Observations — I really know so very little

As I may have mentioned I like to walk — many health benefits come with walking, including freeing up white space to think.

On one such walk, the white space helped me realize that any ol’ QR code reader wasn’t going to work to access a platform I needed to, well, access. I was going to need an authenticator*. As I basked in the light of my simple problem-solving abilities, later on I also faced the realization I really fucking know so very little.

I was making my way through the park when I noticed a small cordoned off area and a sign that said, Bunnies Nesting Please do not Disturb. Curious, I went over to look for the bunny hole, and all I saw was grass. Obviously, whoever went to all this trouble hadn’t watched Bugs Bunny as a kid, because everyone knows rabbits live in holes, and by extension, also make other bunnies there.

Walking away shaking my head at the idiocy of the world, I couldn’t help wonder why someone would go to all that trouble for a joke (or a delusion). It quickly dawned on me that maybe I should confirm what I think I know before I start getting up on some sort of pedestal with things to say. As per the internet, it turns out cotton-tail rabbits dig out a shallow depression, line it with fur and covers it with grass — it is there, they go about the business of raising their litter. These nests are called forms.

Well this is humiliating.

Good thing I was by myself because it was embarrassing to go from a position of arrogant conviction to one of humbling ignorance. The realization that I know so very little just hung over me. I likened what I know to a pin hole in a large piece of paper and what I think I know to something slightly larger; everything else on the paper (and beyond) was what I don’t know. After all these years, the realization that I know nothing was courtesy of a cute little animal with big ears.

I will admit I have recovered quickly because, somewhere in all of this, I think I may be reaching for wisdom. It made me think of what Socrates said, “all I know is that I know nothing”. If it is good enough for one of the greatest philosophers that ever lived, it is most definitely good enough for me. Knowledge is a curious thing, it appears out of nowhere, can be acquired or given to you, and will define you. But remember, it can be a trickster too — it can be independent of truth or accuracy, it can change over time and it is influenced by perspective.

I like the idea of wisdom. It is critical and challenges how smart we think we are (myself included). So it’s back into the breach with my fledgling wisdom and my curiosity, and we will see where that takes me.

As an aside, the neighbourhood is full of bunnies — they are literally everywhere.

iampe

*the authenticator did the trick and I was able to get to the data I needed — because data is everything

Observations — momentum

As a training ride goes, I was on my game— the saddle felt good; legs were getting stronger as I went; my wind was good, and I was enjoying a beautiful day. This momentum would carry the day until I had to come to a hard stop because of cars on a country road. It was all gone and I stood there watching them go by.

There was an audible grunt of exasperation as I got the pedals going again — I was nothing more than potential energy* at that point.

Figuratively speaking, I did get my momentum back and the training ride went as planned, but I couldn’t shake the figurative concept of momentum and worked it into my training out there on the trail. I would like to point out that a buddy of mine looks at training much differently; he’s all about data collection for optimal performance, focus, and the determination to ride the fastest time possible — he’s an engineer by trade so it comes honestly. I ride for the adventure, which for him, is a seat of the pants approach to training for a race. It will make him bat-shit crazy to learn half of my training focus was on figurative concepts of momentum.

Our momentum, figuratively speaking, is always being challenged — life trying to slow you down. We work through it and continue, much like my cycling example.

But sometimes, things happen that take you to a knee, or worse still, take you to the floor. The little events can add up but mostly this falls into the big event category: a death; the loss of the love of your life; a demotion that that strips you of your identity; an addiction that spirals out of control — there is a long list of horrors that can take you to the floor and destroy any and all momentum (figuratively speaking).

You are now on the floor, all momentum is gone, and it is all seemingly unfair — although the choices are easy: stay on the floor with all the rationalization at you command to justify staying where you are or get up and build your momentum again. I don’t think I mentioned building momentum is fucking hard, energy intense, needs willful intent, as well as time. Like anything worth achieving it is hard work.

You need to get up. Staying on the floor is no legacy, no matter how you try to rationalize the situation, it offers nothing but regrets, bitterness, and missing out on the potential of a lifetime.

How do you get up? Start at the beginning and build it back up. I will take the cheap way out and say you will know how that’s done when you have done it, and in fairness every situation will be different. But what I do know, is you have to fucking get up; you have to be willful, push through the pain, claw yourself to a knee, find a way to stand and put one foot in from of the other, and move. All figuratively speaking of course.

Can’t wait to continue my training — I can feel the momentum building.

iamgpe

* Potential energy is the stored energy in an object due to its position, properties, and forces acting on it.

Observations — Why?

I walk regularly; part of a larger regimen to keep the rusty hinge moving (figuratively speaking) — I could go on about some awful bike training but it would be just self-serving and slightly tragic, so I won’t. Regardless, I was walking the other day and a brief but thought-provoking exchange happened.

Shortly into my walk, a woman passing me motioned she had something to say. I stopped and smiled as she asked me if I would like to have a website address that reviews the major religions of the world and reviews great works such as the Bible and the Koran.

To that, I simply responded, “Why?” She looked at me, and with little thought, said she always asks people she meets on her walks. I smiled and said no.

Wishing her a great day I continued on my way.

I wondered why I said no? Ultimately, the reason turned out to be that I didn’t like the answer to my question. If she had said something along the lines of, “We put this website together because we have found that people, no matter their backgrounds, are more similar than we realize. With similar beliefs and truths, that in the end, show why people should be working together, rather than fighting each other“ I might have said, “Yes.” It definitely would have been a better answer than, “I ask people who I meet.”

A very long time ago I was told that Why is a very confrontational question — it’s the type of question that gets people’s hackles up. People don’t like to be asked why? It’s too direct; I was told you need to couch your search for reasons indirectly and smooth over any offence that comes with simply wanting to increase your critical understanding. (As an aside, read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius for inspiring thoughts on critical understanding.)

So why would one little world be considered confrontational? I actually think it quickly exposes whether someone actually knows why they are doing whatever they are doing. It forces the need to articulate thoughts, explains rationale of action, and exposes critical thinking and understanding. It is a word to be embraced because it forces an answer, or in the case of the lovely woman I met on my walk, a non-answer.

And for those who want to say why is a bad question because the obvious answer is why-not or because — all I can say is you are not giving a serious question it’s due. And people will say no more than you would like.

iamgpe