The Triad of Change
In mythology, the 3 Fates represent the forces that determine destiny. In Greek and Roman tradition, they are described as weavers: creating (Clotho), measuring (Lachesis), and cutting (Atropos) the thread of a human life. The number 3 is symbolically useful because it asks us to see relationships beyond the duality of black-white, either-or, us-them.
Chiropractic philosophy describes the Triune of Life as an interplay (force) between intelligence and matter. Life, after all, is the expression of intelligence through matter. We recognize the vital element that animates form. We also recognize the intelligent ways living things maintain their active organization in the face of a constantly changing and challenging environment.
The Triad of Change provides a useful model to understand the ways that energy organizes in living systems. As humans, we can consider Structure (the body we inhabit), Behavior (how we move ourselves), and Perception (how we view our relationship to ourselves in the environment). This model is appropriate in the context of chiropractic practice because we work with the nervous system. As chiropractors, we assess and support the ability of the nervous system to be more flexible and more adaptive. We do this directly through the alignment of the body (structure), facilitating movement and connection between parts (behavior), and offering a perspective of coherence (perception).
Whether our preference is to lead with the energy of the fabric maker, the measurer-planner, or the action-taker, we are participating in the process of weaving. Seen from this perspective we weave with the Fates instead of at their mercy. Empowerment comes when we are in alignment with our principles. We can choose to defer our fate to perceived authority or we can do the work to build resilience, act with integrity, and clarify our perception .
"Paying" Attention?
Where does attention come from? What do we mean when we use the phrase “pay attention”?
When I encounter questions about the meaning and use of words, I often find it instructive to look to their origin and development. The word attention derives from the Latin tendere, which means “to stretch”. From Old French to Middle English to attend came to mean “applying one’s mind or energies toward something”. At some point in the mid 16th century, the legal term tender was used as a way to “formally offer a plea or evidence, or money to discharge a debt”.
We tend gardens, wounds, children - stretching our hands and hearts and minds forth to those things we perceive as important and delicate and worthy of care. Yet, at some point, we started using the same word in a way that reflected the influences of capitalism, commerce, and debt. Changes in language reflect changes in thought. The world was changing in the mid 16th century as exploration in new lands coincided with the rise of mercantilism, which was the predecessor of the capitalism we know today.
As the world changes again we see the competition for resources shift from physical commodities (land, oil, metal) to the commodity of information. The types and amount of data that are streamed and collected in the information economy must surely exceed the material wealth that can be extracted from the earth. This recognition has given rise to an attention economy, powered by technology, and expanding ever more rapidly.
It is something so powerful that it hides in plain sight, so dangerous that authority wants to control it at any cost, and so valuable that it is given, for free, to every conscious being.
In the process of witnessing my own use of language, the inquiry arose “why do we use the phrase ‘paying attention’?” Attention is something we can bring, capture, give, and lose. It has immense value as it creates the frame in which and through which we perceive ourselves, each other, and the world around us. It represents the light of awareness that directs the most precious resource we have and the only thing that we can truly claim with sovereignty. It is something so powerful that it hides in plain sight, so dangerous that authority wants to control it at any cost, and so valuable that it is given, for free, to every conscious being.
The next time you decide to “pay” attention to someone or something, I invite you to consider whether the exchange of value in such a “transaction” is in alignment with how you want to use your attention. We do not get paid for the extraordinary amount of data we disclose to our devices in the form of our attention. There are ways to engage with technology more consciously, but it takes discipline and having tools can help. I have found the resources at The Center for Humane Technology to be useful in this practice.
It is an aspect of biological life to consume resources and information. How we focus our attention plays a profound role not just in how we perceive the world, but in how we co-create reality as it unfolds. Using language consciously and creatively will influence thought, thoughts influence perspective, and perspective influences behavior. Take care when consuming. Your information diet will affect your health no less than the foods you eat. May you tend well and be well tended. Thank you for your attention.
Love in Uncertain Times
My daughter, Violet, was born a few nights ago in our home on Oregon’s north coast. Supported by the practiced and competent hands of three midwives, as well as our doula, Mack, my wife, Adria, naturally and brilliantly birthed Violet into this world and the two of us into parenthood. I am deeply grateful for our midwives, inspired by my wife’s strength and resilience, and absolutely in love with our baby.
Bearing witness to the birth process was a gift that has only expanded my awe of the innate intelligence of the human body, and confirmed how integral chiropractic care is for pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum. I supported my wife’s spine and pelvis as she communicated with her body, with me and our midwives, and birthed our daughter into our world. We have this extraordinary vehicle - one that allows consciousness to emerge, to sense and explore the living world, and to communicate and share love with others. With our bodies and minds, we have been conditioned to look to the future - to plan and to plot - often under the illusion that just a little more “doing” will get us to the place where we can find meaning and certainty. Now more than ever we need to look to the present, to find the space between the stimulus and the response and pause there. The entire world has been asked to take this pregnant - sometimes uncomfortable - pause. It is a fertile opportunity to reflect on our values and habits and make fundamental inquiries: Is it more important to be right, or to connect?
I can say now from first-hand experience that the way to change the diaper of a fiery newborn goddess at 3:00 a.m. is not to shush her, or explain the inconvenience of her developing bowel’s timing to my sleep pattern, or that she needs to learn to modulate the volume and intensity of the wailing (8.5 is excessive, especially this early). It is not to get frustrated at the effective jiu-jitsu she is employing to avoid the diaper grapple. It is not to allow my own notions of how this should be going, or convince myself that she is already scheming ways to test my patience. It is not to prove my experience is right or more real. The truth, as it often is, is so simple and literally right in front of me. “You need to connect with her,” I hear Adria offer sleepily from the bedroom, “she wants you to sing”. And now I do, and it makes all the difference in the world - to her and to me.
In these uncertain times, some things remain true and shine even brighter amidst the tumultuous landscape. I recognize these truths being born from the darkness into my expanding awareness: Love is the light by which we all see. Mothers have superpowers. Choosing connection instead of righteousness makes babies laugh and the world a kinder place to live.
