On Loop

I enjoy the series Westworld. It fits with my sense of how we live in “controlled hallucinations” at different levels of awareness. How much of our experience seems impacted by our founding stories, driving ambitions, and ingrained habits. Our loops. When my wife asks what I am doing today, I often respond that I am “On loop”. As a creature of habit, I really like the idea of micro-ambition. Building a daily practice I have confidence in. Where I feel like each day is a nibble forward. Not towards a specific goal. The world is too complex, ambiguous, and random for that. I don’t like the idea of the destination being more important than the journey. I prefer a process of story enrichment. Adding feedback to my loop. As quickly as possible. So today, builds on yesterday. Building endurance to create space for time. Building resilience to manage and thrive off the risks. Building creativity to gradually compound learning. Building my loop.

           

Möbius strip

Mont-Aux-Sources

Unlearning is so hard because most of the things we are really good at soak to the bone. They become as natural as breathing or walking. When impassioned, the words that spring from us come out fully formed as if by magic. Magic that crosses generations when words get planted in us in years we don’t even recall. Because we hadn’t built the palace of relevance in which to store things we care about. The information that controls most of our decision making is internalised. Embodied. We don’t have to think about it. When challenged, we add our intentions or justifications after the event. No one wants to be the bad guy, so the default voices in our heads are the PR officer and the Defence Attorney, “I am not a bad person, my intentions were good. The unintended consequences are not my responsibility. It is not my fault. I am not to blame.” Guilt and blame are an obstacle to learning. Without learning, there is no endurance, resilience, or creativity. Without learning, there is only repetition.

Source of the Tugela River