Edward E. Wilson

Originally posted: Sun, Dec. 4th, 2005 17:06

He stands up from his zafu, barefoot and dressed for comfort. He has cleared his mind and the window. The glass stretches from the floor to the roof from one wall to the other. In his right hand he holds the black wet erase marker in the left he has the blue and red. From his vantage point he can see people walking, stores and commerce, cars and traffic, the whole panoply of modern urban life garbage animals plants and people. He uncaps the marker and he draws writes and sigilizes directly on the life and movement of reality. The blue pen traces the movements of one person across through in and out of buildings and eventually out of his view the red pen traces someone else. The resulting figures, crossing and recrossing themselves before curving out of sight, are approximated in black marker, small off to one side. Theses symbols are stored to be reintroduced as needed later. A small collection of symbols having gathered at the edges of his glass, a change in the timing of movements tells him that his working is at an end. He makes additional glyphs and shorthand notes by the black symbol using the blue marker and then draws a box around this using the red. He puts the pens down picks up his spray bottle and rag to wash away all he isn’t keeping. Facing away from the window he sits on the zafu and breathes until he has forgotten the work and his mind is again clear.

The techniques hinted at here could also be used on the self, using a mirror.