Crossing Nebraska

Okay, I hope I’m not totally overselling this post by choosing such a title, but I think that after reading it you’ll agree that I simply couldn’t pass it up! You see, I’ve been talking a lot about seamlessness lately and what that means from a Buddhist point of view. I’ve also tried to flesh out that idea with more contemporary concepts regarding authenticity, spontaneity, and congruence (see previous post, Seamlessness and the Self ). Let me continue in that vein, then, by bringing into this discussion of seamlessness a versatile little heuristic device that has helped people understand interpersonal and organizational relationships for over fifty years – the Johari Window. First conceptualized by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham back in 1955, the Johari Window has been used extensively in individual and group counseling contexts, and in team-building exercises, etc. Do an internet search on the phrase and you’ll have more than enough reading to keep you busy for quite a while! The ...

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile you’ve probably noticed my penchant for the word seamlessness with regards to ultimate reality. Seamlessness, to me, conveys a deeper reality than does interconnectedness . Whereas interconnectedness implies individual entities in relationships of mutuality, seamlessness conveys a reality beyond separation, beyond individuation, beyond compartmentalization. When I first moved into the neighborhood where I presently live, none of the backyards in the immediate vicinity were fenced; they all just kind of blended together into one big tree-filled expanse. It was beautiful. Over the years, though, as old houses got torn down and new ones were built and as people with young families and dogs moved in, more and more fences went up and less and less of that expansiveness remained. The seamlessness that had once been so readily apparent is now almost completely parceled up into little areas of separateness. This is precisely what our ordinary c...

When I was about three or four years old I had this toy that was kind of like a giant erector set designed especially for building cars big enough for a kid to ride around in. It had lengths of angled metal that you fastened together with big plastic nuts and bolts to make a chassis, and there were curved metal panels that you fastened into place to make a hood or a trunk or whatnot. It was really quite a cool toy – one that I never tired of taking apart and putting back together in different ways. Oh, and of course I rolled around in it a lot, as well. I know I was pretty young at the time because the wheels were just a very simple, hollow plastic design with steel bushings at the center that allowed them to turn smoothly on their axle. They certainly couldn’t have handled much more weight than a three or four year-old kid. Anyway, I remember well the last time I ever rode in that sporty little vehicle. My big sister and I took it to the top of the hill at the end of the street w...