Porcupines

The philosopher Schopenhauer gave an often-quoted example of porcupines trying to get through a cold winter. They huddle together for warmth, but their sharp quills prick each other, so they pull away. But then they get cold. The have to keep adjusting their closeness and distance to keep from freezing and from getting pricked by their fellow porcupines-the source of both comfort and pain.

We need to et close to each other to have a sense of community , to feel we're not alone in the world. But we need to keep our distance from each other to preserve our independence, so others don't impose on or engulf us. This duality reflects the human condition. We are individual and social creatures. We need other people to survive, but we want to survive as individuals.
-The Workings of Conversational style
-Deborah Tannen, Ph. D.


A dilemma: learning to function as both social beings and discrete individuals.



Because of the way our eyes are set up, our peripheral vision is more suited to detecting differences in light/darkness, sometimes to the extent that we can see more detail from the side than when viewing the object straight on. For example, if you cannot count all seven stars of the Pleiadies, try not looking directly at it.
Some things are most themselves when not directly so.



A good seed does not preserve itself but becomes something else.

Don't be afraid - no growth without change, no change without death.


a candle must not fear fire
books were meant to be deshelved, read, and shared
tents were made to be weathered outdoors

You've got yourself two good hands,

put yourself and your resources to work responsibly.

Stay honest with yourself

and integrate your components so that you can experience more completely, and so

words and actions don't stretch too far apart and lose each other.

Having a direction to grow with,

Explore the future, for the sake of curiosity and process.

Stay open and impressionable,

but keep your agency.

Even waiting can be an active process.


There is much living to do.