329. Integration & Our Push Towards Minimalism
The theme of the moment? Integration. Well, maybe not the moment. Maybe the decade? Or how about the century? Maybe it’s not even a trend, but maybe it’s just reality… all the time.
When we think about new, interesting and original things, we realize although the idea, concept or product may be “net-new”, it’s simply a collaboration, combination or an amalgamation of already existing parts. The truth is, no matter what is going to exist or be “invented” in the future, already exists right now. It just hasn’t been put together or discovered yet.
If we consider that anything and everything is just more fractals of a greater whole or greater source, we may actually have a desire to continue to integrate. Bringing things together is really the only way to counteract more fractals and make less of them. In other words, we’re making ourselves as well as other things… whole. I do wonder if it’s in our nature to integrate. Typically as a result of this process, the more we’re looking to evolve and ascend, the more attracted to “minimalism” as a whole, we may be Consider that minimalism isn’t just a design style, but more so discernment in regards to what fits into our life, and what doesn’t.
But regardless, I’m more interested in integration and how it comes together. One of the best examples that I’ve come across regarding integration is the “Lords of Dogtown” movie. The “Dogtown and Z-Boys” documentary is also totally valid, however I find that the former is more succinct to the integration point, for my purposes. To summarize, these surfers in southern California discover skateboarding during a drought, and their ability to mesh their “surfing moves” with a land board created an entirely new scope for skateboarding in general, which was once only a place for practically static, almost circus-like moves. Their ability to integrate surfing and skating bred the genre of skateboarding that we know today. Not to mention their impact on flair and style. It’s one of the more obvious examples of bringing two or more things together to create one cohesive whole. The theme envelopes integration as a result.
As mentioned, this happens all the time. Anything and everything new is integration. What I want to point out which is a really interesting element of the film, is that this process of integration was practically seamless. It was confident, and no one was questioning each others’ styles and abilities, despite the questioning and backlash from peers or watchers. It just “was”. I sometimes wonder our success in evolution if we weren’t constantly harming, criticizing and putting each other down. How much faster would we evolve if we didn’t have to deal with adversity? I guess we’ll never really know.
Integration is fascinating and it’s everywhere and anywhere. I find it particularly interesting when two or more things of seemingly little comparative value are brought together to make something great. Perhaps this is where we find our most brilliant inventions.
Maybe creativity is this in a sense, but perhaps it’s bringing through or back something long forgotten. Maybe that’s the definition of originality? I’m sure there are lots of different ways we can look at it.
To sum up, maximalism isn’t bad, it’s only relative to you as a person, your alignment, and what you’re looking to achieve. Perhaps part of your purpose is to be able to “collect” lots of these different things in order to move through this discernment process. Or maybe it’s to be able to multi-task in order to strengthen your responsibility and levels of control. And keep in mind, these things can change throughout different courses of your life as well. Keep an eye out for integration!
