I’m sharing here about paths I’ve walked (so far) this lifetime that are part of what/who I am now.
System: I’ve always been drawn to math, systems and patterns. Buckminster Fuller was an early intellectual hero for me. He admired seafarers who led lives outside the control of kings and armies. He strove to bring something new into the world. In addition to introducing new ways of thinking about the workings of the world, he sparked my interest in the Platonic solids and his Vector Equilibrium.
Another influence has been the lesser known Stafford Beer. He was strongly influenced by cyberneticist W. Ross Ashby and introduced me to Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety. The recursive nature of Beer’s “Viable System” [2nd source] Model of systems is unique in the approaches I’ve encountered. A real-world effort to build systems to manage the nation of Chile ended when its socialist president was overthrown in a bloody coup.
My father introduced me to the ideas of John Bennett, and through him, Gurdjieff. Bennett studied the fundamental aspects of the monad, dyad, triad etc. (systems of one, two, three or more [components is not quite the right word]) that hold true through their various incarnations. Via the Bennett community I met Anthony Blake (who studied with both Bennett and physicist David Bohm), and attended a number of the events he pulled together in and near Baltimore a few decades ago, when I lived relatively close by. I met Richard (Dick) Knowles at one of Tony’s gatherings. His Process Enneagram comes out of the Gurdjieff/Bennett tradition, via Krone Associates’ work for DuPont, via which my father also came to know of Bennett and his Systematics.
I’ve also been drawn to architect Christopher Alexander, Goethe‘s approach to scientific inquiry (in good part through the writings of Henri Bortoft, Craig Holdrege, and others). I’m engaged along with some friends in Joanna Macy‘s writing.
Daily life changed when my wife and I took on full time care-giving in late 2022. Not ready to put words around this here.
Spirit: Part-way through college I went into the Peace Corps, in Nepal, where I came to be around people living their Hindu, Buddhist, … traditions. After returning to the US and college, a yoga instructor introduced me to two teachers from India who have influenced me deeply – Harish Johari (affectionately known as Dada (“older brother”) and Shyam Bhatnagar (Shyam-ji).
I spent a fair bit of time with people using the ideas of Gurdjieff [Wikipedia; his ties to Sarmoun and Sufi traditions, as a “teacher of dance“] and John Bennett (a student of Gurdjieff, on whom more elsewhere) in their lives.
In the few years before moving to Vermont, I was close with a Mevlevi Sufi group led by Kabir and Camille Helminski. I was with them for two of their Summer retreats in (what is now nearby) Burke, VT. Locally, I’ve spent time with two groups (both with centers in Barnet, VT) with Tibetan Buddhist roots. Karme Choling, originally known as Tail of the Tiger, was founded by (controversial to some) Chogyam Trungpa. Close by is the Milarepa Center, affiliated with the more traditional FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition). I’ve gone to the annual Elders Gathering at Sunray Peace Village in Lincoln, VT. Their spiritual director has roots in both native American (Tsalagi/Cherokee) and Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Lately I’ve been drawn to Dzogchen, and to the work of Hareesh Wallis.
I’ve added a Contact Form for anyone wishing to send comments.
My Work Life: I wrote my first computer program in 1965, and have worked with (primarily “small”) computers ever since. When living in Delaware, I had two long-term employers – a civil engineering company (FORTRAN programming), and the University of Delaware (pre-PC as a jack-of-all-trades position in the College of Education, and after the IBM PC arrived, as the first person hired by the university specifically to support PCs and those learning to use them. Since moving to Vermont in 1998, most of my work has been other than as an employee. Almost since moving here, through fall of 2014, I worked part-time for various small rural schools as technology coordinator or as one of a tech support team. Other lines of work include creating custom applications built around databases (using Microsoft Access) and building web sites for local businesses.
Other Web Presence: My wife and I once used (we’re retired) solbakkn.com. The site solvt.com first served as a personal “professional” site. it’s currently holding the first ten months of a weekly group discussion. I intend to use it to get some experience with Kadence’s latest theme, perhaps re-orient the content to “solve it”, whatever that might mean. I would consider selling or donating the domain name if an attractive offer came my way. As a volunteer, I’ve set up WordPress sites for Sunray Meditation Society, The Learning Emporium, and others.
An interest not covered on this site is how to bring into being an education environment that is more self-directed, with more intensely focused students, than one finds in today’s schools. While actively involved in education, I collected interesting educational links at a wordpress.com site.
A bit more on topics in which I’m particularly interested:
Approaches to Scientific Inquiry: Goethe, known for his poetry and plays, also served as an administrator of public works and educational systems. He and Isaac Newton had quite different approaches to scientific inquiry. His was one of an open mind and careful inquiry and reflection, not looking to “find the answer” to a question and then limit one’s further observations to what can be seen through that framework. Once a law is found, it becomes a lens through which nature is observed. This obscures the possibilities of new understandings.
I’m Sigurd, son of Sigurd (rhymes with “triggered”). Wiktionary: origin: Old Norse Sigurðr, from sigr (“victory”) + varðr, vǫrðr (“guard”); from Wikipedia: Sigurd appears in Norse and German tales that vary, but with some common themes. Sigurd was raised by his evil-minded uncle, Regin, who asked Sigurd to slay the dragon Fafnir (who was once Regin’s brother) to get at his hoard of gold. After killing Fafnir, Sigurd (tastes, drinks, bathes in, … depending on which version of the tale) the dragon’s blood, he gets new powers – versions mention invulnerability, prophecy, and understanding the language of the birds (through which he learned of his uncle’s plot against him). J. R. R. Tolkein’s 2009 book, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, has two long poems based on the tale, inspired by traditional poetic forms.