A core tension, one I feel I’ve been sitting with, wrestling with, turning over and over in my mind and heart for years now is this deep tension between visualizing and pursuing a concrete outcome and the radically letting go.
Thank you for this intimate and insightful flow (I captured your 5 directionless directions in a note 🙏).
It rang a bell to a note that Kuhn added to his seminal “structure of scientific revolutions” about progress (he was then accused of being a dangerous relativist): there are two kinds of progress, progress toward (teleonomical) and progress from. Progressing from a point is not grounded in a definite vision of where you want to go but in a broad conscience of what you are leaving and what you value: a certain sense of prospect. This too is progress.
I am just discovering your work and very thankful for it 🙏
I found this an incredibly wise post. This paragraph in particular:
"As much as I’d love to side with the philosophers who say to “just let go”, ultimately, navigating this tension feels less like finding a static middle ground, and more in developing the flexibility to move skillfully between the poles as needed, guided by intention, informed by reality, and grounded in a fundamental trust in the larger process of life itself."
Thank you so much, I'll be saving this. My intuitive nudges take me in more interesting directions than my plans, as the universe has more of a perspective than I do!
This was a wonderful.Monday morning read. Thank you.
I too have been reading and reflecting on flows vs static. One thing I rarely see is that we are not just part of the process, we are also actors in it, and that, just as there needs to be a certain number of minnows needed to create the phenomena of a larger animal in which to protect themselves, so too in humans. We need to be doing with others who have similiar values that can cause a change in the flow.
Again, thank you for encourging me to start Monday on such a thinking note.
Hi Jessica, this piece you wrote really sits uncomfortably, especially around the part of pursuing an outcome then moving to the opposite with "creating conditions for emergence" and then eventually surrender.
It kinda feels like the systems around us have conditioned us to start our stories and narratives in the here and now .. towards some future time (i.e. what are we going to do or not do). But if we start our stories and narratives from some time in the past, would you write this piece the same way? Because a whole bunch of stuff/experiences would have happened that would have been submerged if you like... and affect how and whether one would pursue that outcome .. or how and whether one would let go. Just curious. Thanks for triggering all those thoughts. It is much appreciated.
A great piece Jessica, thought provoking, letting go;
thinking about it is easy ,doing and learning is the part that is essential, to move on.
Comfortable with uncertainty, that’s another story.
Thank you 🙏
Thank you for this intimate and insightful flow (I captured your 5 directionless directions in a note 🙏).
It rang a bell to a note that Kuhn added to his seminal “structure of scientific revolutions” about progress (he was then accused of being a dangerous relativist): there are two kinds of progress, progress toward (teleonomical) and progress from. Progressing from a point is not grounded in a definite vision of where you want to go but in a broad conscience of what you are leaving and what you value: a certain sense of prospect. This too is progress.
I am just discovering your work and very thankful for it 🙏
Thank you Paul-Arthur - super interesting about Kuhn.
About seven women I follow...
https://johnstokdijk538.substack.com/p/last-week-in-the-space-part-1-dac
I found this an incredibly wise post. This paragraph in particular:
"As much as I’d love to side with the philosophers who say to “just let go”, ultimately, navigating this tension feels less like finding a static middle ground, and more in developing the flexibility to move skillfully between the poles as needed, guided by intention, informed by reality, and grounded in a fundamental trust in the larger process of life itself."
Really nails it. Thank you.
Thank you, Cary!
Love this. Transformation doesn’t require knowing where you’re going—it requires dropping the illusion that you ever did.
Planning isn’t the problem. Worshipping the plan is.
The ego loves blueprints. Life prefers improv.
Hold your vision like a sketch, not a contract. Show up. Listen. Adjust. Repeat.
Wild:philosophy nails it—this isn’t about controlling the future. It’s about dancing with the unknown without faking the steps.
—Virgin Monk Boy
Love these words 🖤. Thank you.
Thank you so much, I'll be saving this. My intuitive nudges take me in more interesting directions than my plans, as the universe has more of a perspective than I do!
💚
This was a wonderful.Monday morning read. Thank you.
I too have been reading and reflecting on flows vs static. One thing I rarely see is that we are not just part of the process, we are also actors in it, and that, just as there needs to be a certain number of minnows needed to create the phenomena of a larger animal in which to protect themselves, so too in humans. We need to be doing with others who have similiar values that can cause a change in the flow.
Again, thank you for encourging me to start Monday on such a thinking note.
Thank you Damon, I absolutely agree 🖤
Lovely and thoughtful and wise. Will save this post to savor from time to time.
Thank you! I am very happy to hear this.
Oh my goodness… what a wild and wonderful post… have just upgraded my subsription so I could let you know!!!
Thank so much Rosa - for the kind words and for the extra support. That makes my day 🖤
Hi Jessica, this piece you wrote really sits uncomfortably, especially around the part of pursuing an outcome then moving to the opposite with "creating conditions for emergence" and then eventually surrender.
It kinda feels like the systems around us have conditioned us to start our stories and narratives in the here and now .. towards some future time (i.e. what are we going to do or not do). But if we start our stories and narratives from some time in the past, would you write this piece the same way? Because a whole bunch of stuff/experiences would have happened that would have been submerged if you like... and affect how and whether one would pursue that outcome .. or how and whether one would let go. Just curious. Thanks for triggering all those thoughts. It is much appreciated.