🤯Unknown Unknowns #131 - Total Eclipse of the Heart

The difference between a partial eclipse and a total eclipse is literally night and day.  You don’t even notice a partial eclipse unless you wear the filter sunglasses or do the pinboard-cutout school project.  

A total eclipse, on the other hand, darkens the entire sky.  The moment of totality brings a quiet dusk.  The atmosphere is simultaneously charged and tranquil.  Sounds fade into the background.  When the sun finally emerges, you awaken from a trance.

I didn’t do justice to the awesome spectacle of a total eclipse.  

I’ve been to two total eclipses and both were transcendent experiences.  A partial eclipse is a science experiment and a total eclipse is a spiritual experience.

Partial eclipses are cool - you can see the moon creeping across the surface of the sun.  You can go down all the rabbit holes that explain exactly what is happening and why.  But total eclipses are on another level.  In that moment, the sheer scale of the sun and the moon are apparent.  I felt a connection to everything in my perception.  There’s something that permeates the air, a quietness that envelops the world until the sun peeks out again.

I stopped thinking and just felt.  

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📝 Writing of the Week:

I’ve been writing unpolished, around 100-word mini-essays.  Just reflections on ideas from podcasts or things on the news.  Here are the latest:

1️⃣ Meyers-Brigg and Kaizen

2️⃣ What Makes Candy Candy?

3️⃣ Schrödingpreneur

4️⃣ Customer-Centric Government

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🔍 Discoveries:

1️⃣ A really interesting short story on learning and curiosity.

🔗 Profession by Isaac Asimov

2️⃣ From

James Taylor Foreman

, a thought-provoking journey to understand life’s questions.

🔗 Why I am Christian again

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💡 Whiteboard of the Week:

I whiteboarded the conversation on Infinite Loops between Jim O’Shaughnessy and Cedric Chin.  Cedric writes at Common Cog.  His essay series on Tacit Knowledge is one of my favorite pieces of writing.

This is a new thing I’m trying out.  If you click the image, it should open the actual whiteboard.  Let me know if this is interesting.  I think it’s a good tool if you listened to the podcast and want to remember the details or if you’re unsure you want to commit the time to hear the podcast and want to know what they talked about.

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💬 Quote of the Week:

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. - Frank Herbert

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🏴‍☠️ Something Fun:

The other side of the eclipse

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👨‍🔧 If you need help in your writing or creative journey, perhaps I can help you:

⇒ Concept Crafting - Have an idea for an essay but not sure how to get it on paper?

⇒ Whiteboard Ideation - Through a one-hour call, we’ll unlock your ideas

⇒ Course Catalyst - Get the most out of taking an online course

And one way to help me:

⇒ I’m always looking for feedback, and in Cate’s above essay, she suggests this tool for giving feedback anonymously.

Anonymous Feedback

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You can find more of my writing at chr.iswong.com.

Questions, suggestions, complaints?  Email me at [email protected].  

Feedback welcome.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with a friend or two.  And feel free to send anything you find interesting to me!

Leaving you in peace,

Chris