You Said Patterns? Let's Play a Game!

[meowzician]

Instead of being linear thinkers, we INFJ's are known for our pattern recognition. I thought it might be fun to play around with that. The idea is to describe one particular scenario, and then everyone can point out where that same pattern exists elsewhere. The only rule is, if you are the one describing the original scenario, you have to have in your head at least one other clear example of that pattern. IOW, no throwing out random stuff! LOL

Here is the original scenario:
I often sub in classes where the autistic children are mute. These children seldom make eye contact and often don't like to be touched or hugged. I give them lots and lots of space and interact directly only when called for. There is this one little girl that everyone says, "Don't touch her! She will freak if you touch her." And yet she will come up behind me as I'm working with someone else, and just lean on my back.

I'd say that that 95% of you have seen this pattern elsewhere. It's something HUGELY common. Think: no eye contact, no words, aloofness--except with certain people.

 

[TomasM]

I'd say that that 95% of you have seen this pattern elsewhere. It's something HUGELY common. Think: no eye contact, no words, aloofness--except with certain people.

Sounds like a cat to me meeeeow-zician.

That said, my cat and I have lots of eye contact, he is very demanding, and will talk to no end until he gets what he wants. I suppose there are plenty of exceptions to the rule for every pattern.

 

[meowzician]

Sounds like a cat to me meeeeow-zician.

That said, my cat and I have lots of eye contact, he is very demanding, and will talk to no end until he gets what he wants. I suppose there are plenty of exceptions to the rule for every pattern.

LOL very good!

And yes. Perhaps that is another pattern.

One of these days I will get around to researching whether cat people tend to be introverts and dog people extroverts. But if that's a trend there are a pile of exceptions.

 

[TomasM]

The Concept: Something or someone that appears imposing, intimidating, or completely inaccessible, but actually serves as a protective, safe presence once you understand how to approach it.

Tech/Design: Complex, intimidating software (like Linux or Blender) that turns out to be the most stable and user-friendly tool once you learn the hotkeys.

 

[meowzician]

Not sure if this is what you were fishing for, but this is what came to mind.

 

[TomasM]

Not sure if this is what you were fishing for, but this is what came to mind.

Yes, the dog pattern paired well with your cat pattern. I had another one lined up just in case but that’s the one I was looking for. Extra credit teach?

 

[Lao Tzunami]

A pattern I've noticed is when you don't need something, it comes into your life much more easily. It isn't that you aren't paying attention to it but you are secure without it. There is an art for caring without attachment.

 

[meowzician]

Yes the dog

Yes, the dog pattern paired well with your cat pattern. I had another one lined up just in case but that’s the one I was looking for. Extra credit teach?

You get boo-koo brownie points just for getting me to remember such an adorable childhood cartoon.

 

[meowzician]

A pattern I've noticed is when you don't need something, it comes into your life much more easily. It isn't that you aren't paying attention to it but you are secure without it. There is an art for caring without attachment.

This reminds me of plaque I used to have on my wall back in the early 80s:
Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But turn your attention to other things, and it comes and sits softly on your shoulder.
Is this Henry David Thoreau?

 

[Lao Tzunami]

@meowzician This is a rabbit hole! Apparently that is misattributed to Thoreau, and the source is not known, but it traces back to the 1800s.

Your example is slightly in a different direction than I had in mind, but arguably deeper. There are a whole class of things people desire that should not be pursued directly, huh? But at the same time, there are still things we can do to invite them in, like inviting a butterfly by sitting peacefully.

 

[meowzician]

."@meowzician This is a rabbit hole! Apparently that is misattributed to Thoreau, and the source is not known, but it traces back to the 1800s.

Your example is slightly in a different direction than I had in mind, but arguably deeper. There are a whole class of things people desire that should not be pursued directly, huh? But at the same time, there are still things we can do to invite them in, like inviting a butterfly by sitting peacefully.

And that is what is so amazing about experiencing life through patterns rather than linear thinking. The very fact that there are patterns is itself a pattern.

I came across a verse in the Pirkei Avot this morning where it says, "Turn it and turn it, for everything is in it." It is speaking of the Torah of course, and how even after decades of study you will find something new. But really, that is how all life is! It resonates strongly because it touches on a much larger pattern.

For example, one of my favorite metaphors for the way I study all the different religions is that it's like holding an apple--I turn the apple all around and look at it from all different directions, because only then do I have a full understanding of what an apple looks like. I can't tell you how many times I've used that metaphor over the decades. So then, this morning when I came to that verse in the Pirkei Avot, I was like, "Whoop. There it is!"

