Yet Untitled #37 - My Miraculous Microcosm
A Meaningful Mouthful
Dearest Yet Untitler,
Howdy! Welcome back to our little tea room. Settle down, grab a cup, pour yourself some brew. There’s this little story that I want to tell you:
Japan has opened up. Craig Mod, my fellow newsletter creator (and great inspiration), went on one of his shared group walks last month. On such walks, Craig tries to get a diverse bunch of people together and aims for them to walk and converse in as undistracted and unrestricted a manner as possible, while hoofing it through the Japanese countryside.
Having read ‘Ridgeline’ - Craig’s newsletter about walking - now for many years, I know that Craig has striven to create an equitable, democratic space where dialogue thrives and people leave richer in spirit and ideas than when the walk began.
For his last walk (an essay also referenced in YU #36), Craig invited a diverse set of walkers ranging from climate activists to a pizza parlour owner to accompany him - peeps united by a similar concern from the planet’s future; innovative in what they do and attracted to Craig’s moving optimism.
Guess who sought out the walk and joined them? Tamaki the Pizza Studio guy let the E-Commerce platform-owning cat out of the bag -
I spent the week thinking about what happens when a group of positive, intelligent people buzzing with out-of-the-box ideas about the world’s future share of themselves with Jeff Bezos on a walk through the Japanese wilderness that has rules to keep them focussed and present.
Nobody’s as qualified as Craig to explain the fruits of this exercise:
I say this in the most hope-filled way, that anyone who looks like they’ve got all their shit together, mostly doesn’t, and — up close, over days and nights spent together, with their guard down — is revealed to be as much a chipped and genuine human as anyone else; I recognize the privilege in being able to witness this up close).
As my eight-year old daughters would put it - Bezos farts too.
We had long discussions around ethics, climate, energy, education, and more….
Wow!
I go back to Issue 1 of Ridgeline. Craig’s beginnings in this endeavour were humble but driven; sincere; a primal though measured outreach to humanity made by a man immersed (perhaps, drunk) on the benefits of walking.
…through the process of walking and observing, I've developed a sense of what makes a walk work. What makes a walk great, and how walks that seem great can be made better still.
149 issues (and as many - or more - walks) later, he’s writing about being sought out and walking alongside one of the most influential people in the world. He says this:
…there was no explicit agenda aside from putting Jeff in contact with incredible educators and climate researchers (i.e., the folks I was walking with) and hoping to nudge the vector of humanity in an ever-better direction. Maybe it’s hyperbolic to think this, but I believe we had an impact, and I think aspects of climate and the world at large (god it’s so weird to write this) might be demonstrably better in the near future … because of a couple days of walking in the woods?
“…nudge the vector of humanity in an ever-better direction.”
Someone look away while I leap in optimistic ecstasy!
I absolutely believe that the world is a better place because of Craig’s walk. There’s so much to take from this!
In an increasingly loud world where anything we do often feels like a towering installation representing the hamster-wheel conundrum, being shown that a microcosm can and does influence a macrocosm is super cool and super important.
Knowing that the microcosm can inflect the macrocosm for the better is even cooler. This is Buddhism 101, reflected in the concept “the oneness of life and its environment”.
The principle of the oneness of life and its environment clarifies that individuals can influence and reform their environments through inner change or through the elevation of their basic life state. It tells us that our inner state of life will be simultaneously manifested in our surroundings. If we are experiencing a hellish internal life state, this will be reflected in our surroundings and in how we respond to events. Likewise, when we are full of joy, the environment reflects this reality. If our basic tendency is toward the life state of compassion, we will enjoy the protection and support of the world around us. By elevating our basic life state…we can transform our external reality.
Source: www.sokaglobal.org
What does it take to make our own respective microcosms buzz with the energy in a way that make the microcosm and the macrocosm exist in the same place simultaneously - like a singularity - and inflect it in a positive way? The key word I’m reading in the text above is Compassion. Craig’s walks are alive with compassion, and I feel its source is Craig’s deep curiosity about the world, and his desire to satisfy it by walking with as diverse a set of people as possible.
I think that curiosity helps us understanding the fabric of life better - to know it to be a continuum, like…fabric 😊.
In riding our curiosity towards understanding the fabric of life, perhaps we will believe more in out lot - where we are and what we do - and hence not discredit the tremendous potential that’s waiting to be unlocked right here, in “our place of mission”
PS - As you may imagine, after hearing the story about Bezos and Craig’s walk, I started thinking of our own humble YU and why I must keep going.
Upwards and onwards!
Here are some of my own microcosm to macrocosm fantasies -
I conducted a thought experiment:
What would happen if my own spheres of influence suddenly got a glow and nudged the rest of the world in a more positive direction? Now that we know it’s possible, here are a few imagined scenarios (beware - I really cut loose here!):
I pledge not to shout on a film set. A famous actor ties my patience incessantly but fails. I am Zen a.f. The movie wins an oscar, starting a precedent where more and more people end up not shouting on film sets, because of an urban legend that calmer sets lead to more successful films.
My film about two old people fighting for their marriage is seen by the ageing prime minister of a foreign country via a streaming platform. He not only goes across the corridor to sleep in his wife’s bed right after - something he hasn’t done in years - but the next day, in a much better mood, pushes a climate positive legislation through in his parliament and also reactivates his country’s long dormant diplomatic mission with India, creating thousands of new jobs that change the lives of tens of thousands.
YU 12 about exploding hedgehogs is read by Julia Donaldson who turns it into a very popular, impactful children’s story about the obliteration of inner censors. Julia Cameron is pleased that one of her key concepts from The Artist’s Way was used in the genus of this story, and she invites her (ex?) spouse Martin Scorsese to fund a high budget animated version of Pointy, put together by Studio Ghibli, with Hayao Miyazaki directing. The whole world is richer for it, and inner censors are defeated in countless lives!
A lovely schoolteacher from Pune who swore that she would never run a marathon reads about my imaginary running buddy Ktulu in YU 16 and starts a running club, making Pune the city with the highest statistical spread of runners over the age of 65, all of them bursting with health and vigour.
All of this can happen.
Thanks again, Craig.
I’ll leave you with a photo of my uncle - Tikamama - pouring my mother a beer from a kettle.
It’s the coolest thing I saw this week.
Lots of love and see you next week!
V
If this Micro to Macro thought experiment got you thinking, hit me with something that popped into you head. Let the neural pathways race and make crazily optimistic connections, my friend. Don’t hold back and use the comments box below to send some of that unicorns-and-puppies-morphed-in-a-non-lethal-blender sunshine into the YU meta verse!
I would love to hear from you!
https://qz.com/jeff-bezos-philanthropy-amazon-layoffs-1849781304?utm_source=email&utm_medium=daily-brief&utm_content=c1634e69-6465-11ed-8e4b-5615cb733b83
A very interesting development that makes me think about what I wrote in the edition. Even more hope!