"We are tangential people," said my friend Albert this morning when we couldn't get off the phone. We kept talking rather than hanging up because the last thing he said led me to to tell about something loosely related which led to another thing from Al which led to. . . You get the idea. Tangents. Divergences. Leap frog. Down the rabbit hole.
I love going off on tangents. The willingness to be drawn along for the ride - eyes wide open, observing the passing scenery - can lead to surprising and amazing vistas. Thought of another way, tangents are like branching limbs and roots. Follow the line of the limb or root and you'll reach several other branches. Follow each branch, in turn, and you'll reach even more forking twigs. Each and every one of the twigs, branches, limbs, roots originates from a single, sturdy trunk. Each tangent, each divergence, can be traced back to a single starting point. Tangents are all related. The divergences converge into (or originate from) a single starting point, a single idea, one core.
I'm toying with this idea, thinking as I type, but divergences converging rings true for me right now whether applied to meandering conversations, down the rabbit hole internet searches where one thing leads to another leads to another leads to another, or a creative practice. All ideas are one idea is oversimplifying the message. But all ideas are related to a single core idea (or ideal) sounds about right. Certainly my own work, influences, inspirations, research sources, explorations, obsessions, and tangents all stem from a single trunk. How about you?
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