Prediction: 10 Things
#219 in a series of wild and precious ways of being okay with uncertainty.
1. TWIL
This week I contemplated prediction. Wanting to read ahead a few pages in the story of my life, just to make sure of a few things, to know certain people are going to be okay.
Whoever is writing the story of my life sure seems to be good at cliffhangers and plot twists. I am on the edge of my seat at the moment, which is perhaps why a story about astrology written by a person with a PhD in physics caught my eye this morning.
It was, as predicted, sensible and reasonable as well as giving a nod to the vast amount of work ancient astrologers did to plot patterns in the stars. The author gave a nod to the need for us to find meaning in patterns when there may be no meaning there. He also boosted astrology as the seed for the eventual pearl of what we now call science, which he also humbly suggested might be all for naught itself in a few thousand years.
We really don’t know what will happen next week, in a few days, this summer, this decade. We don’t know if the diligent work we choose to do this lifetime will amount to a hill of beans in a few thousand years, either :)
We can’t peek ahead. We have to just hold tight, enjoy the ride, and remember that we really have no idea whose lives we might touch as we stumble about our days.
2. Quote
“Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” — Macbeth, Shakespeare
“Astrology had a huge influence on the development of science, sometimes directly. In 1663, Isaac Newton bought a book on astrology at the Sturbridge Summer Fair. It was an act of curiosity, but Newton found that he couldn’t make sense of it because he didn’t know enough geometry. And so he began to study Euclid. This is how Newton got hooked on mathematics.” — Michael Brooks, Why Astrology Matters
3. Prompt
What does your story signify?
At the point in the play where Macbeth has lost everything, he says that famous soliloquy. He’s chased ambition, blindly, causing quite a bit of havoc.
What do you chase?
4. Quest
The resounding theme for me these last few weeks (months?) seems to be the idea that we do not know whose lives we might touch as we go about our day. We can’t (can we?) influence global politics. We can’t cure homelessness this week (I’m pretty sure) We can, though, keep an eye out for people who cross our paths who might need an ear to listen, a hand held, a meal given.
Let’s try for one random act of kindness this week with no need to have any idea of the consequence.
5. Level-UP / Go Deeper
Can we have an impact on this world that leaves it slightly better than we found it?
6. Video
7. Video
8. Poem
Elise Paschen — After the Squall
9. Hero
Kris Bowers
This is the short documentary that caught my eye: