A nice, vacant minded two month lull followed my leaving my old in-house writing job (in capable hands by my personally trained successor) and traveling to to England, France, and Morocco in May with a few of my closest chums. Days of lounging, listening to gentle electronic music, and productivity oriented reading were peppered with hours of trying to complete my automated Lego Mindstorms NXT page flipping and picture taking machine (it's still not done yet), Esther's wedding, geek conventions, weekend video game sessions with buddies, Arthur's birthday, and getting random runs of my ol' Encounter Luck (bumping into people I know in the darnedest places).
I got over the instilled shame of explaining to others that I wasn't working quickly, creatively finangling that I was "researching the way I want to work and live my life the way people try to lose weight or gain muscle, by experimenting with different methodologies, cutting out what doesn't work for me to synthesizing a lifestyle that works well for me." It was supposed to be a kickass excuse that prevented me from looking pretty lame, but it's grown on me. Right now, I've been reading up on the actions and tools freelancers use in their work, all the while examining my values. It's been kooky!
Ideally, I'd like to represent the idea of Heart someday. Not the power of the weakest Planeteer, but more like the Qi Gung principle: the Chinese character for king represents this fundamental triad, three lines which represent Heart, Mind, and Power (also Earth, Man, and Space!) from bottom to top. Mind without Power is impotent, Power without Mind is... Well, straight thug, and Mind without Heart is cold and calculating. Heart alone can be pretty sucky--I remember watching a documentary about the 70's explaining that the whole Hippie movement collapsed since it was all Heart and lacked the other two fundamental elements, but it did have lasting impact in progressing tolerance for the invidual and homosexual rights, among other things. A great example of the application of Heart would be Ghandi's passive resistance movement. I mean, it's pretty smart, knowing that people can't whup your ass too hard if you don't aggressively provoke them. And well, I guess Ghandi eventually gained enough influence that it translated into Power. That's the other interesting thing--Heart, Mind, and Power are all intermingled. They might not be easily converted, but one can lead to acquisition or development of the other.
There's enough people that are exemplars of Mind and Power out there, and naturally, Heart too must have its role. I don't plan on being a Mother Theresa, but I am sure there are ways. The way I figure things, I probably personify basic facets of Heart... Sincerity. Freedom. Maybe unpredictability. I took one of those personality tests professionally administered by Arthur and earned a perfect N for Enigma. I guess that means I'm equally sympathetic to both good and evil! Or I'm merely a behaviorial wild card. No matter! Heart!
