Wayfinding Into the Universe One Story at a Time
There’s a running joke with my friends where I say I’m writing a follow-up book to my 2009 book of poetry and then never release it. It…
There’s a running joke with my friends where I say I’m writing a follow-up book to my 2009 book of poetry and then never release it. It reminds me of a few early Family Guy episodes for two reasons.
First, Brian, the dog, was writing a novel which hadn’t been released. Stewie, the talking baby, would constantly criticize Brian for never finishing the book.
The second reason is Brian eventually released the book which failed miserably. And you know what, so am I… probably. I have the title and cover, though. The name of the book is Wayfinding.
So what is wayfinding, you ask? Well, I would say I’m not using it in the traditional sense. Don’t even bother looking for it in the dictionary because I don’t mean it like that either. Let me try to explain by running you through my train of thought.
Wayfinding = Finding my way -> Way translates into Tao in Mandarin Chinese-> Tao Finding -> Finding the Tao -> Tao is all things, and all things are Tao -> Tao and I find each other.
So, the title, Wayfinding, is the life-long journey of meeting me. Yes, on one hand, it’s a superficial term that simply seems to point out your winding road of a life. On the other hand, it is a complex series of an uncountable number of actions which have led to my existence and will continue forever until the end of time.
“What reverberations will I put into the universe,” I ask myself while writing. How many of my actions will achieve a lasting impact and which actions will simply fade away? Steve Jobs once said he wanted to make a dent in the universe and the quote stuck with me. Perhaps he meant it in a vain manor, but I see truth in it for my life.
From a genetic perspective, I’m raising three children who will outlive me, hopefully. Their genes will be passed down into their children and so forth. On a more philosophical approach, no one can know the outcome of any particular action, but we know there will be a consequence of the event.
I’ve discussed this before, but the story of the Chinese Farmer, made popular by Alan Watts, illustrates this concept perfectly.
Once upon a time there was a horse farmer in a small village. One day, his horses ran away and all the people in the village came around and said well that’s too bad. And the farmer said, maybe. The next day the horses came back and brought 10 wild horses with them. Later that night all of the people in the village came and said well isn’t that great! The farmer said, maybe.
The next day the farmers son falls off one of the horses while he was trying to tame it and breaks his leg. That night all the neighbors came by and say well isn’t that just awful. The farmer said, maybe. Finally, on the next day, the conscription officer from the army came around gathering men for the war, but passed on the farmers son because he had a broken leg. That night all the villagers came around and said, well isn’t that great! The farmer said… maybe.
So you see, it’s impossible to know the outcome of any event and what the consequence will be. You don’t know if it will be good or bad fortune, but we do know something will occur because of it.
In December of 2022, I began to write on a regular basis. This isn’t particularly new for me as I’ve written on and off since middle school. However, airing my dirty laundry about my upbringing was new. Sharing my extremely personal stories on a social media network was also new and it reignited a spark in me to revise an old book of poetry I wrote.
After spending a month revising, creating a new cover, and learning how to self-publish, I thought I could gather my newer writings into a second book. Instead of poetry, this time I would collect essays, prose, and short stories.
So I joined Medium and started writing. The original plan was to publish the first 10. Then the plan was to publish the BEST ten out of the first twenty.
This article, depending on when I post it, will be my 93rd and I still haven’t chosen my favorites ten stories to publish. Jony Ives, the legendary product designer of Apple fame, once said his best work is the product he is working on now. I like to think of my articles like that too. Each story, poem, or memoir should be the best ‘thing’ I’ve ever written. Why else would I write?
When I leave this existence, I hope to leave behind a body of work that someone cares about. Wither that person is my family, friends, or strangers online, I hope I’ve done enough to leave a dent on someone somewhere.
So, when I reach 100 articles, I’ll collect my favorite stories over the last six months and release the book online. Maybe I’ll include this article explaining the title as a preface. I want the book to be the best I’ve ever created. Because if it’s not, why would I write it?
