Where do ideas come from?

What is it that allows us to realise that we could do something we had never considered but know it’s exactly what we’ve been looking for? Is it a random accident? or is it already there as a possibility somewhere within our structure?

The tendency is to think of structure as that place bordered by our skin but what if we considered our environment as part of our structure?

That our life was just a glorious ripple in the fabric of existence ..

What is the mechanism that allows our interests to form and discoveries to be made? How did the keystone arch come about? or the abstractions of organic form later down the track?

The thing I find amazing is that at any moment ..

anything could happen ..

Yet for most of us we spend our lives trying to stop that.

We’d like things to be predictable .. better .. but predictable.

Why is that?

Well .. look at this bird drying its wet wings on a jetty and consider ..

at any moment anything could happen ..

Well ..

What did you imagine?

Sometimes our ability to live is stymied by a sense of potential danger. Now, assuming (and hoping) that you are not in a dangerous place, that sense is often a fear of losing our self. It’s a tricky thing as it’s very hard to find actual evidence of a self. We construct an identity and continually seek ways to affirm it’s existence

The sense of belonging is important but in our culture it’s a little out of hand. Monkeys groom each other and have regular interactions with other troop members to maintain social harmony.

Humans consume things. I recently did a survey that indicated that my modest middle class lifestyle would require the resources of 5 planet earths if it was to be sustainable for everyone.

Clearly something needs to change but how do we go about it?

It would be useful to write a new story for ourselves. One that sees us as a part of a system rather than an exploitive overseer. The challenge is that our habits get in the way.

I know it would really be much better if I had less coffee and cake but that moment of decision is so often avoided in the clamour to feel good. It’s like a mood stabiliser for me.

Is this a variation on how our leaders feel when they avoid taking action on the many and varied life threatening challenges we face?

We grasp after phantoms at our peril ..

Things come and go .. The challenge is to see them not only as they are but also as part of the larger system.

This week we’ll be exploring the way we rise from the floor using objects such as chairs or a wall. We’ll build on last weeks idea of our volume to look beyond the phantoms of our existence.

What happens when we make bad decisions? Does our body image shift into 2-D? What would happen if we cultivated a 3-D sense of our body in times of crisis?

If we can view our sometimes powerless response to habit with some compassion and allow things to be as they are will it possible to have a wider view - both of ourselves and our world?

The process of paying attention to the way we move is an opportunity to examine things in new ways. It’s those spaces in between the movements when our bodies surrender to the floor that insights appear. It’s not just our body that rests.

Cultivating stillness without the need for oblivion is an opportunity to reconsider our vision.

We need a new story and it’s up to us to write it.

The stakes are higher than they have ever been

and the emperor

still has no clothes

With love

David

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The Art of Writing 9 - Freeing the head, neck and shoulders