Daily Archives: December 18, 2008

Faith and Spirituality, Great Work

Emergence

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11  bar falls 30.22  2mph NE  windchill 7   Samhain

Last Quarter Moon of Long Nights

Here is a new term (new to me) that has become important in my thinking:  emergence.  It comes from a discipline that fascinates me, but about which I know very little:  complexity theory.  Emergence describes those characteristics of life forms, human history and human economics that arise from the fact of life itself.   Emergent realities like value, meaning and history, according to this line of thought, do not break the laws of physics, but cannot be predicted by application of those same laws.

Inability to predict the next action of a man or woman, the working of the markets or the next events in  human history creates a peculiar circumstance.  It means that though they break no natural laws these emergent realities do not conform to either.   Again, according to this line of thought, this lack of predictability has two sources:  agency and creativity.

Agency is the ability to act.  Combined with consciousness in human beings this leads to creativity.  Creativity and agency make for the rich, diverse reality that is human life.

I’m not going to go too far with this right now because I’m just beginning to absorb it. I want to understand how it relates to my work on a Ge-ology and read a critique or two before I get overly excited, but it seems like an important idea to me.

Faith and Spirituality, Great Wheel, Great Work

Falling Deeper Into Darkness

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12  bar steady 30.27  0mph  ENE  windchill 12   Samhain

Last Quarter of the Moon of Long Nights

As you can tell by the temperature, we have a heat wave in progress.  12 degrees!  Break out the shorts and t-shirts and sandals.  This is a good old-fashioned Minnesota winter so far and I’m liking it.

I spent this afternoon reading material for part III of Heresy Moves West.  This one will explore what I sense is an emerging new faith, one rooted in the soil of the Midwest and given space by our skies.  It is not unique to us, nor is our embrace of it unique.  What is unique is our location, a place from which this new faith can take wings and begin to test the air of this 3rd millennia after the West focused on Jerusalem.  With 2,000 years of Christianity and 500 or so of reason, we need a new way to view our situation in the universe.

Those of us who live among the wheat fields, corn fields and dairy farms of the Midwest have grown up with this faith attached to our Selves.  The very factors which make the bi-coastal crowd smirk as they fly over over our green land are the ones which give us a birthright understanding of ourSelves as part of, rather than apart from, the natural world.

As we fall deeper into darkness, heading toward the Winter Solstice now only three nights away, our time underground, Persephone-like, reaches it deepest point.  This is a time for meditation and contemplation.

Our Land and Home

Do Ya’ Live in Minnesota?

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Forwarded to me by a fellow Woolly Mammoth, Tom Crane.

Jeff Foxworthy on Minnesota

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by,
You might live in Minnesota.
If you’re proud that your state makes the national news 96 nights each year because International Falls is the coldest spot in the nation,
You might live in Minnesota.
If you have ever refused to buy something because it’s “too spendy,”
You might live in Minnesota.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March,
You might live in Minnesota.
If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don’t work there,
You might live in Minnesota.
If your dad’s suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead,
You might live in Minnesota.
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
You might live in Minnesota.
If your town has an equal number of bars and churches,
You might live in Minnesota.
If you know how to say …Wayzata…
Mahtomedi…Cloquet…Edina…and Shakopee,
You might live in Minnesota.
If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy,
You might live in Minnesota.
If vacation means going “up north” for the weekend,
You might live in Minnesota.
You measure distance in hours,
You might live in Minnesota.
You know several people who have hit deer more than once,
You might live in Minnesota.
You often switch from “Heat” to “A/C” in the same day and back again,
You might live in Minnesota.
You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow
During a raging blizzard without flinching,
You might live in Minnesota.
You see people wearing hunting clothes at social events,
You might live in Minnesota.
You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked,
You might live in Minnesota.
You think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and venison,
You might live in Minnesota.
You carry jumper cables in your car, and your girlfriend knows how to use them,
You might live in Minnesota.
There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Mill’s Fleet Farm at any given time,
You might live in Minnesota.
You design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit,
You might live in Minnesota.
Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow,
You might live in Minnesota.
You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and of course, road construction,
You might live in Minnesota.
You can identify a southern or eastern accent,
You might live in Minnesota.
Your idea of creative landscaping is a plastic deer next to your blue spruce,
You might live in Minnesota.
If “Down South” to you means Iowa,
You might live in Minnesota.
You know “a brat” is something you eat,
You might live in Minnesota.
You find -10 degrees “a little chilly”,
You might live in Minnesota.
GeekWorld, Great Work, Politics

Home Work

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8  bar steady  30.27  0mph NW  windchill 6   Samhain

Last Quarter Moon of Long Nights

A busy morning here at the homestead.  I played around with various formats and methods of research for the Sierra Club legislative committee.  One setup uses Google News Alerts and Google Docs to create a real time log of news articles, web entries and video feeds on the five issues the LegCom will target during this years legislature.  This much I can do at home.

My new datalogger for my weather station has not yet succumbed to my troubleshooting, but I imagine I’ll wrestle it to the ground sometime soon.  Something about ports seems to be hanging it up right now.  Requires detailed attention and I have to set aside time for that.

Kate and I had our business meeting.  In spite of the negative financial weather swirling around we’re fine; not as wealthy as we were in, say, August, but fine nonetheless.

Good news on the car front.  It was only a blown tire as far as they can see.  Everything else looks fine.  Under $400 bucks and I’d imagined multiple thousands.  Quite a relief.  We decided we’ll keep this one running until the plug-ins make sense.