This nOde last updated May 29th, 2005 and is
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flow
flow (flo) verb
flowed, flowing, flows verb,
intransitive
1.a. To move or run smoothly
with unbroken continuity, as in the manner characteristic of a fluid.
b.
To issue in a stream; pour forth: Sap flowed from the gash in the tree.
2.To circulate, as the blood
in the body.
3.To move with a continual
shifting of the component particles: wheat flowing into the bin;
traffic
flowing through the tunnel.
4.To proceed steadily and
easily: The preparations flowed smoothly.
5.To exhibit a smooth or
graceful continuity: The cadence
of the poem flowed gracefully.
6.To hang loosely and
gracefully:
The cape flowed from his shoulders.
7.To rise. Used of the tide.
8.To arise; derive: Several
conclusions flow from this hypothesis.
9.a. To abound or teem:
coffers flowing with treasure. b. To stream copiously; flood:
Contributions
flowed in from all parts of the country.
10.To menstruate.
11.To undergo plastic
deformation
without cracking or breaking. Used of rocks, metals, or minerals.
verb, transitive
1.To release as a flow:
trees flowing thin sap.
2.To cause to flow: "One
of the real keys to success is developing a system where you can flow
traffic
to yourselves" (Marc Klee).
noun
1.a. The act of flowing.
b. The smooth motion characteristic of fluids.
2.a. A stream or current.
b. A flood or an overflow. c. A residual mass that has stopped flowing:
a hardened lava flow.
3.a. A continuous output
or outpouring: a flow of ideas; produced a steady flow of articles and
stories. b. A continuous movement or circulation: the flow of traffic;
a flow of paperwork across his desk.
4.The amount that flows
in a given period of time.
5.The rising of the tide.
6.Continuity and smoothness
of appearance.
7.A general movement or
tendency: As the lone dissenter in the group, she was going against the
flow of opinion.
8.The sequence in which
operations are performed.
9.An apparent ease or
effortlessness
of performance: "An athlete must learn to forget the details of his or
her training to achieve the instinctive sense of flow that
characterizes
a champion" (Frederick Turner).
10.Menstrual discharge.
[Middle English flouen,
from
Old English flowan.]
- flow´ingly adverb
Synonyms: flow, current, flood, flux, rush, stream, tide. The central meaning shared by these nouns is "something suggestive of running water": a flow of thought; the current of history; a flood of ideas; a flux of words; a rush of sympathy; a stream of complaints; a tide of immigration.
flow (noun)
quantity: strength, force,
flow, potential, pressure, tension, pull, stress, strain, torque, energy
continuity: course, run,
career, flow, steady flow, steady stream, trend, steady trend, tendency
continuance: flow, tendency
motion: current, flow, flux,
drift, stream
current: current, flow,
set, flux, progression
diffuseness: inspiration,
vein, flow, outpouring
elegance: rhythm, ease,
flow, fluidity, smoothness, fluency, readiness, felicity, the right
word in the right place, the mot juste
Allow yourself to understand that the relaxation you experience when you "go with the flow" is not "giving up control", it is "taking control". It is just that the natural control you already contain doesn't meet with resistance.
Our civilization has only been taught to see "control" when it contains resistance.
In other words,"I'm in control because I can feel it resisting me". This gives the illusion that if there is no resistance, there is no control. In fact, it is the complete lack of resistance that let's you know you have arrived at your center of perfect peace, where all possible realities are equal, and it is easy to choose the one you prefer, because no reality has any more importance than any other one. There is no defensive "I'd better do this, or else."
There is only the understanding of the thing that needs to be taught to every child on the planet, and that is the knowledge that every single individual on this planet is already as powerful as he or she needs to be to create any reality desired, without having to hurt yourself, or anyone else, to get it.
That's how powerful you are.
The holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement has been called the flow state. Csikszentmihalyi describes it as follows:
'In the flow state, action follows upon action according to an internal logic that seems to need no conscious intervention by the actor. He experiences it as a unified flowing from one moment to the next, in which he is in control of his actions, and in which there is little distinction between self and environment, between stimulus and response, or between past, present, and future. . . . . one may experience flow on the battlefront, on a factory assembly line, or in a concentration camp. The experience is one of complete involvement of the actor with his activity.
The activity presents constant challenges. There is no time to get bored or to worry about what may or may not happen. A person in such a situation can make full use of whatever skills are required and receives clear feedback to his actions; hence he belongs to rational cause and effect system in which what he does has realistic and predictable consequences.'
M. Csikszentmihalyi, _Beyond Boredom and Anxiety_ (Jossey-Bass Pub., San Francisco, 1975), 36.
book _Flow: The Psychology Of Optimal Experience_ by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Paperback - 303 pages Rep
edition (March 1991)
HarperCollins (paper); ISBN:
0060920432 ; Dimensions
(in inches): 0.84 x 8.01 x 5.29
You have heard about how a musician loses herself in her music, how a painter becomes one with the process of painting. In work, sport, conversation or hobby, you have experienced, yourself, the suspension of time, the freedom of complete absorption in activity. This is "flow," an experience that is at once demanding and rewarding--an experience that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates is one of the most enjoyable and valuable experiences a person can have. The exhaustive case studies, controlled experiments and innumerable references to historical figures, philosophers and scientists through the ages prove Csikszentmihalyi's point that flow is a singularly productive and desirable state. But the implications for its application to society are what make the book revolutionary.
Synopsis
People enter a flow state
when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their
sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction. The author, a
pioneer in this astonishing field of study, clearly explains the
principles of "flow" and shows how it can be introduced into every
level of life.
An even more aggressive form of magical Jewel-Net combat was the flame. After binding their opponents in a web, vengeful Virtuals would them destroy them with psychic fire. Those victims who were too caught up in the web of their illusory convictions to release themselves would be unable to move, and would either suffer greatly or return the flame. Like the Tibetans, the ngHolos believed that the violent flames were ultimately compassionate, in that they destroyed the unregenerate selfhood. Still, the Virtuals prefer to contrast flames with the flow of water. By flowing, one escapes through the path of least resistance, dissolving the web of selfhood and extinguishing the flame. The flow also becomes the subtlest and most powerful form of counter-attack: the unceasing yet gentle pressure of water eventually erodes the hardest rock[6].
- selections from the notebooks of Lance Daybreak, curated by Erik Davis in _Shards Of The Diamond Matrix_
A process cannot be understood by stopping
it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process,
must join it and flow with it.
- Duke Leto Atreides
- _Dune_ by Frank Herbert
20) The Law Of Conduits and Content
This law comes in the form of a commandment to divorce content from conduit. The less content a network owns the more content flows through it. If you are a content company, you want your content to travel on all networks, not just your own. If you are a conduit company, you want to carry everyone's content, not restrict yourself to your own. Companies that violate this rule (ATT, AOL Time Warner) tear themselves apart. The dumber the network the more inteilligence it can carry.
- George Gilder - _Telecosm - "The Twenty Laws Of The Telecosm"
"Electric circuitry is orientalizing the West. The contained, the distinct, the separate - our Western legacy - are being replaced by the flowing, the unified, the fused."
- Marshall Mcluhan quoted in _Student_ magazine, Autumn 1969