And Then It Was a Peacock

Meditation was late in the day today and I think it wasn’t easier. I think when I get to it later in the day my back acts funnier than when I get to it earlier in the day. Meditation comes from the word meditor or that which means to remedy. I’m not sure what I’m remedying here but its practice takes me places that while I know to exist are not necessarily obvious or top of mind.

About empathy – While it is important and I realize it’s required it should not be apparent at every moment. Sometimes the object of my empathy might feel relegated to the depths of despair because of my manner. However, I wonder what is more – my concern or my attempt to remedy.

When one is thinking about thinking it is not hard to get distracted in visions of thoughts. My mother’s feet then turn into the edge of a chair that should be right in front of me yet I realize that I have not looked at it the whole day. It could be easy to read into these things but I know these are only consequences of neurons firing and trying to observe the action of themselves firing. At some level it will not be possible for the subject to become the object even if the subject realizes this all the while. Does it then mean something specific when my thoughts turn into a peacock and run away from me? What I was left with was the image of its behind with a wrapped up plumage taking those long steps with the hind of its legs visible and surprisingly resembling those of an ostrich. Perhaps I’m just making that last part up. Perhaps not.

It is only about the details

I have to agree that I was overwhelmed as well. There is just too much noise in the system and everyone has an opinion based on whatever information is available to them. That opinion then in turn has an emotional response attached to it. This in turn ellicits more reaction from the people around. This cycle just keeps on going on and on and on…

Among all this chaos the solution to mundane things is complicated. Maybe even the questions aren’t clear either. Unfortunately to keep the kitchen clean one has to clean the sink, the countertop needs to be scrubbed and everything from the spoons to the rag used to clean the utensils needs to be cleaned. This is not a ten minute job. At best to do this it takes at least 20 – 30 minutes. If one needs to be precocious this needs be done before and after meals. Maybe the cleaning before the meals only takes 20 minutes but after the meals takes at least 30 minutes. Assuming 4 meals in a day that each take 30 – 45 minutes themselves that brings the whole endeavor of dealing with the kitchen to about 120 + 80 + 120 = 320 minutes or 5 hours. 20% of your day!

The idea to go through that was not to split hairs but just to elaborate a simple thing could be very engaging and time taking. Diligence is not just for bootcamps or hostels it’s a core tenant of daily life. The only question is whether or not you want to pay attention to it. Do you require to get into this level of detail? Perhaps not. What happens when something that requires an amazing amount of attention is thrust upon us? As an engineer and a working professional I had to cultivate attention to detail. Getting into the details of things is what ensured that the output is the best. Am I always successful? No, I would instead say I’m perhaps fail more than I succeed at the endeavor. Yet, I’m aware that attention is required to arrive at an optimum understanding and output.

So when the pandemic struck, even before it was classified as a pandemic I wanted to get into the details about it. No, I’m not going to get into the details here but I will only mention that details are important. Details about news sources, about the science about the cures, vaccines, everything. Yes, the human mind is limited in capacity and resource constraints are what makes this whole thing so interesting. It brings prioritization into the picture. Now you need to know what to focus on, how much and when. Prioritization and classification is what leads to and increase in the signal to noise ratio. Something relatively easily acheived in electronics and something extremely hard to do in systems where human beings are involved. The details are important. The details are paramount.

They bring light into your life as long as you help keep the light on

There was a lot of talk about spirits and souls. The Source sent some information to me and wanted me to contact him. I didn’t see clearly but I could see the white light from the tent… and on and on goes the garbage. A screenshot of the website over at gaia.com. I hate to take credit for this awe inspiring image. Please head over there if you’re lost in life.

Some you can see right through other looks a little more convincing. The internet has a mindbogglingly large repository of blogs, websites, videos that are replete with utter garbage. I too have fallen victim to the noxious content a few times. However I found a cure. Whenever you need to verify or scrutinize the authenticity and understand the source of someone’s intentions follow the money.
Case in point: The Gaia network. Tons of “convincing” interviews, advertisements on YouTube. They also call themselves a “member run organization”. All this is nice, white and glistening until you dig into the security filings documented with the Securities and Exchange Commission. God bless my instructors during the MBA who taught me to read financial reports and pay attention to footnotes in these tricky documents. $500K for the pay of a CEO and that’s without counting all the options and stock that’s on top of the compensation. This CEO of the Gaia network likes to call his organization member led even though he has more 50% of the voting stock and this can decide the fate of the company. And then of course with money like that you can also walk the desert like a free soul, spreading knowledge and light as long as that paycheck gets deposited into the Cayman islands bank account twice a month on the Fridays.

Stay woke and stay critical!

A signal of the times. Who are we?

Moxie at one end of the spectrum who signifies freedom, technical wizardry and liberation beyond the minute details of day to day life. Moxie, in all probability is not even his real name. He doesn’t need to be identified by his real name because his work identifies him. His work lays the foundation for major messaging platforms around the world. I do not know if he’s attentive to that and if there aren’t a lot of people who’ve written about his enamor and wonderful personality. My guess it there aren’t many who have scrutinized him from that perspective because they haven’t had the need to do that. Yet, his signature lies on almost a billion messages sent across to people across the world every single day.
In a tribe he wouldn’t survive very long but alone he’d go the distance. People in his community wouldn’t understand him or his deal and they would find it hard to look at things from his perspective. As a result, he’s suffer politically.
Adam at the other end who signifies himself as the leader of a technology group while he’s lost in the day to day distractions and attractions of life. There is nothing related to technology about his company and neither is he a leader. He “leads” topically because his structure supports this image of a traditional leader of a tribe. He seems personable and he is tall, which signifies that he has the physical attributes of a leader in the wild. His smile seems genuine and he seems to understand the context of most conversations when he’s intently listening to the on-goings of meetings and directions that are being given to him. In reality he’s just playing along and putting on a face. I don’t know this but I’m speculating.
In a tribe he would be considered the leader because he could rally along everyone to a common cause but he depended on a coterie of advisers. People who would fill in the gaps in his understanding. Unfortunately his advisers and backers seem to have massive gaps of their own. There are people who invested in him and his vision without actually scrutinizing his intent. He might still pull it off and be successful if he can manipulate the masses. He’s perfected the manipulation on a small scale in one on one conversations.
Faith in people and investments as a mirror for societal mindset. Indicative and reflective of the mass mindset and the structure of society today.
However, WeWork and Signal lead very different life-cycles as brands in the minds of the consumer. Most people don’t know about Signal, the app or Signal, the protocol and they don’t care to know about those details. Yet, WeWork is all over the news for the notorious founder, his “exciting” life, the recent public offering of stock among other things. I feel this reaction to the these two companies is a result of the average public mindset today. People have become more topical and transitory in their engagements. There is a lack of depth in relationships, conversations, feelings and the daily on-goings.
Credit culture and how it’s perceived by the people who are driving that culture is something that I would have liked to extend this post into but I’ll reserve that as a separate post for another time.

Love, Light and Peace,