#31: Synchronicity
We are going to create the next phase of In Search of Gumption together!
I will be posting a poll question every week moving forward, and I invite you to co-create this experience with me by giving me your vote.
🙋 Poll of The Week
Thanks for voting to keep this format last Sunday. I like it too so that is great synchronicity right there already!
Many of you have complained about the Substack website and how hard it is navigate, but also many of you don’t seem to mind it.
This week I ask you:
💬 To elaborate please leave a comment, or simply reply to this email.
#31: Synchronicity
Ever since I was a kid, I get freaked out by the amount of times I would be saying a word or thinking of something and I see it on an ad, or hear it in a song, or have it pop out on the edge of a milk carton or chocolate wrapper.
I realize now that there is a word for it: Synchronicity.
The Artist’s way talks about it a lot, as a signal from the creator to continue going down that path. If you are of a scientific mind like mine, and have been incorporated into our science driven culture, you may want to quickly discount what I just said as Mumbo Jumbo.
The more I choose to believe that moments of synchronicity are showing me that I am on the right path and being in flow with life…the more I see them of course.
As I continue my Eurotrek, I find myself in Hamburg, Germany and have found the following strange affirming signs.
I walk into my airbnb and find out my room is a photo gallery of Egypt (where I am from, and where this trip will ultimately lead me to).
A van appeared out of no where with the words : Omars Worldwide Logistics. (My first name)
A few minutes later, I found myself walking by this ride whose name is Shaker. (My last name)
Welcome to Magical Thinking 🧙
We are not used or taught to think this way.
The more I let my scientific wiring relax, the more I can see the magic that exists beneath the surface. Magic is not about proving, as much as it is about believing. It is personal, and has nothing to do with religious or scientific dogmas.
It doesn’t matter if you think there is any meaning behind these signs, all that matters is that I do, and therefore I can use magical thinking to amplify my existence in an interesting way. You can too, but there is no point of trying to convince you.
I believe that the conflict between magic and science is one of the most important conversations we can have in this day and age. My novel tries to showcase that tension between Maskat (Science), Jay (Art) and Hunter (Magic). More about that soon.
Academics believe that we are moving from a 2000 year Science cycle and starting a Magic cycle. This happens when science is too fast to keep up with itself, and so Magic comes in to create meaning of our scientific marvels.
Have you felt drained by your technology recently?
Magical thinking is the future, but will we go into the new ‘Dark Ages’ such as the one that happened after the enlightenment? Or will we create a new techno-disney like world where we are free to explore our deeper selves and meaning?
If all of this triggers you, then I am doing my job well :D Growth will ensue.
💬 I’d love to know what you think in the comments, or reply to this email.
Sunday Gratitude 🙏
This one goes out to my old roommate and brother Islam el Ashi. I finally visited his new home in Switzerland and I enjoyed the Alps with him. Scroll below for my Switzerland poem.
We also recorded Episode 21 of the Gumpcast on: Our Relationship to Technology!
Islam demonstrated his philosophy of ‘the right to repair’ being the most important aspect of technology for him. Not blockchain, not AI, not VR or AR, he believes that the future is about being able to fix our technology and interact with it more closely.
My bag broke down when I arrived to his home. I panicked and wanted to buy a new bag, but he insisted we can fix it. We ended up hacking it with a broomstick :D
This is exactly where Science meets Magic! Excited to share this episode with you in a few months.
The Artist’s Way ✍️
Morning Pages: Still doing them, now I just put on a 15 min timer and go for it.
Artist’s Date: Spent a day alone in Hamburg watching people in bars, writing poems, and getting lost. I also got on a ferris wheel and walked in a theme park for 2 hours. The inner child is very happy.
Craft Updates:
Recorded EP 21 and only 3 more left to go to complete Season 2! Coming very soon.
Dove back into the Novel and I am building up momentum to finish the second draft by March again.
Had the balls to submit my poetry collection around heart break. I will be sharing my poems with you soon.
Wrote a dozen or so poems throughout my travels in the US and Europe. Below is one of them
Poem of the Week 🖋️
My poetry over the past 12 weeks has transformed from heartbreak sad and half-emo Omar to wandering dude poetry with a frustrated and proveleged old man twist. I’ve commemorated every city I have been to with a poem.
Here is the one I wrote about my visit to Switzerland.
Spritzerland by Omar Shaker
It's so cold
And no one wants
To give us food.
And my friend took me
To the lake of Zug.
Splish splash
My heart is racing
My head is frozen
My soul is shocked
Velvet Green rolling hills
Bring me back to being
It's 3 o'clock
Lunch is over
But it's too early
For diner
My bag is broken
My back is cramped
My body is tingling
It's so cold
It's so cold
I continue walking
One foot after the other
Up the swiss Alps
And through the fog
And into the snow
We find the spa
And from the bliss
Of a heated pool
We watch the rain
Fall on the mountains.
Ginger detox massage
Sauna, steam and spritz
Ham and cheese pretzel
Ahh the swiss life
Is finally starting
To make sense now. I now know that next year my poetry collection will be about travel!
See you next Sunday
Omar
I've experienced such synchronicity too, but rarely. When it happens I always feels as if someone or something is trying to tell me what I needed to hear or learn. I've used the term "guardian angels," but synchronicity definitely works. Sometimes it's through music, sometimes through a person--especially a stranger or someone I don't know well--speaking. It takes awareness and openness to become attuned to such messages and moments. For me, they have always been powerful. Magical, too.
Thanks as always for sharing your feelings and experiences. Love your poem. I hate being cold! As for Substack, I haven't tried using it. Like credit cards, there are too many choices for me. I tend to stick with one. Sorry I can't take your poll.
Sending hugs, my friend. And enjoy your travels.
Enjoy your travels! It’s a true privilege to have the resources to do it. For me travel gets me out of my embedded mental and physical routines which as good as that is in “daily life”. Travel accelerates my learning, growing in all kinds of ways: new obstacles and novelties. Akin to skiing “off piste”. (Switzerland brought on that analogy). Some pleasant and some not.
I have to be with the idea of “magical” for a bit. I think each generation has its own way of losing themselves. I guess it can happen at a societal level and with globalism it can spread fast. We are closely more closely connected yet we are not. Lockdowns in China? Who else is doing that? Covid is moving through my coworkers but life is moving on in general thank goodness. I am rambling :).....