Love is the Seventh Wave

by Sting

In the empire of the senses, you’re the queen of all you survey. All the cities, all the nations, everything that falls your way, there is a deeper wave than this that you don’t understand.

There is a deeper wave than this tugging at your hand.

Every ripple on the ocean, every leaf on every tree, every sand dune in the desert, every power we never see, there is a deeper wave than this swelling in the world.

There is a deeper wave than this. Listen to me girl.

Feel it rising in the cities. Feel it sweeping over land. Over borders, over frontiers, nothing will it’s power withstand. There is no deeper wave than this rising in the world.

There is no deeper wave than this. Listen to me girl.

All the bloodshed, all the anger, all the weapons, all the greed, all the armies, all the missiles, all the symbols of our fear, there is a deeper wave than this rising in the world.

There is a deeper wave than this. Listen to me girl.

At the still point of destruction, at the centre of the fury, all the angels, all the devils, all around us, can’t you see? There is a deeper wave than this rising in the land.

There is a deeper wave than this nothing will withstand.

I say love is the seventh wave.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

I recently took a personality test, specifically the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It is "the most widely used personality inventory in history," according to the Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. If it is that widely used, it is possible that I had taken a similar test before and simply forgot about it, or even worse, turned it into a self-fulfilling prophecy! Nevertheless, it always helps to learn things about oneself, no matter how simplistic the process.

According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I have an Introverted iNtuition, Extraverted Thinking, Introverted Feeling, and Extraverted Sensing, or INTJ for short. Here's a really pared down analysis:

Introverted iNtuition. INTJs are idea people. They enjoy developing unique solutions to complex problems.

Extraverted Thinking. Thinking tends, protects, affirms and directs iNtuition. Thinking argues not so much on its own behalf, but in defense of ideas.

Introverted Feeling. Feeling lends its influence on behalf of causes which are good, worthy, and humane. It may be seen in the unspoken attitude of good will, or the gracious smile or nod.

Extraverted Sensing. Sensing has only a rudimentary awareness of context, amount or degree. Thus INTJs sweat the details or, at times, omit them. Sensing's extraverted attitude is evident in this type's bent to savor sensations rather than to merely categorize them.

I cannot really say if it is all true. I guess I do not know myself that well, or I'm just reluctant to agree with a system of sixteen catchy four-letter acronyms. However, it is a widely used personality inventory, and it should be helpful to know. I guess I'll just file it with the other tests I have taken so far. Understanding without resorting to stereotypes is such an elusive state of mind. Then again, is it possible to understand complexity without simplification, or are we just flattering ourselves in thinking that our personalities are so complex?

Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars

I'm rereading Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, starting once again with the first book, Red Mars. I have never encountered science fiction like this before. Some of its chapters not only talk about technological change, but social change as well. It is like a book on utopia in the garb of science fiction, essentially creating a new society in another place. Despite the fantastic setting, the issues are strikingly relevant to the here and now. Here's a short exchange between characters to give you a better idea, it's about ec0-economics:

"The basic equation is simple, efficiency merely equals the calories you put out, divided by the calories you take in... In the classic sense of passing along calories to one's predator, ten percent was average, and twenty percent doing really well. Most predators at the tops of the food chains did more like five percent."
"This is why tigers have ranges of hundreds of square kilometers," Vlad said. "Robber barons are not really very efficient."
"So tigers don't have predators not because they are so tough, but because it's not worth the effort," John said.
"Exactly!"
"The problem is in calculating the values," Marina said. "We have had to simply assign certain calorie-equivalent numerical values to all kinds of activities, and then go on from there."
"But we are talking about economics?" John said.
"But this is economics, don't you see, this is our eco-economics! Everyone should make their living, so to speak, based on a calculation of their real contribution to the human ecology. Everyone can increase their ecological efficiency by efforts to reduce how many kilocalories they use-this is the old Southern argument against the energy consumption of the Northern industrial nations. There was a real ecological basis to that objection, because no matter how much the industrial nations produced, in the larger equation they could not be as efficient as the South."
"They were predators on the South," John said.
"Yes, and they will become predators on us too, if we let them. And like all predators their efficiency is low. But here, you see-in this theoretical state of independence that you speak of-" she grinned at John's look of consternation-"you do, you have to admit that that is ultimately what you talk about all the time, John-well, there it should be the law that people are rewarded in proportion to their contribution to the system."