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Day: December 19, 2002

Mandalas and Rings

2002-12-19 John Winkelman

To build a mandala is to practice non-attachment. A thing of beauty is created, cherished briefly, then destroyed. While it is being created those who are working bear in mind that the mandala is a transitive thing. When destroyed it is gone, but the event is now a part of history and nothing will ever change that.

The ring (yes, That Ring ) is the opposite. Created of hard metal to last forever, coveted by all who come into contact with it; none moreso than its creator. Everyone wants it but no-one enjoys it. It traps the act of creation into a spiral which does not allow the possibility of creating anything else.

This is a good thing to bear in mind when handing off a project to a client. We built it, we cherished it, now it is gone, and now it is time to move on. A project is a mandala. To treat it as a ring is to continue work past the point of diminishing returns, until we are full of resentment and burned out.

The things we build are not our own. They will not last forever. Best to do it right, then let go.

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Posted in Life comment on Mandalas and Rings

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JohnWinkelmanJohn Winkelman@JohnWinkelman·
9h

4 of 5 stars to Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson https://www.goodreads.com/review/show?id=4732930726

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JohnWinkelmanJohn Winkelman@JohnWinkelman·
13 May

It was withdrawn after they couldn't successfully add an exemption for wealthy white families.

Reuters@Reuters

A bill in the Louisiana legislature aiming to charge women and their doctors with murder for obtaining or providing abortion services was withdrawn from consideration amid outrage and a successful effort to amend it https://reut.rs/3w8Tn4B

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JohnWinkelmanJohn Winkelman@JohnWinkelman·
13 May

HA HA!

The Call is Coming from Inside the Nash@Nash076

Yup, figured this would happen.

Musk is now trying to cobble together a consortium of buyers to prevent having to take a loan on his Tesla stock.

So he's not so much buying Twitter as loading Twitter with debt that can't be repaid. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-seeks-scrap-tesla-153641078.html

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