Rational

Both rational and ratio share the same Latin root.

So if something is rational (sensible, coherent), it takes proportion (ratio, balance, correlations) into account.

Proportion is a relationship between elements. It is often linked to beauty and harmony. It implies a harmonious integration of the parts in a whole.

Thus, true rationality regards both the whole and all of its parts. Rationality is, in this sense, inclusive.

Irrationality at its worst would then mean disregarding a part or several parts of a whole, in favour of others. Deviating visibly from an equilibrium, slanting markedly.

There is, of course, another ingredient to add to this: time. Time usually corrects excessive slanting by turning it around and promoting slanting in the opposite direction.

Is small beautiful?

Small is beautiful... true. But is big not beautiful, too?

Today I heard a wise woman say (I am very loosely quoting her): "the higher you go, the less detail you see; that is why the universe includes small creatures: because God loves detail, as well as wideness and heights".

The object of one's attention may be small. Scientists know about this. They deliberately limit their view, that they might penetrate the nature of their field of study through sheer concentration.

There are advantages to contemplating the universe in small chunks. So long as we don't lose perspective: every morsel belongs to the whole. All numbers stem from the one.

What about madness?

Madness is an inability to grasp reality, to face it and come to terms with it. To a certain extent, we are all mad. Shared madness results in collective delusions... and those who don't share them will probably be labelled as "mad".

Turning from slavery to dominion is the privilege of those prepared to look at things as they are. There is often suffering involved, because of the division between "what I wanted" and "what is".

However, if I am prepared to accept my present limitations unconditionally, they cease to limit me. If I am prepared to see, to really face and understand whatever is there... then I cannot go mad.

They say four rabbis went to heaven while they were in meditation. One died. One would not believe it and fell into skepticism, which led to heresy. One went mad. Only the fourth one was prepared to say "yes" to the full extent of the experience and come back to earth with it, prepared to share it, to use it.

Let me not deny what IS.

Trial and error

The only mistake possible is misplacing one's attention.

It is a common mistake.

We might think we were concentrating on something, and we were not. Real concentration is rare. The mind tends to flicker.

We might believe we were looking at something, and we were not really paying attention to the outside, but rather falsely corroborating some inner image. So then we act surprised at the fact that it was not what we thought.

We might make a decision based on another's judgement, and then have regrets, when things did not work out as we wanted.

Until we can focus properly, we will not know reality.

So let us welcome the process of trial and error. Acknowledge the fact that, often enough, our right hand has no idea what our left hand is doing.

And, even so... make choices, even if they are erred.

Existence learns, also, through our mistakes.

Bumpy times

Life moves on. There is ever more and more, coming from the fountain. Make way!

Thus, we can leave some space for the new. It will come, anyway. We might as well save it the trouble of making space for itself...

Or, if it does, welcome the change. However bumpy.

Holding and letting go

There is no letting go without a previous attachment. Yet no attachment is possible if things were not previously separate, unattached.

Is this the way out of anything? First, holding it fast, looking into it with intention, willingly; absorbing it, becoming one with it... Then, setting it free, becoming one with the One, surrendering ourselves and our troubles to the vastness. Beyond a particular understanding or a specific feeling.

The movement that appears is that of a cycle, holding and letting go embracing each other. Each impossible without its counterpart.

Expression or equation?

I can see the universe as a mathematical expression. Something that is. The equivalent to a number, to a given (though sometimes unknown) value.

I can also see the universe as a mathematical equation. A balance. A set of scales. A riddle that could be, perhaps, worked out.

The first view stresses the result, the second one focuses on the process. Both are beautiful.

"Light descends through 6 and ascends through 8", I was once told, by someone who had read about sacred architecture.

The expression will always point to number 1, which is closely related to the hexagon (6) because the radius of the circumference is also the side of the six-sided regular polygon.

The equation will, I believe, change in time, according to my level of understanding. I may start out with a polynomial function, go through a phase of inequations, then dive into systems with three variables... This "building up one's structure towards unity, in small steps" is very much the feature of number 8, the octagon, the octagonal support for domes in churches.

6 or 8, all is 1. And 0 is everywhere and nowhere.