OK – the formatting of this template is acting funky. Figuring out how to get it back.Got it back.

To be nobody-but-myself – in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
-e.e. cummings

I first encountered this quote in grade school reading one of Paul Zindel’s Pigman books. (At least I think it was one of those books). It moved me so much that it became one of the first writings I made a point to memorize. I always thought it was just a simple poem – as I was never able to find those words again despite early attempts (before Internet) to search through random e.e. cummings writings.

A few weeks ago, I read the Foreward to Critical Path by R. Buckminster Fuller. In it, he quotes A Poet’s Advice by e.e. cummings in full. Suffice to say – I found them again, but this time in their complete context – and referenced by my current inspiration. And they were friends at that. Old Karla meets new Karla. Or maybe it’s younger meets older? Back in the day meets current? Anyhoo – nice how good things come back ’round again.

2 articles today:

*Prosthetic retina for the blind.

*Who needs sunglasses when you have this? (or: Sinister looking contacts help you play better in sports).(see below)

Just getting my toes wet with this. (Design Science slide show) The Buckminster Fuller Institute is also sponsoring a Design Science Summer Lab @ the U.N. next month.

This weekend is The Cherry Blossom Festival @ Brooklyn Botanic Garden. There’s all kinds of cool stuff going on there including:

Samurai Sword Action

Taiko Drumming (I’m excited about this one)

And for the more mellow activity,

you can learn some things about green tea.

Note to self: Do not drink Maker’s Mark if you haven’t had any dinner. Unless you believe unsightly purging is a call for humble redemption. Best to find it in other ways.

In his memoir – The Phaselock Code, Roger Hart writes of his discovery of “the void”. After descending Mt. Everest, his friend Chombi, a Sherpa – introduces him to the concept and the term Sunyata. A little research on my part and I find that the Sunyata is part of buddhist philosophy. One definition I found online:
Emptiness. A Mahayana idea: nothing has an existence of its own. (buddhist society glossary). Hart quotes Chombi as saying “The discovery of the Void, the Sunyata, is the true goal of life on earth.”

Several years later while working in India, a colleague brings Roger to a man named Guruji to study yoga. While discussing whether the mind survives after death, the Void is brought up again in his life. Well, it’s not really a void (as Guruji explains)in the sense that it is empty. The Void, or Brahma, is formless, but is the birthplace of all forms, the word of God, if you will – a seamless whole that controls all the shapes and forms, the realm underlying the world of objective phenomena. Reality appears out of it and then enfolds back into it in an endless flux. He goes further to say that: It is called a void because it cannot be measured or perceived directly. It is subtler than matter, more fundamental. matter emerges from patterns of energy in the Void.

OK – so enough of the quotes. Essentially – this naturally brought my attention to my tattoo. I designed this thing about 9 or so years ago. It was ironically prompted by being stamped on the hand with the word “void” as I entered a party on Houston & Broadway. It was actually during the initiation of Pseudo before their official notoriety as a dot com and purveyor of electronic music culture. I didn’t wash the back of my hand thoroughly the next day – so the “void” lingered with me long enough for a little creative musing. Within a short sitting, a doodle became a solid tatoo design. My friend Mitch then helped me fine tune it on the computer.

Anyway, I just have to smile. It’s good to know that some of my spontaneous actions are rightly intuitive – even if it takes me 9 (or however many) years to actually make the connection.

It sure helps to know when I’m actually on the right path.(All this crazy zig-zagging of mine)

Just testing