LOOK(ING) OUT
Studying the nature of surveillance | the lookout, the sentinel, the scout (and the brand). S E N T I N E L F O R T H E B R A N D Looking out: over the shifting world, there is what is flowing out -- the push; and what is flowing in -- the pull. The question might be, do you look out, in the nature of seeing what's happening in the marketplace, and what that might mean in the evolution of strategy? These days, I'm on the road, it feels, more than I'm in Seattle -- jumping from project to...
POWERPOLE
L E A D E R S H I P M A G N E T I S M In the modeling of a group of people, there is invariably a "power pole." Working with people, I look for that energized place of energy. Who's there? In the clustering of people, there is the layering of the rings of connections, in any organization, there is a person that is the center-point of that energy -- others gather round, and link into that vibration. People are connected to others with a kind of energy. There are types of magnetism -- some,...
ABRACADABRA | Alphabet Amulets
I got a note from some friends at the Oxford English Dictionary. It was about this word, "abracadabra" -- and perhaps you've got the same one, since you might have friends there too. Earlier in my life, studying the history of the word, the real key is linking historical references, the actual "use" of the word to form connections -- for one collective approach to studying language. But you can dig far deeper, looking into the etymological references of words that might range back thousands of...
Sometimes, in our attempts to process and organize, we forget the beauty of the chaotic milieu -- where things aren't really as nicely laid out as we might have imagined. Projects seem to drift off into a differing continuum -- there are challenges in getting our "formats" to align with others, and our sense of approach is limited to the channels that we hold dear in the forum of past experiences. I've found (myself) lately thinking about, and studying, the idea of listening even more quietly,...
KNOTWORK
(Girvin) Himalayan mountain protective talisman THE TALISMANIC STRING Coming into the office in Seattle, on one wall there is a string of talismans; they're arranged -- as a threading, running from the front of the office, the opening door, to the entry point, the first nexus. (Girvin) These amulets are reaches to protection -- collected, over decades: Arabic, Sanskrit, Hebrew; and they call from people of Egypt, India, Israel, Turkey and Afghanistan, among other places, other people. They...
DUST
The scent of dust. The perfume of the journey. The spice of the road. I am sorting through a collection of delicate, sacred books. They come from many places, but like a bundled sanctum, they are all together -- near by each other, in the darkness of a room that rarely sees light of any kind. That dark, keeps care, well kept, held in the quiet cover of a room that sees rest, some prayer, some sanctity. These books are very tiny -- some, bound with the skin of leather; and another, worn and...
PEOPLE THAT INSPIRE ME: The 5 steps of mentorship
GOING BACK, I realize those that inspire me, those that have taught me all -- brought me into their fold. In where I am, I make real what I learned from them. Being here, now -- I am what I am. Listening to the filtration of time, the strata of learning -- I go back. One mentor: Jack Lenor Larsen at his apartment, 55 Park, NYC There are influencers in life — people that connect with you, and connect you with others, that are profound change agents in your experience. I can recount a number of...
FIRE HOSE
WHAT FIRE COMES IN A HOSE? Watching fire, I see a channel, it's a breathing entity -- while there is wind, the fire inhales and there is a kind of beautiful translation. I can't take my eyes off of the smolder, the coals, the roaring Anything that has a color, becomes a new color -- which could be the translation to black. But transformation is variable -- to one, there is black, to another -- sulphured yellow; another, a raven black purple -- a crystalline blue, or an orange powdering....
SPIRIT PLACE
A PLACE OF MEDITATION; AND A MEDITATION ON PLACE: ST. IGNATIUS | SEATTLE UNIVERSITY An urban ark: a place of transport, safety and preservation of tradition and recollection. I'VE TRAVELED the world, exploring spiritual sites (and sights) from the Jokhang temple complex, Lhasa, Barkhor -- the center of the world in Tibetan worship. To the ancient compound of Borobudur -- the vast Buddhist stone-cut mandala in Yogyakarta, Java; and climbed upwards -- the Tiger's Nest of Bhutan, to Angkor Wat,...
THE ASK
The big question always comes as the off hand remark, that if you're listening to the sentence, the clause, the note -- it appears, right there. The big ask is the simplest. It is the foundation of question -- the why, the where, the who. What? And that will lead to: because. But that is be cause. Any answer is commitment, doing something. Be. Cause. Do. Some. Act. Thing. These are foundation words. I think that I've written dozens of words, sentences about that questioning. And sometimes, the...