I feel a little under the weather today. I think I’ve been experiencing what some environmentalists such as John Seed and Joanna Macy term ‘despair’. It’s a lonely, cementing feeling of helplessness and inaction in response to the current ‘climate’ of local, national and international events. In search of an offer of knowledge-a slice of my soul, a question from the grey that matters to share with you, I opened up a book I’ve been reading called Massive Change. It proposes that a new breed of designer is needed, one who is in the words of R. Buckminster Fuller, a “synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist”. Its author Bruce Mau, was recipient of the 2007 AIGA Gold Medal in the field of communication design. It’s a fascinating book and one I recommend every human being should read, however, it led me on this occasion to search for information on who R. Buckminster Fuller was. This lead me to this article by the man on what he does to “discipline myself to try to get myself thinking in a little more adequate manner concerning what we know of our Universe and what may be going on in a larger way, and to try to get things a little better proportioned”. He sounds like one of those lecturers you would never forget. If you have the time, have a read. It left me feeling, seemingly helpless… but also reminded me that as an ant on this rock expanding at 3 million miles an hour, I better hurry up and do something. Who am I not to?
Love Bucky and Masssive Change. Interesting you refered to Bucky when your feeling under the weather. One of Bucky’s theories that I like and resonates with me in my life is his precession theory. When Bucky pondered the question of how to be productive in the world, he came up with the scientific explanation of the way reality worked for him. It’s called orthogonality or the precessional effect. Orthogonal means something that happens at right angles to something else. Precession is when the direction of movement ends up being at a right angle from the direction that the force was applied, sort of like a spinning top. In very simple terms and loosely translated, Bucky said that Universe supports you, indirectly, based on you doing your unique work in the world. He observed this in nature and found it to be a generalised principle. Secondly, he found that Universe supports you if you are doing what needs to be done. So the issue becomes determining what needs to be done as well as what you want to do and have the unique talent to do… ie Thanks for the post Josh
and thanks for introducing me to John Seed and Joanna Macy.