fulner

David Bulter: I met direction…

I met direction the other day while I was thinking with my eyes closed but not sleeping

Nothing { life begins—movement—life ends } Nothing
direction
Nothingness ends ] life interrupts [ Nothingness begins
direction
birth-movement-death
direction
no movement-birth-lifetime of movement-death-no movement
direction

Movement cannot exist without direction. Movement must begin in -or be sustained through- an item
or aim. This object or item must be created, born, or allowed the time to have consciousness. Or
non-consciousness). Here the term “non-consciousness” is used to highlight the point at which consciousness
could begin if the item had the capacity. There is a point where it could begin to develop
into something conscious, but it does not, and so there is one thing sustained: existence; and therefore
the capacity for movement. Potential. This does not necessarily have to be a movement we are
familiar with, nor does it have to be a movement that follows the rules of human reason. It is an
unconscious item in nature and therefore will not always act consciously. Movement can be ‘from
point A to point B’. It can be ‘the process by which a baby grows until it is no longer a baby’, or ‘how
a cell progresses’. Movement can be described as a change. Ideas can move. Your ideas change. You
rearrange them, record them, forget them, or ignore them completely. Ideas improve, deepen, grow,
evolve. An idea is like a small creation in your head that is allowed movement. If it is growing, learning,
advancing, or dying, it has direction. So direction can be observed directly (a racing Indy car) or
implied (our understanding of nanotechnology increases) but it doesn’t yield to standard methods of
observation.
Does movement need direction and an object to exist?
Can direction exist without movement or an object?
Imagine for a moment that the universe is frozen: time stops along with all celestial objects; and does
direction still continue? Does direction still exist?
If you watch a video of a wine glass falling from a table, you can pause the tape as the glass is in midair.
The glass’s movement would be suspended but its direction would still exist.
Likewise, if you stop a small child on his way to the ocean and ask him “Where are you going?” he’ll
respond “I’m going to the ocean” or “The ocean.” Even though your question is keeping him from
moving towards his destination, his response still describes his current direction. No matter how you
phrase the question, his answer will be that he is going to the ocean. It is easy here to confuse the
destination with direction, but direction is a mode for arriving at a destination.
If you put these questions on a larger scale, you’ll ask yourself: where am I going? Here is where you
will find your direction.
One day I observed direction in its singularity. I saw it free from everything in this world. Pure as a
diamond. Purer. I can recall every detail to the point of feeling. But my descriptions are inadequate.
Still…
Its form is absolute and distinct. The scientist in me wants to call it dense, disgustingly dense. It is
tremendously solid but also, by its very nature, fluid and ever changing. Its body is infinite like water,
solid as a train’s endless inertia. It does not fit into our vocabulary. Direction keeps no time. It
resembles a steel cylinder that never stops and has no scale. It travels immeasurably, running its own
course against a white background. Not white, blank. It has soaked up the reflections of all its
objects. It’s color mocks the world like chrome. There’s no room for it.

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