Monday, August 1, 2016

Cycles of Convergence


We bump into each other. At least, that's the common phrase. "I bumped into him in the mall," we'll say. Or, "I was in Tofino, on the outer skirts of the West Coast, when I bumped into..." And the person would be named. And a story would follow.

Or what about the mysterious convergence occurring when you want to turn left into a side street, or driveway, or someone's yard? Up and down the road for several blocks or even miles there's been no traffic, or pedestrians! But at that critical point of your wanting to turn, there's interference. A person. A car. A cat. A dog. A cyclist. You have to watch out! You are the one having to wait. "Dang, just where I want to go! Fate put that there just for me!" Just for me!

Cycles of Convergence are akin to fractals. They occur in our lives with the regularity of the sand patterns left on the beach by the tides of time. For some they occur in sets of three, or in years of five, ten, or even twenty. We find coincidences come around and visit us, like lessons that are repeated in the psyches, subtly related, or self-evidently calling out to consciousness. Be careful. Be aware. Be considerate. Be mindful. Be evolutionary. Be progressive! That which one thought or did before was more-shallow, less-caring, more-subjective, less-considerate, more-self-serving. And watch, here comes the lesson again! Or does one-deceive-oneself?

The existential slippery-slope of this self-consciousness perpetuates a sense that I, me, and my existence is predicated on some sort of Master Plan designed all around Me. It implies that even the weather, "of course," is bad or good "because it's my holiday!" It implies that fate is a series of advents awaiting me, like pages in a book, or the paragraphs I am about to read, laid out in a pathway of black and white that leads me toward a conclusion. And therein are the lessons, even though I already know the words and the participles and even perhaps the very grammar by which I've been so led. Karma! After all, it's all meant for me, this life; or is it that I am meant for it? What? Even that last phrase denotes that there is a Master Plan of Convergence that puts me onto this globe at some precise coordinate of time and location in order that I become the next president of... Well, of my class, my company, my country, or even of myself!

Narcissism will have one gazing at the self with constant admiration. Introspection (even in guilt) might become an-absorption with the self too: "The world as I relate to it, as it relates to me." If the mission of one's life (as affirmed by a close friend) is "to become enlightened for the sake of others," then still, one has only oneself, ultimately, as a reference point. Every other idea stems from Someone Else. Existentially, that which one deems factual remains so until an 'other' picks up the jelly fish and shows that there is no harm. We indeed exist for each other. We follow the other on the beach sands into the big dark cave and marvel therein at the gloup through which the waves, in their fullness, crash and spray. We learn what a gloup is! And still, until sufficient time has elapsed in our familiarity with a concept, we fear the imminent tsunami, the eminence of the tide, and are immanently affected by the effect of the delegates at the party of our chosen conventions. Huh? Say what? At each step we learn to differentiate, to apportion, to choose.


In the cycles of convergence, we can concur, time and coincidence appear to collude. To bump. A letter to me born from incidences 20 years ago needles with old grudges. Within the month, from the time-stitches of that same tapestry a long-lost friend coincidentally bumps into me in far-flung Tofino. Interestingly, we might contend, this happenstance "was meant to be." Despite the choices we make that radically alter our seeming destinies, we reflect on our past as though it was our destiny, and more, as though the future is our destiny yet to be. We even quite easily can abrogate our responsibility, giving ourselves over to An Other. And with it, we can determine that the Law of Convergence, in the end, was truly meant 'just' for me! All about, me! ... Really?


1 comment:

  1. From: Merlayna Snyder
    Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2016 3:51 PM
    To: Richard Pentelbury
    Subject: Law of ---------------------

    Richard - thought you would enjoy these (in keeping with your Law of Convergence)





    1.Law of Mechanical Repair

    - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch

    and you'll have to pee.





    2.Law of Gravity
    Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible

    place in the universe.





    3.Law of Probability
    The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of

    your act.





    4.Law of Random Numbers
    - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal; someone always

    answers.





    5.Variation Law
    If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move

    faster than the one you are in now.





    6.Law of the Bath
    When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone will ring.





    7.Law of Close Encounters

    The probability of meeting someone you know INCREASES dramatically

    when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.





    8.Law of the Result
    When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, IT WILL!!!





    9.Law of Biomechanics

    The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.





    10.Law of the Theaters & Sports Arenas - At any event, the

    people whose seats are furthest from the aisle, always arrive last. They are

    the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, beer, or the

    toilet and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is

    over. The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long

    gangly legs or big bellies and stay to the bitter end of the performance. The

    aisle people also are very surly folk.





    11.The Coffee Law
    - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to

    do something which will last until the coffee is cold.





    12.Murphy's Law of Lockers
    - If there are only 2 people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.





    13.Law of Physical Surfaces

    The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor

    are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug.





    14.Law of Logical Argument
    Anything is possible IF you don't know what you are talking about.





    15.Law of Physical Appearance
    If the clothes fit, they're ugly.





    16.Law of Public Speaking
    -- A CLOSED MOUTH GATHERS NO FEET!





    17.Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy-
    As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it

    OR the store will stop selling it!





    18.Doctors' Law
    If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time

    you get there, you'll feel better. But don't make an appointment and you'll

    stay sick.



    If you don't forward this to your friends, your belly button will unscrew.

    Really... It's true. I read it on the Internet!





    “Guns are a lot like parachutes, if you need one and don't have one,

    you'll probably never need one again"




    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your contribution, by way of comment toward The Health of the Whole, always!