New BLACK WING single incoming! Plus some election writing... (Patreon)

Hey all - 

Just a heads up that the next BLACK WING single off of "No Moon" will be posted here Wednesday night at 7pm EST.

This is a day in advance of everyone else. :-)

Jonathan floated the idea that I may not want to post the single depending on what happens  today - if the country erupts into flames and what not.

That hadn't occurred to me (and to be clear, I don't think it's likely), but if we do decide to delay the single, I'll let you know.

I haven't ever talked about this here (and don't plan to make a habit of it), but some of you may be aware that I've been writing weekly emails about mental models, productivity, business, and so on, at BetterQuestionsEmail.com.

As part of that project I've written a few things about voting, and election anxiety. I'll share those with you here, just in case you're feeling any of those things as well.

Better Questions: Does My Vote Count?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zvcNg2bvejCPqGp3iU5N2wq7scvsR_EOcOLEQWZOsu4/edit?usp=sharing 

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Posted today in secret FB group:

Helpful resources for Election Day:  

Cleveland clinic guide to health safety measures at the polls: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/files/org/employer-solutions/covid-19-safe-voting-guide 

Check to see if your state has same-day voter registration: https://www.vote.org/voter-registration-deadlines/ 

Haven't mailed in your ballot yet? Find an official dropbox near you! https://www.vote.org/dropbox-locator/

A few reminders for today:

1. Narrative is not reality.

Look around for instances where messy, complex, and multi-faceted human beings and events are turned into “cartoons” - label led in such a way that elicits an immediate judgement or emotion. When does this occur? How is it done? Why?

2. Information will be scarce.

The picture will be incomplete. Data will be estimated. Things will be unsure.

Include this fact into your thinking. Remember that everything is subject to change as more data becomes available.

And no, I am not talking just about elections.

3. Meditate on death.

Hear me out.

No matter what happens today, some people will be ecstatic.

Others will be heartbroken.

Some people will be optimistic, hopeful.

Others will be depressed, fearful, and angry.

These are not the OTHER. They are your friends and neighbors, family and loved ones. Your fellow citizens, bound together with you in the society we all depend on.

If you are overjoyed, remember that you don’t really know what will happen. You may suspect, and you may BELIEVEc that your choice was just, and virtuous - I know I do - but you don’t KNOW. And the people around you need your sympathy, and your outreach.

If you are depressed, and defeated, meditate on death.

Nothing lasts forever. Not this moment, not the next administration, not the country. Not the world.

When we die, these moments all pass away from us. The good and the bad. We take nothing with us into whatever is next.

And while elections are important, and we are called to engage and to serve, we are also called to remember our mortality, and appreciate, purely for what it is, purely for the sheer experience of it, this present moment.

The whisper of wind in the grass.

The gentle drifting of snow.

A single droplet of water.

The politics of the world matter only in how they affect the people around us.

And that is a power each of us possesses right here and now.

But we need to remember our place - our temporariness - in order to wake up from the dream of politics and use it.

Love your country, fight for your ideals, help your neighbor, and remember how temporary all of this is.

Love,

Dan