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Signs… or not?

Yesterday I came across an amusing street sign and spent an amusing interlude searching for others. However, as ever, it got me thinking. The whole point about signs is they are meant to give clear information; that is their raison être. We want to know where we are, and what we should do, and signs are there to tell us. We are surrounded by signs; street signs, speed limits, directions, business names, legal disclaimers, we are positively awash with signs.

I guess it is unsurprising then that we scan our world for other sorts of sign, more primitive ones to tell us what is going to happen; is it going to rain? What kind of day will it be? Of course in less sophisticated times this was very important and part of man’s survival toolkit. In this digital, cyberspace era, we tend not to be as connected with our world and look to the TV for our information. However, at a deeper level we still scan our environment for signs; is my world safe? Are things getting better or worse? What is coming over my horizon?

I some times catch myself noticing apparently random patterns and wondering if they are telling me something. Is this a good or bad day for this kind of activity? I can’t tell you definitively if these occurrences are signs I am reading (or should be reading!) or just random happenings I should just ignore. My feeling is that our world is rich with patterns that can be read and can guide us, in much the same way that the Bushmen can follow an animal that has passed days ago in the desert. You will have to make up your own mind. It might be interesting though to see which is more helpful, scanning for ‘signs’ and then paying attention to their messages or just ignoring them all as irrelevant and stupid…

 

“Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected” Mahatma Gandhi

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 08:43 and is filed under General, Hints, Tips & Techniques, Values & Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Signs… or not?”

  1. Paul Simister says:
    5 May , 2008 at 12:20

    Great blog yesterday with the signs and an interesting development today.

    We see so much but have to ignore much of it because we either can’t make sense of it or it conflicts with our current world order.

    I was in Botswana in the Kalahari in March 2007 and had the pleasure of going out on a bush walk with two Bushmen and it was fascinating how they interpreted the signs. But for them in such a harsh environment, it is a matter of life and death.

  2. richardderwentcooke says:
    5 May , 2008 at 17:05

    Paul

    Thanks for your kind words. It must have been a great experience.

    I think one of the key thngs for me is a willingness to at least look for signs and to try ones hand at interpreting them, and see how that works out. i have to say, that I feel that I live more harmoniously with myself when I can ‘read the signs’

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