist the temptation to revise, expand or explain your aphorism - trust its original wording.

You don't "work" on aphorisms - you catch a brightly colored butterfly that is passing by, you "approach deep problems like cold baths: quickly into them and quickly out again."(Nietzsche, GS 381). Matters can be fathomed when "touched only in flight, glanced at, in a flash" (Nietzsche, GS 381). You "learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across [your] mind from within" (Emerson, Self Reliance). They are written down in midst of your life - for example, on a slip of paper from your pocket - not working at a desk.

Forget about the mob and professional critics. Write aphorisms for your children or grandchildren. Write them for a dear or unknown friend.  Write them for the times you forget the best in yourself.

Aphorist Possibilities

  

In the same paradoxical and contradictory way that light is not just a particle but a wave, we are not ONLY human beings but beings of the universe. We encompass all the species of life above and below us, past and future. We encompass the earth. We encompass the physical universe. We are our bodies. We are both for and against our species. We both contain our species and a yearning towards the power of another future species. No matter what it says, long "logical" discoursive literature, even a short essay, beckons us only towards humanity. Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" really means "I am human, therefore I am". He was wrong.

Everywhere are essential, laughable, marvelous, frightening, mind-boggling paradoxes that we don't explore. We are both subject and object. We are both the center of the world and a speck of dust in an enormous human and physical universe. Death is the source of all fear and "no big thing".  DNA is just a bunch of stacked atoms and "God the Creator". "War is the father of all things" and the stupidest of all things. Not only the half-blind, mechanical-scientific perspective but almost all human discourse has no place for these paradoxes we bump into every day of our lives.

Aphorisms allow our dual nature. Aphorisms allow paradoxes. The possibilities of an aphorist have never been explored. 

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How to Write your own Luccaph

Aphorisms are for everyone, to read and to write. 

An aphorism can be a thought, a joke, a small "poem", a loose haiku, an image, a glance, a paradox, an observation - almost anything, as long as it's short and concise. They are gifts from your spirit to yourself and possibly others. They require very little work, only good ears. Special thoughts and images come to you when you least expect them and they must be captured immediately. The trick is to express the thought in as few words as possible.

To catch them, you need a piece of paper and a pen that goes with you everywhere, even on a night-table while you sleep. A little notebook, a hand-held computer, or a digital voice memo is ok as long as it doesn't become a burden.

When you can, type the aphorisms into a word processor. Each aphorism must be separated by an asterisk * so the computer and reader can recognize it as a separate aphorism.  Always make backups and backups of backups (both on paper and on a hard disk), since your aphorisms probably won't easily come back to you if your computer ever loses them.

Patiently move (Highlight, Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V ) your "best" aphorisms to the beginning of your collection. (Be careful not to lose them in the process!)  Between 10 to 100 "best" aphorisms should be sufficient.  In this way your readers can see if they are interested in reading further.

Publish your luccaph on the internet by just adding it to a personal webpage or blog. Being a unique word, if you add "luccaph" in the title or subtitle of your collection it can easily be found with search engines.