Here’s a killer quote from Whitehead. Not sure it’s source, but it evokes and provokes.

 

Assumptions and blind spots are almost always obvious and an exploration of the ‘obvious’ might prove super fruitful.

Here’s an example of something obvious: I have officially retired from my teaching job as of July 1, 2021. I have been keeping track of that time using a simple tool:

Every Thursday I color in seven blocks from the previous week. The obvious question that I have begun to ask myself is this: what does this represent in my mind and in my life? And that question inspires more questions. Am I acknowledging time past or the past in general? Am I noting how I am being drawn toward a time sensitive something specific like the new year or general like my own mortality? Is anything being measured here besides time or is it just being acknowledged?

I took a photo of this calendar tool when it was empty and I put it next to the current one and contemplate.

I look at this and ask myself, “What is obvious about the two calendars?  I don’t know.  “X” marks the start?  The start of what?  What meaning is there to the great “filling in” each week?  What happens or what does it mean when it is filled in? The whole expedition seems kinda lame described this way, but Whitehead’s quote grounds me: keep looking for the obvious.  Something hidden lives there.