I don't like that. I prefer to think that the evolutionary dance of a million possible variations came out of the octopus. Not as some boring, mechanical sort of a thing, as if it only had one way of becoming itself, but as Life dancing itself outwards.
Of course, the octopus is a product of its environment, so of course where it has grown up over millions of years has shaped the way it has turned out. Of course. No octopus is an island, after all, any more than any human is.
But still, despite all of that, I like to remind myself that the octopus had an infinite variety of evolutionary unfoldments it could have taken from within that frame. A myriad of possibilities. A dance that it danced in the way it danced it and now look how it has unfolded. Looking so itself that we might forget it could have turned out any other way.
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| Gloomy Octopus by Richard Ling |
Sue, I agree totally. To me it's a little like the ol' Fibonacci Sequence - everything is the sum of what's gone before, the result of countless 'forks in the road'. It's Life working itself out through the process of Life, and having great fun doing it.
ReplyDeleteGo Octopusses!:)
And Harry, Sue, I disagree. While the possibilities are within the octopus, the imperative is forced upon it by the world around it. Change or die. Of course its not that simple, but in the end, life and chaos decide.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Well, of course, whether you agree or disagree with me is pretty pointless in the end seeing (a) this post is really all about poetic licence and my expression of that and (b) we can't say how this stuff works anyway. We can observe it, but it doesn't mean we're observing everything or we know everything. *shrug*
ReplyDeletethe dance of the octopus
ReplyDeletesounds like a great title for an artwork :)
I do understand the context, and my previous post should be taken in that context also. Who are we to think we know how the universe works, we don't even know ourselves.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Yeah. It's fun surmising, though :)
ReplyDeleteHi Sue,
ReplyDeleteLoooong time no see. Been getting back into reading blogs, really enjoyed your last couple of posts. I got a trilogy for my daughter some months back - "Born with a Bang", "From Lava to Life" and "Mammals that morph". Story of the universe from big bang to living creatures. It's told in the first person - the universe itself becoming stars, planets, trees, octopuses and even us. What I really liked about it, and your post reminds me of this, was that at the big bang the Universe is dreaming of all the things it might become, the possibilities are endless and the course uncertain.
Phil, I think we'll agree to differ on this, as we seem to have totally incompatible views of life. I can understand why you would think as you do, but in the end we create our own reality by the beliefs we hold onto. I'd rather hold on to the Fun, myself:)
ReplyDeleteI think the really cool thing is...even if it is the external world that is forcing the change, creatures have the ability to meet that change, become stronger, better adapted, and survive. I think that is amazing.
ReplyDeletePhil - sorry if I took you the wrong way. I guess I sort of felt like you were coming on here and dissing my way of viewing things, and I get really uber touchy about that (old family dynamics). So apologies if I took you the wrong way. I spend a lot of time surmising how the universe works. It's fun, to me. I like the patterns that unfold out of all that randomness and chaos, and the beauty that comes too. I guess I disagree with you about not being able to know ourselves. I think it's a path that many don't tread because we have to die a million times over to get to know ourselves. The most painful work that ever did get done, and not a penny of pay to go with it :)
ReplyDeleteHarry - I wish I could tap into some of that Fun that Life is unfolding. It all feels a little hard lately. But I dunno, I find meaning in that, also.
Kel - hmm, perhaps :)
Stu - so glad to see you back!!! Those books sound pretty cool. It's funny, you know, I feel fluid about staying open to What Might Be. Sometimes I wonder if we're not all seeing the same thing, and calling it different names. But what we can see and agree on is what's before our eyes, and it is very beautiful.
Erin - that is a really cool thing, absolutely. It's an amazing process, so unbelievably creative.
What I see, Sue, is that as all the stuff in our heads that wants us to believe we are crap and that life is crap, etc., etc., is seen for the crap that it is, and just falls away, then Life in all its joy, light, peace, truth etc. explodes in a deeply creative supernova. This is simply what we are - Life, Creating and Recreating. We are the universe ('one song') revelling in itself, experiencing itself, renewing itself through the process of Life, which some have called God. It's all words, anyway:)
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