There is a lot going on in the world. So much so that it feels like we are being pulled and pushed along, and the next moment, falling far behind. The energy and directional forces are change-inducing elements, in and of themselves. Having some understanding of the science of what it is we are feeling is useful in figuring out what to do in it and about it, how to take advantage of the gusty flow and, in effect, being purposefully in the slipstream. According to Wikipedia, “A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is moving. The term slipstream also applies to the similar region adjacent to an object with a fluid moving around it.” ... In Finding Nemo, the protagonist’s father, Marlin, rides Crush the sea turtle on the fast-moving stream of the East Australian Current. Clocking in at about 4.4 miles per hour, this current isn’t even the fastest, believed to be the Gulf Stream, at 5.6 miles per hour. An Olympic swimmer can match this speed on a short sprint like the fifty-meter (0.03-mile) freestyle. In comparison, the cast of Finding Nemo could have, if they wished, traversed twelve thousand miles at the same speed as Michael Phelps, jetting along with far fewer flapping of fins. The amazing aspect of ocean currents is that they exist above and below of, side by side with, the variable and slower movements of oceans. A vessel upon the ocean’s surface will be propelled or slowed down or directionally thwarted because of currents of energy miles wide, miles deep, and hundreds or thousands of miles long. The phenomenon is a vast force of nature, studied and utilized by mariners for thousands of years.

I quote these words at length because the slipstream is a powerful metaphor for how to think about coordination in these chaotic times. We want to help each other find the right slipstreams, the ones that lead us towards justice and regeneration, and that harmonises our actions in a way that feels more easeful and efficient. For me, efficiency isn't a mechanistic process of maximising a chosen output relative to our inputs. Efficiency is about finding the maximum degree of aliveness in everything that we do.

I'm setting the intention to write more on behalf of the Imaginal Seeds community, and to flesh out my self-appointed role of community philosopher. I'm calling these scribblings Songs from the Slipstream, because I feel a calling to raise awareness of the currents that we're swimming in, and to amplify the songs that guide us towards islands of coherence.