My daughter and I spend at least two or three hours at Borders book store every week. It’s our favorite hangout. I like the business books, she’s into fiction. Two Saturdays ago, I spied an interesting title called In Pursuit of Elegance by Matthew E. May. The jacket talked about how the simplest creative solutions often have the most power. I noticed that the forward was by Guy Kawasaki, a tech guy I’ve heard speak a few times. The book looked promising.
I grabbed my usual refreshment: reduced calorie Red Cane Cola, made fresh like at the soda fountains in the old Kress stores my dad managed – only ten times as expensive. But hey, fond memories on top of great taste are always worth paying for, even when on a tight budget. Plus, a second *free* treat awaited me: my favorite oversized get-comfy-with-a-book chair by the farthest window. I quickly sat down, thankful that it was available on this busy traffic day when people were trying to escape the heat. (Not all of us up here in Oregon have air conditioning, and it’s been unusually hot. Another good reason to go to Borders.)
By the time the thick crème on top of my soda sinks halfway to the bottom of the clear plastic cup I’m inexplicably partial to over a solid white cup like at McDonalds, I am well into the book, now reading about fractals – a word I’ve never heard of before, but one I instantly understand. Fractals are like God’s fingerprints. They are the patterns of repeating geometric shapes that are found in all of Creation: from immense mountains, to endless coastlines, to tiny snowflakes.
In nature, seeming chaos is really layered patterns of intricate symmetry that can actually cause heart-felt reverberation when gazed upon by us humans. Wow.
So I’m reading about how Jackson Pollock, the famous American artist, was declaring himself one with nature and painting fractals years before they were even discovered in nature! – when I start noticing that my own heart has that tingly, vibrating “electric” feeling I get when I’m being led.
And then I turn the page and literally gasp at the graphic I see. It looks like this:
It’s the Hive!
My eyes start welling so fast, I have to quickly move the page away, fearful that I’ll drip on a book I can’t afford to pay for until my next payday, weeks away. (Getting paid only once a month really stinks, though in this economy, I’m just grateful to have a job and pray and pray that we can turn this recession around soon.)
OMG! The Hive is a fractal! Of course, it is. I always knew it was, but I didn’t know the name of it. I didn’t even know a name existed. In my ignorant brain, I was calling it a “vortex.” Though I knew that name wasn’t correct, it’s the only thing I could think of.
Seeing the Hive – something that I thought existed only in my head – suddenly staring back at me in black and white was an amazingly profound experience. It’s why I started this blog just days later. It’s why I want to share with you what it is. Because the Universe is calling for it to become a reality. And I’m going to need all the help I can get to make it so.
The weekend is almost here. I’ll have time to explain much more soon. Thanks for being patient!
Tags: Borders book store, fractals, Guy Kawasaki, In Pursuit of Elegance, Jackson Pollock, Matthew May, Red Cane Cola
