⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

🎩 Magic and the Third Force: A professional magician ponders a universal law. Read it here.

🌤️ David Whyte on Tetragrammaton: The prolific Irish poet sits down for a wide-ranging discussion with acclaimed music producer Rick Rubin. Listen here.

🌕 The Cosmic Coincidence of Perfect Solar Eclipses: Our solar system offers a unique viewing experience not available anywhere else that we’ve observed. Watch it here.

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🎇 Image of The Week

Jon Foreman is a land artist from Wales, UK. His portfolio contains a stunning assembly of earth-forged creations from stones to leaves to moss like you see in the image above. Check out his Instagram page to see his work in all its magnificence.

🤔 Your Own Breed of Success

The internet abounds with individuals eager to share their advice, many of whom have achieved some level of success. They offer tips and tricks on emulating their achievements, but this guidance can be problematic for several reasons.

Firstly, they might not accurately pinpoint the factors that contributed to their success. They could attribute their accomplishments to a specific habit (e.g., doing X daily), when, in reality, other factors played a more significant role. This advice often overlooks the intangible qualities that they possess but are unable to recognize in themselves. These qualities can be difficult to replicate, and attempting to do so might prove fruitless.

Additionally, the path to success is constantly evolving. Even if their advice were accurate, the world has changed since they embarked on their journey, and the same strategies may no longer be relevant.

A common issue is the tendency to imitate the success of others rather than forging one's own unique path. Our life trajectory is determined by the interplay between our individual skills and the unique circumstances we encounter. What works for one person might be ineffective or even harmful to another.

Instead of piecing together a one-size-fits-all formula for success, focus on understanding your specific circumstances and identifying the opportunities that arise from them. Embrace the mythological significance of your life's journey and allow it to unfold naturally, rather than striving to attain a socially prescribed notion of success.

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👁️ Magical Seeing

I found this passage in a paper written by Philo Hove:

“While participating in the retreat, I’d been spending a lot of time simply walking—in the woods, along the beach. As I was walking this one day the tonal quality of the things around me began to change. I especially recall the striking, distinct beauty of the individual stones lying on the beach, and their complex patterns and relations with one another. In my musings I have sometimes encountered and even cultivated this before, this enchantment or magical seeing. This time, too, I was moved by a deep appreciation that this marvellous web of relations extended to me as well. But in the midst of this wonderment I began to sense something unfamiliar resounding in me, and then slowly the intricate and intimate connectedness I had been experiencing softly immersed all of my relations. I can say that this occasion of wonder transformed my way of viewing the people in my life—I suddenly wanted to reach out and give freely and lovingly of myself. It promoted a new way of being in me. I’m so grateful I have lived long enough to see this.”

🤓 Learn This Word

Respair: fresh hope; recovery from despair.

A now obsolete word but perhaps we can bring it back?

⏳ From The Archives

A hand-picked link from a previous edition of 🌀🐇

Cathedral Consciousness: On Maintaining an Awe-Filled State in Daily Life

A Learning Moment

After finishing my final lecture of the semester, I left the university campus and headed into the sweltering streets of Tokyo in hopes of clearing my head a bit before diving into a looming stack of term papers.

Operating largely from the position of ingrained habitual patterns, I unwittingly stumbled through an internalized routine. As I approach a red-lighted cross-walk, I fumbled for my smartphone and earbuds.

Arriving at the corner, I thrust the buds into my ears, then begin absent-mindedly scrolling through podcasts looking for the perfect quantity of information to fill my hour-long stroll. I still had not decided upon which one to listen to as the signal changed to green. I stuck the phone back in my pocket and decided that I will stroll quietly to a small nearby park, sit down, and find a podcast then.

Moments after I cross the street my phone is somehow in my hand again. Facebook. Instagram. Messages. Nothing important. I put the phone away.

I manage to find a seat at the mostly concrete park, despite the large number of local office workers who’ve come here seeking the same respite as myself. I take out my lunch and balance it on my lap with one hand as I scroll through podcasts with the other.

Finally! I find the best option with which to fill the next 45 minutes.

I push play. Buffering…

Buffering…

For some reason my service is lagging and the podcast will not load. I come to the conclusion that the particular episode I am trying to listen to is the issue at hand and I so begin to search for another listening option. I pause in my scrolling for a moment to shovel a spoon full of pickled cabbage into my mouth only to carelessly drop a juicy hunk on my pants. Agitated, I thrust my phone back into my pocket and remove the offending vegetable.

Despite the fact that my chinos are now stained, it is this brute lump of cabbage that evokes a moment’s wakefulness in me.

I look up to see that there are only two people in this cramped public space who are not currently attempting to balance their time between their smartphone or tablet and their lunch.

I take a breath recollecting a passage from Zen Master Dainin Katagiri:

My life-world is speaking to me. I put away the phone—for good this time—then eat my meal with a gaggle of onlooking and hopeful pigeons.

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