L'abri

I've become mesmerized by the barrage of bird pictures taken using the new fast digital cameras that are free to be shared with everyone. Finally these flighty jewels of nature show us a security that can be found in mobility, stealth and simplicity. Without huge monuments, expensive possessions or powerful engines, birds survive and seems to celebrate life.

L'abri means shelter in French. More than the English concept that conjures physical structures, the French implies equally the state of being safe. This abstract concept is more natural and independent of wealth. It is also more about solitude than the masses. An embrace more than applause. Silence over a speech.

Integrity

Personal integrity is just being honest to myself. It's amazing how hard it can be to achieve. So many seem to lie about what we want to accommodate the security of the institutions humans made and we being human, could change. Defending the institution at the expense of our integrity may feel easy, but the sacrifice to our person is too costly.

Relationships are hard because we can't see what another is thinking and feeling clearly. If we refuse even to see what we ourselves are like inside, or don't care, then relationships based on trust and love are impossible. So we rely solely on contracts and laws to govern them. Where societies do not value the power of the written word, it is left to the powerful to rule our lives, our relationships.

It is so sad to see people dying inside right before your eyes. I believe we die every time we lie to ourselves about what we want, who we love and how we feel. This lie causes us to make bad decisions, do evil to others and spread the disease to society.

Look at the bird, which is small, so fragile, so unfettered, so free. Perhaps this little beauty can teach us a lesson in personal integrity.

Choice

The famous Robert Frost poem:

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;        5

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,        10

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.        15

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Many have quoted from it. But usually only the beginning and the end to show they made the right choice. The picture shows a field and not a wood. I bet, most will just think about choosing between the left or the right road.

What about the middle, or float above the field in a balloon... or map the whole field... or ...?

I think we look at life, at family, work, politics, countries that seem to give us choices. Often they are no choices at all. For the limits imposed are made by humans. And being each of us human, everyone can try to rewrite the rules.

In established powerful institutions, on which some have found security and wealth, the proposition to change the limits or rewrite the rules become perceived personal threats. So they write laws that requires us to walk on the paths laid out only.

That may be useful in a factory where the infra-structure is expensive. Most of the progress of the last Century follows the factory model of organisation. Mass producing students, workers, civil-servants, professionals, artists... Making money is about reaching the masses. Social contracts, laws and constitutions may be biased to mass management.

Institutional structure is moving onto the more ethereal realm of digital signals broadcast, manipulated and translated into communication shown on screens big and small. The limits depend on computer programs which are no longer capital intensive. It just takes effort to redefine a space or a relationship.

The rules can be changed much more quickly than before. This will free creative minds to explore the roads less traveled and make the difference. The move is away from mass management to individualized care and responsibility. The age of cog-like human life is coming to an end. We should take the risk of training our children to think, to live, to thrive, and not just follow well trodden paths that lead to the same places, just because it's "safe".

Struggle

It seems that I have most to say when I'm struggling. Whether it is because I feel trapped, bored, excitement, sadness, pain.... the struggle is to change. My blogs show part of my outcry. I thought it would take me to a conclusion, like the final page of a great novel, the triumph at the end of a movie, riding into the sunset....

As it turned out, each day is new with the pain of change, moments of darkness and triumph. I'm celebrating, mourning, loving all of it. The mystery of this life as it unfolds is like this strange flower that seems to reveal more and more of itself as it grows. The beauty is not a destination but the joy in life and growth. Even the struggle is part of the new peace and calm. The fear and panic is disappearing.

Unity

Differences in opinion, in dress, in personal choice, in love are only stressful if they cause us to judge. Unity can exist but it takes some creativity, smarts and effort to fit.

Especially when the pieces change shape and color all the time. Solve this puzzle and we are finding what it means to be human.

Corruption

According to Transparency.org "CORRUPTION IS THE ABUSE OF ENTRUSTED POWER FOR PRIVATE GAIN." A recent tweet "I was told by a Chinese tycoon that I can't be trusted coz I don't accept bribes. It is actually rational. Everything is a trade with them."

I think corruption starts inside oneself. It has to do with obsession with money, sex and power that leads to lying, cover-ups, conspiracy, blindness, deafness and dumbness. Corruption wounds, their scabs numb our calloused hearts so we find it harder to smile, to enjoy, to love. It's bad for business, for family, for friendship, society and growth. 

Pity the blind, deaf and dumb who want to rule, and those who willingly follow. 

Cages

Alejandro Jodorowsky said "Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness." The title of this blog is about the limits of large frames of reference (like dinosaurs) giving way to less restrictive, more creative ones, resembling birds. The dino's that are being replaced are institutional structures. Besides the written word, institutions involve meetings and discourse.

Before telecommunications beginning with the telegraph which evolved as bandwidth expanded, wireless replacing cables, digital replacing analog... we had to meet physically in one place. For millennia, we assumed reality is physical. As telecommunications became accessible for all media (beyond voice, to text, images and video) anytime, anywhere, the way we experience reality has changed. We don't have to physically go to meetings to gather and talk anymore.

This possibility should remove the necessity to have only one profession, to be chained to a desk, be physically present to work...effectively dismantling the limits of time and space. Productivity, quality of life and social progress can benefit from the resulting freedom. But like birds born in the paradigm cage of obligatory physical gathering, "virtual" meetings seem anomalous and less real; hence its name.

But the truth is that talking face-to-face does not guarantee effective communication. Walls and time-cards keep people present but do nothing about quality.

The key is HOW the relationship is managed and developed using contracts, collaborative tools, reports, project management, debate, decisions etc. which were always important. This new reality demands real human contact and condemns hiding behind rituals.

There is a lot of criticism about how screen addiction has made people zombie-like. The advice is to discard the screen for real human contact (which is face-to-face). This is only partly correct.

For reality is more than physical but psychological and philosophical, which are abstract and virtual. The screen should not be an obstacle if this is true.

Exegesis

"An explanation or critical interpretation of a text". How the written word is interpreted is the key to society and civilization.  Most do not venture to consciously think about different points of view which is what exegesis essentially entails.

All institutions including companies, countries, churches, marriage... are based on the written word. We call them contracts, scripture, laws, constitution...  We interpret the words often subconsciously, resigning ourselves to prejudices and "the norm". It depends on context, psychology and influence.

St. Peter's basilica was built during an age of enlightenment in Europe, when the printing press democratized texts, so more and more people could consider the written word about everything. Facts became information, knowledge and could be distributed on paper.

The technology to build the dome, which existed many years before that in Istanbul (Constantinople) was updated and the beautiful monument to the catholic faith was made. Michelangelo and company wanted the wonder of the architecture to amaze close up. But over the years, the entrance was pushed further and further from the dome so the best part of structure is not really visible even in the court yard. At the new entrance to the plaza (where the picture was taken) the dome is visible far away.

It is a pity that most people read words without any conscious exegesis. Mind you the interpretation occurs even if it is completely subconscious. It is like they prefer to view a truth from afar. Truth (like the dome of St Peter's basilica) can become monuments we view from afar, resigning to the point of view imposed on us by the powerful.

But unlike St Peters, we can seek to find new vantage points on any text just by thinking. I wonder why so many refuse to do so.