Zen: Mutual Arising of Opposites a Powerful Idea

(r] davidloughry.com

The mutual arising of opposites is one of the more powerful ideas I’ve come across. I first heard it in talks by Alan Watts about Zen on KPFK in Los Angeles.

The mutual arising of opposites implies many things. It means the pairs mentioned below arise together, which can be incredibly calming. It means you gain both at the same time. It lets you slip into and out of time at the same time! Funny! And other things too.

Some mutually arising pairs: Chaos and order. Breathing poorly and breathing well. Fairness and unfairness. Stillness and busyness. Sense and nonsense. Invoke one and you also get the other. So don’t be afraid of either. They come together. Embrace both.

This also helps solve the problem of not having enough time. Accept you don’t have time, and you have time.

More mutually arising opposites pairs: Starting over and moving ahead. Fear and courage. Motion and stillness. Perfection and imperfection. Wealth and poverty. Near and far. Now and not now. Tension and relaxation. Organization and disorganization. Fullness and emptiness. Good posture and bad posture. Good grammar and bad. It’s a constant dance between these pairs. To experience one you need the other. It’s an oscillation. The faster the oscillation, or perhaps the more entangled they are, the more magic.

The only danger perhaps is getting stuck on one of a pair of mutual arising opposites. I guess the trick to getting unstuck might be to remember that if you have one of a pair, you have the opposite as well, and to increase the oscillation or entanglement.

I think mutual arising is one reason I liked skiing so much. You are constantly playing with, and on the brink of, disaster and control. And why I needed to quit for a while – it had become too predictable.

~ Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind. ~

Major Accomplishments and Continuing Evolutions

(r] davidloughry.com

What follows is a list of my major accomplishments to date. Many have long term potential, and present a number of opportunities for people, both individually and in groups. These projects continue to evolve. I hope our relationship will evolve as well.

Thinking and Philosophy
Created a set of ideas (ProxThink) for thinking about and relating to situations and proximities, which is potentially a breakthrough.

Creativity and Innovation
Used the ProxThink set of ideas to create an interactive website feature, which takes words you enter to generate hints questions. The hints can trigger creativity and stimulate thinking and action. The hints use ProxThink ideas and concepts, which are linked to a large set of website pages which explain the ideas and concepts, and help people use them.

Business and Society
Used the ProxThink set of ideas to create a Growth Model that may be a breakthrough evolution for business, collaboration and social interactions generally.

Law
Used the ProxThink Growth Model to create potentially breakthrough agreements for websites, collaboration and intellectual property. Many other such agreements are possible.

Art
My art (painting and drawing, found at loughry.com) played an integral role in the development of ProxThink, and ProxThink ideas and concepts help me create art. This process of creating, and the work itself, are perhaps contributions to the histories and dialogues of art. I’m working on an adaptation of a new way of distributing content (see next paragraph) for my own and other people’s art.

Content Distribution and Social Interaction
Used the ProxThink Growth Model to develop a potentially breakthrough way to distribute, share, interact with and relate to content. (Content in the sense of information, media, arts, communication, news, etc.) The Proxri Deal on this site is an instance of it. I’m now working on a form of the Proxri Deal which covers resources in general, which may be adapted to a variety of different inventions, innovations, social interactions and other situations. With it, I hope to make available some structural inventions I created.

Civilizations
Together, the innovations above may represent a set of possibilities for how civilizations organize themselves. The focuses shift from elements to the proximity. More specifically, the focuses shift from one (just elements) or two (elements and relationships), to three (the proximity includes elements and relationships, for three total).

Science
ProxThink may provide a set of ideas and thinking tools for science which are potentially breakthrough.

Again, each of the above has long term potential, and presents a huge number of opportunities for people, both individually and in groups. Again, each continues to evolve.

I need a better network and proximity, to support and nourish me and these ideas and innovations, as they continue to grow.

I would like our relationship to be part of my network and proximity, and in turn, for our relationship to help you and your network and proximity.

I hope you will do one or several of the following:
a) Reward with a proxri as a part of my Proxri Deal.
b) Join ProxThink.com as a member, as a beginning or strengthening, of our relationship.
c) Tell someone else about these opportunities.
d) Contact me.
e) Do something else which you think may help.

Thank you,
David Loughry

~ Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind. ~

Double-Blind Science and Health

(r] davidloughry.com

Regarding how science on people’s health is done: Someday, we’ll probably look back and laugh at how we thought randomized, double-blind studies of one drug or procedure could tell us things with much certainty, when we begin to better model how many things are interrelated.

However, such research has probably been a good place to start. It has probably helped many situations, and probably hurt some. Indeed, where else would we have started? There were limits to our ProxAwareness (join ProxThink to find out more).

~ Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind. ~

On Getting Out of Your Cages

(r] davidloughry.com

John Cage, the composer, was once asked what advice he would have for people. He said: “Get out of whatever cage you are in.” Apart from this being a clever spin on his own name, it’s really a very profound bit of advice. So we need to sometimes ask: What cage am I in? What can I do to get out of it?

I created ProxThink to help with getting-out-of-cages situations, among others. To explore them, and help generate alternatives. ProxThink cannot help every situation, and that fact is even built into it, with the Limits of One ProxPattern (join ProxThink to find out more).

~ Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind. ~

Beach Thoughts

Went for a walk on the beach around sunset. From a systems perspective, different animals, insects, and species play different roles in helping the system keep going. What are the roles humans play, from a systems perspective? Perhaps to take care of each other, and take care of the earth. Perhaps. Among other things …