On Whirlpools

Life is given, experienced before it is explained
- So, we accept life as a starting point
- We could philosophize, but let’s stay with the experience for now
Let’s imagine that life is a river
- The river moves with a wisdom larger than our plans
- I know this sounds too abstract, but stay with me

You navigate with your boat
- The degree of control varies (depending on wind, etc.)

There are random whirlpools in the river
Sometimes the current gathers and you find yourself carried in one of those whirlpools
- This prevents you from making progress, and you start running in circles

The first step is noticing: “I am in a whirlpool“
The second step is making a choice:
- Stay inside the spin: fuse with it, let it amplify, and slowly forget the one who is steering
- Or step back, become still, defuse the whirlpool, and steer again.

The river continues, and we learn to be present within it…

A reflective exercise for you. Describe a whirlpool that you encountered during the last week.

Where were you? What was happening?
What changed inside you the moment you noticed you’re in it?
What was the whirlpool about? How did it feel in your body?
What choice did you make?

Bonus: For the programmers, the same idea expressed formally in Budge-TP.

			
$ ./budge-tp.py examples/whirlpool.btp
-- The programmer mind defaults to SEARCH — reaching for a system, a fix, an escape.
thParadox : WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(ESCAPE_WHIRLPOOL))
-- Noticing the trap, the mind searches for escape from that whirlpool too. It deepens.
thDeepened : WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(ESCAPE_WHIRLPOOL))))
-- Response A: fuse with it. Become the whirlpool. It grows.
thAmplified : AMPLIFY(WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(ESCAPE_WHIRLPOOL)))))
-- Response B: notice it. Step back. The observer is not the whirlpool.
thDefused : DEFUSE(WHIRLPOOL(SEARCH(ESCAPE_WHIRLPOOL)))
-- The whirlpool does not vanish. It is simply no longer you.
thPresent : PRESENT

		