One of the lessons I learned from the artist Deane Keller first, and it clearly applies to any analytic undertaking as well, is the importance of the sealed vessel. In analysis the clear analogy is to the alchemical vessel, which if not properly sealed will result in the spirit escaping from the bottle.
I recall sharing with Deane one evening a vision of a poetic work I was formulating. My enthusiasm was electric. When he finally got a word in he questioned: should I be telling him?
As you might imagine, he was correct. The “work” never launched. Does this tale sound familiar? Can you point to the different approaches you took that resulted in either a successful completion, or a failed attempt? Does a strong hermetic seal have anything to do with it?
How are you utilizing all the folks you exchange ideas with across the social media platforms? The number one difference from this corner is that no matter where I go these days, connecting with folks that I met first through this world is now a regular occurrence. Each time these exchanges translate into encounters, I get an amazing affirmation of the value of being active in this space.
Each time I meet up with someone it changes the nature of the relationship in this space moving forward as well. It creates some texture in memory, fills in the blanks and builds a shared history that acts as an anchor as the relationship moves back into the cyber world.
I’ve met hundreds of folks now that I first encountered on-line doing this work and each and every time my life has been enriched through the encounter. Are you reaching through the screen?
Every so often I enjoy tossing a post onto the blog by a different method. For instance I like playing with the scheduler. I try the quick press which Wordpress has on it’s dashboard. My friend Jeb hooked me up with the Postie plugin that allows for posting by email.
This post is being crafted with the blackberry application BlogLive. It’s interesting how if we alter our practice we gain a fresh perspective. Typing with the thumbs while seated in the Adirondack chair out on the deck after dinner has a completely different feel to it than peering at the computer screen. Sometimes, when seated with the computer, it’s as if that screen becomes the whole world. And that’s terribly skewed.
Here, the immersion in the environment predominates and the two inch screen of the blackberry seems much more a note pad in relationship to the overall experience. The birds have begun their night song. Hankins Creek rushes down the valley swollen with the recent rains. A mower hums off to my left. I can hear a jet above the clouds. Some of the weekenders from the city are driving past on their way home. Here comes…and there goes the son of a farmer in his loud (no muffler?) pickup truck. A pesky fly pulls my hand from this task repeatedly.
How do you mix up your practice?
My copy of the 10th Anniversary Edition of The Cluetrain Manifesto arrived yesterday and with it my journey to read into the important books that make up the bookshelf of this space will be complete. I could start spilling all the excitement I’ve found cracking the book open, but part of me knows that’s for you to go find. Instead let me just highlight this amazing post today by Doc Searls on celebrity:
“I submit that obsessing about celebrity is unhealthy for the single reason that it is also unproductive. Celebrity is to mentality as smoking is to food. (I originally wrote “chewing gum” there, but I think smoking is the better analogy.) It is an unhealthy waste of time. And time is a measure of life. We are born with an unknown sum of time, and have to spend all of it. “Saving” time is a rhetorical trick. So is “losing” it. Our lives are spent, one end to the other. What matters most is how we choose to spend it.”
I was given the great opportunity to hear Doc Searls at the SXSW this past March. While there are many players in this space primarily concerned with leveraging status into success, he’s about content. So much of what the imitators are preaching in this space was already embedded in the Cluetrain a decade ago. I’m looking to Doc to show us what 2020 will look like.
Finding Play
Persevere
Lifestream Digest for December 25th
Lifestream Digest for September 17th