System Poetics

systems, culture, and psyche

When I heard the word corona in the past, I thought of our Sun.

The corona is the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere. For those of you who saw the sun during the 2017 eclipse in the United States, you could see the corona as the halo of light around the dark sun. 

The light of the sun outshines the corona so we don’t normally see the corona. However when systems change, such as during an eclipse or the introduction of special instruments (technology) we can experience this dimension of reality that has been there all along.

Even our conceptions of the sun change depends on systems, such as the scientific system or wisdom tradition.

The coronavirus, covid19, is also normally invisible. There are myriad corona viruses that we live with in mutual disregard.

Now we experience these systems and how they intersect in new ways.

What kinds systems?

Viral theory and the biological and chemical systems that we use to explain the origin of covid19.

The global supply chain and systems of production and consumption that support both food and medical equipment.

Systems of care, that determine who gets what care, from childbirth to illness.

Social protocols and systems such as hugs, handshakes, and social gatherings.

Computational and statistical systems are incomplete in understanding in predicting who will contract severe cases of of covid19.

The intersection of these systems is what I call system poetics, and they include all sorts of systems such as economic, political systems, monetary, municipal systems, transportation, epistemological and metaphysical systems .

 

I am not an essential worker. Although I have used my supply chain connections to help people get PPEs, I am on the sidelines of covid19.

I am privileged because I can adhere to safety protocols such as hand washing, because I have a home with running water and I have access to information about these safety protocols. This is not the case for people who are homeless, nomadic, lack running water, or lack access to these information networks.

I now spend a lot of time thinking, and my main thought is…

What sort of society will we build when this crisis is over?

 

There are so many ways to think about this question. The perspective I want to explore here with spectral. We tickle the systems and paradigms that we live within and we explore the edges, intersections, and holes - the poetics, to create new modes of thoughts, actions, and creations.

Each week I pose a question that I hope you will answer via the button below. This week I ask:

What system(s) are you thinking about with the advent of the Covid19 pandemic?