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Beginners Springtime Mind
I was walking through one of Montclair New Jersey’s strategically designed charming parks, feeling the earth slightly moving with all the intent that springtime allows, an in-between moment that belies any human reasoning, like the changing tidal direction, yet with a gentle message as the Daffodils and Magnolias scout out what is to come.
I am in awe of every springtime seasonal cycle that arrives here in the Northeast. I welcome the active rebirthing nuances of what will happen in a meadow. The metaphor “ meadowing “ reminds us how everything that makes up our world is interdependent.
This contrasts with the frightening polarization of daily, exponentially escalating socio-environmental-political conflicts. Anthropologist Gregory Bateson coined the word “schismogenesis,” which, besides being a mouthful, describes this pattern of conflict. It means an interactive division in a system, such as an arms race or two lovers having chronic communication discord. The consequence of such a conflictual system is that each side becomes rigidly oppositional. This creates a situation between a rock and a hard place or a “double bind.” His famous quote, “The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think,” underscores that nature discourages opposites.
We all have at one time been damned if we do or don’t. The way out of this situation is to…
