Surprise as an intra-systematic event.

We all know what surprise is. It is the felling of wonderment as something extraordinary unfolds.

An intra-systematic event is something we are not accustomed to thinking about. It's a high-flutin', eight syllable, academic term. It's a fancy way of saying that an event is shared outside a system. The case I want to talk about, the system is a conversation. So to put a finer point on this, this is what happens when a surprise occurs, not about the topics of a conversation or even who is in conversation, but you are unexpectedly struck by a tickle originating somewhere in the universe that sparks a surprising novel idea, original notion, or a magical felling.

This sounds fun and something to strive for but it's a rare occurrence. Or is it?

When two people are in conversation, they each have different goals which is why mutual understanding on the topics talked about is so hard to achieve. What can happen if you leave yourself open to it, is the discovery of a related but not discussed idea or an unrelated surprise event.

If these happen by accident, how do we become more accident prone?

As an example: I'm in a conversation with a group about adding wiki-links to notes to provide a "jump-to" point. Totally unrelated the intra-systematic event occurs when Phil mentions that the title of 202006291709 is individual illusion of self (vs. no self) parallels collective illusion of human (vs. nature). Suddenly a flood of sensation I'd call a sense of serendipity cascades around me. I see myself in the ENGL 316 Environmental Writing Class presenting a paper on a non-dualistic view of the environmental crisis. A fantastic rush. I'm calling this a "intra-systematic event."

What do you think?

Distractions

There are levels of distraction. Gross distractions like social media, web surfing, mindless shopping. Fine distractions are those things, while positive in their own right, distract us from even more positive, more fulfilling activities. These are the distractions that hold us at our familiar and comfortable level of fulfillment. We become satisfied with our status quo. We stagnate. Once the gross distractions are conquered, some of the fine distraction can be even harder to conquer.

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look here, distractions
life’’s work is all but ignored
a long catnap helps

the closeness of the night

She is weeping for
a dance with love and warm
closeness in the night.

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I usually read one or two poetry books a year but today I find myself reading three at the same time.

Each Happiness Ringed By Lions by Jane Hirshfield - Re-read Jane has a sweet Zen non-dualist view and applies it to her poetry.

In the Dark, Soft Earth by Frank Watson - Frank is a new discovery and his poetry is devine. It touchs that place that is tickled by the universe when in the arms of sweet meditation. Only I get to have my eyes wide open and a book in my hands. Review copy given to me by the publisher.

Haiku, Volume 2: Spring by R.H. Blyth - Reginald's four volume exposè on haiku is magical. It is very traditional but heart warming all the same. I'm learning tons.

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It's raining

Spring rain on tin roof,
Rufus hummingbird defends feeder while
birdbath gets refilled.

Clouds

Spring clouds gather above
sleeping fields waiting for the farmer.
They don't mar the sky.

Expressing Silence

This old chair.
The weather can't make up its mind.
The wood stove grows cold

The problem haiku attempts to solve is the same problem posed by living life. How to focus in on the now moments. How can it blend conscious thought and vivid tactical, visceral experiences into a language that doesn't trigger just more thoughts without pointing anything out.

Sometimes silence is what you need to express this 'pointing out.' There needs to be space in the haiku for silence to occur. It is important to leave plenty of space for the silence of the moment. The haiku is written in one moment and read in another. Dogen would question this but it would be good to "act as if" there were two moments.

Making better choices

You make your own mistakes, and if you knew better, you'd choose better paths with more positive outcomes. You have the feeling that you make the best choices you can given the information you have at the current time. This feeling can incentivize you to look at how you make choices. Expanding your knowledge of life and the world is a clear path to making better choices. Realizing that you make the choices you do, based on the knowledge and experience that you have at a given moment, gives you insight and understanding of how people get into the predicaments that they do. If they knew better, they'd make better choices. It is not that they are deficient morally or physically. It is just a matter of incomplete or incorrect knowledge and experience that leads them to make what seems like the right choice to them but, as the future unfolds, it turns out to be a poor choice. We can see how our mistakes are because of some gap in our understanding, some information we didn't know or appreciate its significance. So why don't we see this as being valid for everyone else? Everyone else is acting from the decisions they make with the best information they have. Instead, we subscribe to them stupidity or maliciousness.

This journal is meant as a reminder to encourage my future self. This is where I work on my mental fitness and ‘adulting’. This becomes a reminder to me to operate in the world with love and compassion and gives my future self some tips that were put together in a moment of clarity to help me when I’m less clear and caught up in stuff I can’t control.  Please continue the conversation anytime via email at will@kestrelcreek.com.