When you are at the airport, there are two moving sidewalks - one moving in either direction. If you walk on the one moving in the direction opposite to where you are headed, you will expend more energy than is necessary. If you stand still, you will move backwards.

But if you were to stand still on the sidewalk moving in the direction you are heading though, you will make it to your destination at a leisurely pace. If you walk in the direction you are going while standing on the sidewalk that is also moving in that direction, you make it to your destination with a normal amount of expended energy, but much faster!

So it is with any system we operate within. We must understand the flow of the system fundamentally so that we may be able to align ourselves with it (align with nature for thriving gardens).

The moving sidewalk is a simple example because it's a simple system. But how do you know if you're aligning with a system that is much more complex? You must spend the time to get to know the system, learn to feel the system (Video Games and the Future of Education). This is only done through observation and experience (Growing Up Unschooling with Jayn Coburn). And learning from Permaculture Zone 5.

If you skip learning about the system's fundamental nature, you are left to navigate it via blind luck or tactics (Systems keep you doing the most important work) given to you by other people. These are passable options, but assuming those tactics begin moving you in the opposite direction, you have no ability to course correct, often leaving you frustrated or confused (Acts 26). Your knowledge is too limited (Matthew 25) to adapt on the fly.

Citations

#toolong