Disperse and Coagulate

Solve  et Coagula is a phrase we learned in the context of alchemy.

Gold could not be made from Lead using the recipes of the alchemists. It can be done today but not profitably. As metaphor however, the process arguably worked. The self could be transmuted through a series of dissolutions and reassemblies. A digressive dispersal followed by a cohesive return to coherence.

Fighting the ebb and flow of focus presents difficulties. Preparing for the tides is reasonable, fighting them is not. Routine and structure and ritual are needed but also novelty and chaos and impulse.

Who is satisfied by their ability to swiftly modulate between an expansive unfocussed awareness and a narrow hyperfocussed needle of concentration?

Terry Jones is dead and we heed his admonition not to take life, or any of the above, more seriously than its due.

Disperse and Coagulate.

Reminders

One of the most common excuses for procrastination is 'I'll do it later' but when is that exactly? Recently I am having success with scheduled reminders. When something I want done pops into my head (usually at an inconvenient time to act on it) I think of the soonest time I could do it and then summon the nearest virtual assistant and speak the reminder with a date and time attached.

Summoning Siri or Alexa or Google Assistant has finally gotten easier than entering the data by hand. I wish I could say 'Duplex, set a reminder' which would save two syllables but I can't, yet.