Syntropic World - a new operating system for changemakers with a reverence for all life
Beauty of Beginnings - January 28th - Happiness and despair, complementary pairs
Happiness and despair, complementary pairsHappiness and despair, complementary pairs Much has been written about happiness in recent times. While I am a fan of being happy, why place the search for happiness at the centre of our existence? For one to know true happiness, one must also know the depths of despair. Yet we avoid despair, and when we are in despair, we see ourselves as if we have a nasty disease. Yet it is through the lens of sadness and despair that we find compassion, and compassion is one of the greatest of all human emotions. It is also the portal to beauty and love. It seems that the forever quest for happiness is one of the addictions of our modern world. We always want more; there is never enough. Add the scarcity of happiness to our long list of what we experience as scarce in a world that propagates scarcity as a currency on which the few thrive while others, under the spell of scarcity, suffer. What would happen in your life if you gave up the quest for happiness and just lived it all? Ride the roller coaster of love, happiness, heartache, heartbreak, joy, anger, frustration, care? What would happen if you experienced all emotions as equally valid, neither good nor bad? Are we really here on earth to pursue happiness? Or do we have a very different role to play? Is the pursuit of happiness just another expression of our wallowing in narcissism? From the words of the mystics… Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and other says, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.” Written July 3rd, 2012 Photo Taken January 28th, 2023, Article published January 28th 2026
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Syntropic World
Syntropic World - a new operating system for changemakers with a reverence for all life
January 30th 2026 Normal Normal What is normal, I ask myself? Is there such a thing? When we were younger, we took more risks. As we age, this little rock of fear finds its way into our architecture. We don’t jump. Climb. Learn a new skill. Or throw caution to the wind. Normal is a rollercoaster. The beauty of age is that most people who make it past five decades have the scars of life. We know that life serves up horror, hardship, breakdown, injustice, cruelty. Often all on the same plate at...
January 29th 2026 The waters of our soul The waters of our soul The ocean never lies One day calm The next enraged Home to a world of worlds Pretty, then deadly She will embrace you, swallow you or spit you out And in her depths, currents move That few see For her surface entrances The Ocean never lies She is the waters of our soul. Written June 18th 2012 Photo Taken January 29th, 2020, Article published January 29th 2026 Were you forwarded this email? Get on the list. To ONLY receive Beauty...
January 27th 2026 Crying over a chicken Crying over a chicken I am howling with grief as I write this. We had to euthanise little Stephanie, the chicken. She was such a fighter. One of her legs did not work, for a reason not known to us. We hand-fed her for nearly a week. And still she persisted. Even after being attacked by a huge goanna. The shock would have killed most animals of her size. I am aware that my grief is a flood of tears from all the grief of these past two months. I watched...