Hello Hedge Schoolers,
Welcome, welcome to another week and another inquiry. This week continues my assimilation of Buckminster Fuller's work into my own mental models. Guided by the brilliant tutelage of Christine McDougall, I am having my mind blown weekly. Last week we talked about the Principle of Perturbation and how pressure leads to greater vibration of components, eventually culminating in a threshold crossing where you are left permanently different. Perturbation is an example of what Bucky Fuller calls, generalised principles, always true without exception! These principles then serve as beautiful guideposts for living in accordance with nature. This week I'd like to introduce you to the Principle of Precession.
The Principle of Precession
For every action of a body in motion, there is an effect at 90 degrees.
Bucky unpacks this with an example of a honey bee. The action of the honey bee is to make honey. The effect of this action at 90 degrees is that the bee also then cross-pollinates plants. The purpose is honey making and the side effect is plant pollination. Another popular example is a stone dropped into still water. The stone (body in motion) breaks the water (action) and there is a side effect of ripples across the water's surface.
Within such a simple principle, there are three key parts to unpack.
Bodies in motion
Juicy actions
Side effects to live by
Bodies in motion
“The greatest mistake human beings make is to make themselves wrong for making mistakes. It is our natural way of learning...”
Buckminster Fuller
Learning is in action. We, through our actions, are in motion. Guided by feedback, positive or negative. The feedback (aka gift) helps us course-correct and keep in motion. For so many of us, taking the first step is the hardest move. Our stillness traps us in the quicksand of overthinking and we play it safe. We believe it better to save ourselves from potential failure by not starting than to fail for real. Although failure is nothing but a mind story we project.
To bring the gifts we were born to give the world (hat tip Leslie Lau), we must be in motion. We must take action. In the Way of Zen, Alan Watts shares a story about the Chinese practice of yìzhí zǒu, or ‘going straight ahead.’
"A master who was once asked, What is the Tao—the Way? replied, Walk on. Actually, Go! As we say, Go, man! Go! Go, go. And it is this aspect of Zen that is what is truly understood by ‘detachment,’ or having a mind that isn’t ‘sticky’ and that isn’t stopped at any point in its whole working. To be stopped at a certain point is what is called ‘having a doubt,’ as when one fumbles, or wobbles, or hesitates about something—trying to find the right solution for the circumstances by thinking it out in a situation where there really is no time to think it out."
Alan Watts - The Way of Zen
In action lies learning. So go, just go. Leave the thinking behind.
Juicy Actions
The humble bee is lit up by making honey. It is this purpose that drives the bee to move from plant to plant. Driving the bee to be in motion. To further elaborate, I am going to piggyback on a beautiful frame Christine shared in our Masterclass last week.
What is the honey that lights you up?
Meaning and purpose are our primary drivers. Money will be on the list for sure. But I would hazard a guess that money is a secondary benefit. It is not the thing that gets us up out of bed in the morning. It helps for sure but for most of us, we need more than the chase of money to drive us. Discovering our honey is a big part of living in accordance with our nature. It was a philosophy that drove Buckminster Fuller. Throughout his own life, he found that living to create a brighter future for all of mankind lit him up. Being lit by this then led to beautiful side effects, which allowed the world to benefit tremendously from the unique genius that was Buckminster Fuller. This genius is in all of us. Money is not the honey light. Find action which you would do just because. Just because it makes the world a better place. Just because nature is improved by you living into your own nature.
Just because!
Side effects to live by
Well, that's all fine and dandy but I need to make a living?
Yes, you do. But financial stability is a side effect. Bucky committed wholeheartedly to juicy actions that made the world a better place for all and he trusted that the Universe would look after that side of the arrangement. And he was right.
“Since nature was clearly intent on making humans successful in support of the integrity of eternally regenerative Universe, it seemed clear that if I undertook ever more humanly favorable physical-environment-producing artifact developments that in fact did improve the chances of all humanity’s successful development, it was quite possible that nature would support my efforts…”
Buckminster Fuller
The world needs more people who are alive. Not alive in fat wallets and the over-consumption of finite resources but alive in spirit.
Alive in the generation of a world with a future.
Alive in the nurturing of nature through relationship and conscious connection.
The rest will take care of itself. The plants will be pollinated as a result of actions that light you up. Trust in your transmission, for those that do are magnetic in attraction. And the Universe takes care of its own. Making a living is a by-product of inspired action.
So start making honey dear ones.
Personal Examples of Precession
To bring it all together, I’ll share some examples of the Principle of Precession from my own life.
Quitting drinking - This was a three-year journey (body in motion), which was then cemented by a juicy action (the decision to quit), and the side effect at 90 degrees was that I have a much closer relationship with my son as I have more energy to be present and play with him. Interestingly, another unforeseen side effect was the challenge of redefining how I caught up with my mates. A drink was the act that usually prompted our catch-up. This has been slightly awkward for all parties.
Blogtober - I wrote 750 words every day last year which prompted my dear friend Kristina to invite me to write a blog every day for October (Blogtober). This was the juicy action. The side effect was that I found daily publishing draining but enjoyed the time constraint as a pressure to create content. This led to settling on a weekly cadence and began the Hedge School newsletter.
Coaching - Three years ago I sought out the guidance of Tom Barrett as a coach. The initial consultation was for assistance with writing a book but through dialogue (body in motion), Tom flagged my constant reference to assisting people with transformative growth. He challenged me to reach out to people in my phonebook (action) which led to the side effect of creating a coaching proposal for an EdTech company. I coached members of that organisation for over two years.
As you can see, the inspired action leads to side effects at 90 degrees that are often not on our radar. These can be both positive and negative. Either way, they are feedback. Inspired action with a side effect at 90 degrees. So become a body in motion. Take inspired action and notice what ripples out at 90 degrees.
Till next week,
Steve
Principle of Precession: Honey before Money