Thinking beneath the skin . . .

In the “Moon-day” mailbox:

I used to think that I ended with my skin, that everything within the skin was me and everything outside the skin was not. . .What I am, as systems theorists have helped me see, is a “flow-through.” I am a flow-through of matter, energy, and information, which is transformed in turn by my own experiences and intentions. Systems theory seeks to define the principles by which this transformation occurs, but not the stuff itself that flows through, for that, in the last analysis, would be a metaphysical endeavor. Systems thinkers Kenneth and Elise Boulding suggest that we could simply call it agape—the Greek and early-Christian word for “love.” – Joanna Macy

The true realism, always and everywhere, is that of the poets: to find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. the true realism, always and everywhere, is that of the poets: to find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. – Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Lantern-Bearers,” Across the plains, Independently published (May 3, 2023) in Maria Popova's Marginalian

Imagine what would happen if experts stopped only defining and diagnosing patients, and instead taught people to study themselves.

When I Run After What I Think I Want

When I run after what I think I want,

my days are a furnace of stress and anxiety;

if I sit in my own place of patience, what I need

flows to me, and without pain. From this

I understand that what I want also wants me,

is looking for me and attracting me.

There is a great secret here for anyone
who can grasp it.

-- Rumi, Rumi Poetry:100 Bedtime Verses. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform (2017).

It's damned hard to grasp your stuff

when you are running in a maze

and out of breath.