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Twitter takes the idea of "executive summary" and refines it to the most diminutive. Twitter's beauty comes from the speed of data transfer, as well as connecting trust agents to incentivize readership. Its downside: sacrificing depth for speed. With the mass of data blasting down the Twitter pipes, headlines replace depth. Finding the valuable, the needle within the haystack stares at us. Thus the value of our followees. The people we choose to follow capture our priorities, our interests and passions. Filtering the grand thoroughfare in this way greatly expands what trade pubs were attempting to do, in the magazine era's heyday. And the internet's grabs array of knowledge becomes more manageable. Or more so.

I’m current re-reading “Simpler Living Compassionate Life”. Having lurked on my shelf for way too many years, some of my current questions called me back to this. Looking over some of the essays, it’s clear how much an influence this has had on my life. I wrote an essay, years ago, on “Enough”, and I see the early stirring of those notions here. The most recent essay I read, “Entering the Emptiness” (Gerald May), though, deeply challenged me.

Most of the piece connects solidly with my years of zen practice. The notion of space, external and internal, as sacred, something to value speak clearly to me. Embracing the noise of the mind and letting the random echos simply be. These are all things I’ve heard as guidance. One piece, though, haunts me. Abandoning the quest for fulfillment.

May labels, as myth, that “[i]if you are well adjusted, and if you are living your life properly, you will feel fulfilled, satisfied, content and serene”. This myth, I now see, lies deep within me. Also, I still find the lingering “if we are not completely happy…it is because we are somehow not right with God”. I see I must embrace that I’m not a machine. Any sense of dissatisfaction, of frustration, of confusion is not “unhealthy”. I think I see what makes this a myth.

Often, I’ve felt that I’m only on the “right” path when everything is aligned, things run smooth. When there are obstacles, tension, frustration then I’m out of alignment with God/the Universe/Force. May’s piece reminds me that, no, this is myth, too. That difficultly is not, well, this. That the madness and confusion is normal. And I can co-exist within this tension.

Notebook, originally uploaded by carl.setzer.

My friend, my mind, my soul.

Wanderings, originally uploaded by carl.setzer.

Exploring a neighborhood park. Autumn, around here, nurtures mushrooms.

A few years back, when I worked for a large global company, a major NGO launched a campaign against us. I found it fascinating how so many people felt it was a major campaign by that org (no, it wasn’t). Actually, from their side, it was simple. One of their directors wrote an article for the Guardian, then their network of Blogs and MySpace accounts posted links to it with a “call to action” (call/fax/email “us”). This had a significant impact on us, and received a fair amount of media coverage.

This campaign utilized very few resources on the NGO’s side. The largest effort was the writing of the article. Well, that’s in regards to the campaign. The real work for this was years in the making. They built and maintained a large, global network of advocates. The NGO interacted regularly with them. Information was shared, input solicited, and the audience was listened to. Relationships created and maintained with two-way discussion. Then a blend of MySpace (it was a couple of years ago) accounts (pretty much every college branch had it’s own page), email newsletters and alerts, and a trust relationship made executing this easy and fast.

This relationship was key. Social Media simply provided the tools for speed. Relationships are THE currency of NGOs and activists.

Businesses (well, any org) can’t wait until the crisis to engage and expect to be accepted as anything other than defensive. Business’ long history of spin and abuse produced a legacy of distrust. Sure, this is generalized out, perhaps unfairly. It can be whined about, or embraced and dealt with.

Skykomish, originally uploaded by carl.setzer.

A photo from my road trip yesterday. My whole gallery here

I’m trying out Tumblr, starting with this post today. I’m not sure what I think, but a bunch of chums are diving in. So, in I go.

Gorgeous Sunrise, originally uploaded by carl.setzer.

I love the color of this morning’s sunrise.