Replying to LO26537 --
Some resonances to the comfort of reading Andrew:
> 3: 15 The Master entered the shrine, and at every stage asked questions.
> Someone said, Who says this son of a man of Dzou knows ritual? At every stage
> he asks questions. The Master said, THAT is the ritual.
Asking questions at every stage; hmmm...
> I draw nothing: I gaze and the figures of the material world the take
> being as if they fell from my contemplation ( how easily nature works for
> us all). As with my Mother (the All-Soul) and the beings that begot me so
> it is with me; they are born of a contemplation and my birth is from them,
> not by their Act but by their Being, they are the loftier
> Reason-Principles, they contemplate themselves and I am born."
"She danced on the water and the wind was Her horn,
The Lady laughed and everything was born
And when She lit the sun and the light gave Him birth
The Lord of the Dance first appeared on the Earth."
> 15: 29 The Master said, A man can broaden a Way, it is not the Way that
> broadens the man.
Questions: then why broaden the Way? For oneself or for others? Or for
the Way itself?
> You know, I used to get confused by terms like genetic-algorithms until I saw
> they were simply recipes, done in silence.
There is an emerging discipline of writing software, becoming popular just
now, called "Extreme Programming" by its originators. From a page on the
topic:
Kent Beck sent this note to a young extremist. She asked about the coding
and partnering experience and how to communicate to her partner what she
foresaw:
I have this vision of how I want the objects to be and what they need to
do - and I don't seem to be communicating it very well.
Here's Kent's reply:
Perhaps the vision is the problem, not the communication. I will explain
by analogy. When you sit zazen (the Zen mediation technique), I am told
that bizarre things can happen to you. You can get sudden bursts of
psychic powers- precognition, far-seeing, telepathy, etc. Lots of people
would think that was cool. They would hold onto these powers (if they
could).
Zen teaches exactly the opposite. While it is true that the mind is
capable of many things that we don't understand, it is far more
important to get behind all of these experiences to the true ground of
existence than to play with a few more mind toys. If you focus on the
visions, you will lose track of the search for the essence.
By analogy, we are embarked on a quest to find the simplicity and
commonality of experience. Because we want to get paid, we generally
restrict ourselves to finding the simplicity and commonality of
commerce. Fortunately, commerce is a close enough reflection of humanity
that it is still a fertile and challenging field.
When we program, we are always engaged in a struggle to truly see. If we
see clearly- what the users want, need, and fear; what our co-workers
want, need, and fear; what we ourselves want, need, and fear; and
finally what the system wants and needs (damn good thing computers can't
fear!)- we work well and truly. Our systems are simple. Our thoughts are
simple. We work without stress, without fear, with joy and love for our
task and ourselves.
Visions of objects screw this entire process into the ground. When you
already see the illusion of objects, you stop seeing everything that
could tell you that you were wrong. The cases where our visions came
true only exacerbate the problem, as we make the vision the goal, not
the system.
Because envisioning feels good. It brings many of the good feelings that
really programming brings, but it can't crash. So people pursue visions
instead of code (lots of design before you code), and visions of visions
instead of code (lots of object oriented analysis), and the worst of all
are those who pursue visions of visions of visions instead of code (the
methodologists).
So - congratulations on having gained the ability to envision objects
before you program. Take a moment to enjoy the feeling when it
comes. Then knock it the hell off. Find the one piece of the vision that
seems most compelling and do the least possible amount of that. Then
bless and release the vision and get back to listening- to your code,
your user, your partner, and yourself.
-- http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ToAyoungExtremist
> A patient cycling is this learning. A gentle turning.
"To turn, turn will be our delight,
'Til by turning and turning we come out right"
A good night and good turns to you all,
Love,
Dwig
--Don Dwiggins <d.l.dwiggins@computer.org>
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