Imagine we had a compass…

This thought experiment came to me while out sailing with a friend. What if we discovered that our boat has a compass? What if we had no idea what it was, or how it worked? There it sat. And, at times we would notice certain apparent coincidences. Certain alignments with other things we were familiar

Drawn to Create

Drawing has a series of definitions. We tend to think of drawing as a form of representation or even simply a notation. It is also a physical act. Not only does the artist draw a line. The archer draws a bow and a blacksmith draws metal. Let’s look into this kind of drawing. It forms

The Dark Economy

After a long transition we’ve gone from having a major world economy that takes place out in the open to one in which all meaningful – by the judgment of those in charge of it – activity takes place within a Dark Economy that is completely hidden from public view. The parasite on the parasite

It’s not your/their urgency…, it’s mine…

That is the problem. We don’t know what works. We DO know what doesn’t. The whole chasing-after-control-by-wielding-power-thing. Call it civilization. Call it whatever you want. From this abstraction; taken from a moment of survival when wielding strength brings us another chance: to eat, to be left in peace, to protect someone we care about; we

Religion, Mental Proprioception, and the Implicate Order.

JMG has repeatedly pointed out that a religious impulse is always at work. There are many avenues for this impulse to work through. There are many places it can hide in plain sight, as it does in civic religions. As it does in our belief in science/technology, distinct from the practice of science. There are

Stop Counting

In dreams we approach a form of knowing that we find difficult to access while awake. We tend to discount the sensation that there was “something to it.” Or, we displace our fascination within the dream in a vain attempt to narrate its dramatic particulars. As this fails to match our original wonder, as we

Sufficiency without number

Sufficiency is an attitude not a quantity. Chasing after desires we have lost any sense that happiness can be anything other than a list checked off. Pursuit. Nothing could be more destabilizing. Either for an individual or a culture. And, before we get caught up in some form of zealotry…. Yes, the desire to control

Process

process early 14c., “fact of being carried on” (e.g. in process), from O.Fr. proces “journey” (13c.), from L. processus “process, advance, progress,” from pp. stem of procedere “go forward” (see proceed). Meaning “course or method of action” is from mid-14c.; sense of “continuous… As with so many words, we rarely look at where they came

“Process” may not be the right word for this…

We are accustomed to thinking that what we do involves processes. Let’s stop right there and unpack that statement. “Accustomed” is another term for conditioned. “Thinking…” well, there we go…. So, by the time we get to “process” we’re already in suspicious territory! What led to this question was a mediation on creativity and its

The Patholgies of Ego

The Spectacle keeps us contributing to “The Future.” “Stay and be entertained!” It cajoles. “Leave and be fearful!” It threatens. This cycle of abusive domination is evident in politics and throughout media-dominated culture. If we turn away we feel a loss. If we miss the latest developments we are afraid. Just as there is a

Resistance

Nothing exists solely to fulfill a single purpose or to take a singular role in a single process. How can I realize that the “answer” is not to remake the world in my image, that no singular image of what the world “should” be is either possible or beneficial? If these are true, then what

From Negotiation to Dialogue

From negotiation to dialogue we move from scarcity to gift. Quantities are not affected, at least not over short spans – in the long run scarcity negotiations drive us to collapse and the Gift maintains and develops creation while filling innumerable niches to bring forth abundance. Technology is firmly within the realm of negotiation. Craft