 

[Lao Tzunami]

For example, one of my favorite metaphors for the way I study all the different religions is that it's like holding an apple--I turn the apple all around and look at it from all different directions, because only then do I have a full understanding of what an apple looks like. I can't tell you how many times I've used that metaphor over the decades. So then, this morning when I came to that verse in the Pirkei Avot, I was like, "Whoop. There it is!"

It is interesting that you use that metaphor for religion. There are some things people are comfortable seeing from multiple angles, like apples or chairs, and then there are some things where multiple perspectives are deeply challenging.

For example, I grew up next to a mountain. I always saw it from one angle. Then when I was older, I remember driving up in the mountains with my family and seeing it from the side and the back for the first time. It was unnerving, like your dad coming home with a shaved beard when you are a kid. I do dataviz for a living, and I can tell you, people get attached to certain map projections and do not like when they are changed. Most people like the US Albers projection with a curved top, not the projections with a flat top, and don't even think about turning the map so east is up, like we did when orienting East by where the sun rose above the horizon each morning.

Going from a single 2D perspective to a 3D perspective you can walk around is a shock, but once you do, you don't want to go back. It is like going from a picture of something to a living being.

Science depends on consilience: the principle that, from a single perspective, it is hard to tell what is real and what is an artifact, like a mirage in a desert. But by observing somethings from many perspectives and with many methods, all the real aspects will coalesce into a unified understanding, and all the illusions will factor themselves out.

There is a quote from Tolstoy I love, "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." There is something about goodness that transcends context, and something about evil that is disparate.

Spiritually, what is cool is you can use your intuition to try to align many things that feel compatible but are seemingly unrelated. Then if you cultivate that, something emerges that ties everything together. That's actually how I fell into doing dataviz. I chose to pursue both art and design as well as STEM subjects.

 

[meowzician]

Science depends on consilience: the principle that, from a single perspective, it is hard to tell what is real and what is an artifact, like a mirage in a desert. But by observing somethings from many perspectives and with many methods, all the real aspects will coalesce into a unified understanding, and all the illusions will factor themselves out.

Whoop! There it is!

 

[Snow601]

I'm so confused.

 

[TomasM]

Going from a single 2D perspective to a 3D perspective you can walk around is a shock, but once you do, you don't want to go back. It is like going from a picture of something to a living being.

It’s such a big jump from 2D to 3D. People so often want things to be quick and easy where they can say if this..then xyz is true and we should follow a given course of action. Jumping from descriptive to prescriptive analytics is a cavernous leap of faith that results in probabilities and an element of risk. The best way to describe it in my mind is terrifyingly beautiful.

I can get what I need out of visualization but watching someone that is an expert is like appreciating fine art.

I love this post.

But by observing somethings from many perspectives and with many methods, all the real aspects will coalesce into a unified understanding, and all the illusions will factor themselves out.

This is almost identical to what I’ve been eluding to in my thread on intuition. There are different types of intuition and large amounts of subconscious and unconscious data that feed into an Ahh-Ha moment but if a person doesn’t allow their self to process an element due to emotional attachment then it can result in a horrible outcome. If they do allow it then unification can be highly probable.

Spiritually, what is cool is you can use your intuition to try to align many things that feel compatible but are seemingly unrelated. Then if you cultivate that, something emerges that ties everything together. That's actually how I fell into doing dataviz. I chose to pursue both art and design as well as STEM subjects.

I didn’t realize there were opportunities for experts to focus solely on data visualization. That sounds like a fascinating job. To make such complex patterns become real has to feel incredible. Yes, 3D is like turning on a lightbulb and I bet your use of color and shape is impressive.

Thanks for sharing with this post.

 

[Lao Tzunami]

Whoop! There it is!

haha, I can't help but read that in this voice @1:40

I'm so confused.

Welcome to the future!! What specifically though?

 

[Wyote]

There is a quote from Tolstoy I love, "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." There is something about goodness that transcends context, and something about evil that is disparate.

Reminds me of how recently I've been re-orienting myself with my understanding of "evil"
Something really clicked in my brain about the idea of crookedness/chaos vs straight/flow

JRR Tolkien
"Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made."

CS Lewis
"A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line."

 

[meowzician]

Reminds me of how recently I've been re-orienting myself with my understanding of "evil"
Something really clicked in my brain about the idea of crookedness/chaos vs straight/flow

JRR Tolkien
"Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made."

CS Lewis
"A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line."

Oh! I love you!

 

[Wyote]

Oh! I love you!

<3