Saturday, March 28, 2026
In a relative sense, how do I know that I am alive? Some point to consciousness, but even that has an evil twin—unconsciousness. Some point to attention, but that too has a shadow: inattentiveness. How do I know I’m present without absence? Absence and presence are true to each other.
The strong sensation of being “here and now” conspires beautifully with being “not here and not now.” The strong sensation of going through time is only possible by that which is timeless. The way to sense change is only possible by the changeless. Insides are inexorably beautiful with outsides. Dead or alive—I know I’m living because I am dying. I know I’m sad because I implicitly know happiness in some realm available to me while I’m sad. I know I’m poor and destitute because I know implicitly I am rich and prosperous. Even if lack is strong, I can talk of riches.
To know that you know. In that ring-around-the-rosy, you see potential lurking. Not everybody sees the fullness of what’s implied by any state of being. During the pandemic, 99% of the world felt empty and helpless while the creative helped themselves to bundles of opportunities. Creative people see “rings” around depravity. Climate change is a terrific example of how to get in on the “good stuff” called “need.”
How to see potential is one of the hardest things to teach. Most of us fear potential. 99.99% of the world is scared while the opportunists are excited. To prophesy. To prosper. To tell a new story, the old one must expire.
One of the least-known ways of seeing potential is to go into the “scary places” and turn it around. Change the narrative. Look for the ways “in.”
Could creativity be as simple as spotting need lurking in the corners?