[OSList] Fall Reflections

[Harrison via OSList]

There comes a moment here in Maine when the season turns. It is not a
gentle, creep up on you quietly, sort of thing. It is an all at once, very
suddenly, kind of thing. There is a change in the light, a different smell
on the wind, a chill on the air. Fall. It's here. Ending. Beginning. Now. 

 

A time of reflections.

 

It has taken me a lifetime of living. But. I have learned two things, or
maybe better, come to two conclusions. 1) All Systems are open. 2) All
systems are self organizing.

 

All Systems are Open is a complicated way of saying that everything is
connected, including all the things that aren't really a "thing," which we
don't even know about. The net result is an infinite complexity which is
completely unthinkable. And what you can't think, you surely can't control.
So much for THAT vain hope.

 

All Systems are self Organizing -- I know of no way of actually proving this
one, but it does seem a natural concomitant of the first conclusion. If you
find yourself in an infinitely complex and interconnected environment, where
nobody is, or can be, in control, such systems as are there, must have
pretty well gotten themselves together all by themselves. Of course there
are a number of people who are sure that God did it, and personally I don't
have any real problem with that. But ascribing it all to divine agency
doesn't help us very much. We still don't have much control and the systems
around us, including those we think we organized, have a source other than
our selves.  

 

Life under the conditions described above (Open, Self Organizing Systems)
can seem a little peculiar to some people, but it is not so much irrational
as different. Certain "strange" things always seem to happen. For example,
Whoever comes are the right people, whatever happens is the only thing that
could have, wherever it happens is the right place, whenever it happens is
the right time, and when it is over it is over. Always works out  that way,
so I've found.

 

All this appears conducive to a very passive existence. Not much for us to
do. And the truth of the matter is that doing less always seems to
accomplish a great deal more. That said, there is one thing that we really
have to do. Follow the Law of Two Feet! Strange sort of law which says - If
ever you find yourself in a situation in which you are neither learning or
contributing, you must move your two feet until you find yourself a new
place where you can do the one, the other, or preferably, both. In a few
words: Follow your passion and take responsibility for it.

 

It took 80 years. Fun!

 

Harrison 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Address

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, MD 20854

301-365-2093

 

Summer Address

189 Beaucaire Ave.

Camden, ME 04843

207-763-3261

 

Websites

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com

OSLIST To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
OSLIST Go to:
<http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20150830/583e12fc/attachment.htm>