Year End Statement (Field Research)

Morning Thoughts #132

I find myself in the midst of a renewed bout of field research, and I can feel the excavation down to my bones. The experiences I’m accumulating—one at a time, making sure to note their felt sensations meticulously, immediate reflectivity at the moment of contact—are part of a bigger life project. I’m undertaking all of this without a hypothesis.

As the sun rises, it takes the day onto itself. What this day means in relation to others, its light has no say. Do we live as engineers seeking the day’s connections for the sake of beautiful architectural projects? Building with them rather than straight diving into each as they come? Oh, conscious heights! Stories above our animal selves, don’t we also still long for moments of simpler, sea-level peace?

As for myself, I’ve often been guilty of pushing the best days aside, anxious and overexcited for tomorrow’s sun. With that in mind, I have an idea. Today, at year’s end, let us call a truce. No need to turn down the future, there’s something uniquely human about being excited for its fields of open but unrevealed possibility. Let us dive into our research, which feels intrinsically meaningful when we are sure it’s building towards some greater unknown. But, with all our senses, we’ve got to take down our findings as we go—stare at the moon and relax for a second, tucking our restless tides into it. There’s so much to come, but even more perpetually stalking our fingertips.