Imagination beyond imagination

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Managing Partner
Phenomena Communications

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Dr. Ali Anani - Managing Partner
Dr. Ali Anani : As General Manager, Dr. Ali Anani heads and supervises a team of
talented young professionals, and manages the overall brand strategy - ensuring
the cohesiveness and creative parts of each campaign for all Agency clients.
Dr. Ali Anani holds a PhD from the UK (1972). He has a wide experience in many
fields. His accomplishments include the writing of more than eighty publications in
international journals, the writer of three printed books in Arabic and one E-book in
English. He has written widely for the media and presented a TV program and
many radio programs.
Dr. Anani main credit is his creativity thinking where he scored among the top %5
creative people worldwide. Dr. Anani is an invited lecturer for more than fi y
international conferences and an author of many business slogans. Moreover, he
has travelled to more than fi y countries as an invited speaker and consultant and
has consulted for many international agencies including UNIDO, Atomic Energy
Agency, UNDP, ESCWA, private businesses and governmental agencies.

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index
BeBee or LinkedIn- Inert and Active Indicators
Creative Metabolism of Ideas
Simple, but Creative
Our Distance from True Living
Patterns Are the Mirrors of Future
Nuggets of Wisdom
Parasitic Thoughts
Trapping Ideas
Unexpected Passion Migrations
Contamination of Emotions
Going Viral- Is it wrong?
The Consortium Hive
Pathogenic Thinking
Raining Miseries
Fractal Emotions and Perceptions
Living on the Edge of Challenge
Adaptations to Emotional Flooding
The Positive Side of Negative Emotions
BeBee is to Engage with Passionate Curiosity
Finding Answers to Simple Questions
Iteration of Ideas
Conscious and Subconscious Questions
Humans Are Constantly Fractals
Two illusions don't make a fact
When not to ask why?
Avoid Building Concrete Relationships
Static Concepts in a Dynamic World
The Paradox of Imagination
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The real success of any social media platform is truly measured by the degree of ideas
pollination and metamorphosis into new and honey-like ideas. There are inert indicators
such as number of views. Views are like nitrogen that is the main constituent of air (about
%78) whereas oxygen is about %20. This reminds me of Pareto Rule in which %20 of say
employees produce %80 of the work output. The number of views is an inert indicator as
much nitrogen is.
The real active and oxygen-like indicators are not pertinent to the number of new ideas
and their impact. Buzzes are molecules, and what we do with these buzzes is what really
counts. Or, buzzes are honey and exposing this honey to readers may improve or degrade
the quality of honey.The number of views shall not change the quality of honey; it is actions
that do change honey are the impacting ones. Commenting that leads to generating new
ideas/perspectives from published buzzes is the real power of a social platform.
We may denature the quality of a buzz by being over-zealous and rushing it to gain wide
popularity.This is because we do this to support a manager, over-reacting to a buzz because
it conforms to our ideas or whatever reason for doing that.Without intending so, we may in
fact kill the idea.Trees that grow fast die sooner than trees that grow slowly to become very

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tall. The reason for that is the need to balance the supply of water and having the correct
vessel design to carry water from the roots to the top of the tree. In very fast growth, trapped
air (air locks) blocks water transportation and the tree dies. We may have viral growth in the
number of views, but what guarantees do we have that we may be forming air pockets
that kill the tree. Just think of how many fade ideas we had over the years. To grow tall
is not necessarily to grow fast. We need to balance the opposite needs of growth so that
growth may be lasting. Rapid earnings in the stock markets lead to bubble formations like
the water bubbles in the vessels of trees that eventually kill them. I would extend the same
to the rapid growth of followers on social media and any fast growth in general. The very
rapid in the number of followers could be harmful and may lead to bursting.
Honey ideas may be spoiled by the heated
discussionlikehoneygetsdenaturedbyrapid
heating and cooling cycles. As with honey,
heating and cooling the spread too many
times can cause it to lose its color and aroma.
After multiple heating sessions, it is a good
idea to throw the honey away. Sometimes we
may need to throw some ideas away because
of our own actions in spoiling honey ideas.
What value does number of views have if
they they end up in wasting a honey idea?
Honey wax is viscous and doesn›t flow easily.
Bees know his fact. They gradually form
hexagon honeycombs by a subtle flow of
the wax, which is turned semi-molten by the
heat generated by the waggling bee workers.
It is not enough to produce buzzes; equally
important is housing these ideas into friendly structures that allow for the good keeping of
those ideas and handling them properly. A real indicator of success for any social platform
is how ideas are preserved without hindering their flow.
There are people who make honey wine by fermenting honey. If the resulting wine is too
alcoholic, pouring the wine in a glass shall soon show wine tears. The tears will not show if
we only have water or alcohol in the glass, but will show if we have enough alcohol (%15).
We ferment the produced honey by commenting and exchanging views. In doing so, I hope
we produce the tears of joy. I am writing this buzz as reflection on the buzz «BeBee vs.
LinkedIn: Some Numbers Behind the Writing Buzz» by Christine Stevens.
If pollination and metamorphosis of ideas are the goals of a social media platform then
the chosen indicators must reflect these objectives. We aren›t after very rapid processes as
much as learning processes that self-adjust continually. If these are accepted key indicators
then beBee is a forerunner. This is evidenced by the new hives formed and writing buzzes
on published buzzes on this platform. I dare say beBee is an emerging winner.

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Trees are amazing as they turn limited resources into a huge variety of chemicals that
serve strategic purposes such as growth and survival. Trees utilize sunlight to convert
carbon dioxide into sugar and then convert this sugar into varieties of products (primary
and secondary metabolites). Basically trees use sixteen chemicals (derived from soil and
fertilizers) to produce so many products and each with a strategic purpose. Trees are the
best cook on earth.
Forme,treesarethemotherofallcreativemetaphors.Treesareabletolinkwhattheyproduce
to their requirements. Not only may that as trees produce some chemicals selectively and
when needed to push off predators, to give one example. If we probe on the strategies that
trees developed to defend themselves it becomes obvious their ingenuity in charting out
defensive strategies that we humans have a great opportunity to learn from.
This is one reason I don›t greatly welcome representing creative ideas as light bulbs.
Sunlight is essential for trees to produce creative as well as commonly needed chemicals.
Sunlight is an ingredient of creativity and isn›t creativity. I think we need to rediscover the

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real meaning of creativity.
Take beBee as an example. It is a vivid platform to illumination with daily «ideas radiation»
over the globe. We bees are the trees that get exposed to this ideas radiation and we are
therefore responsible for taking this radiation purposefully to activate low-quality ideas
into purposeful products that evolve with the emerging needs. Trees use water and carbon
dioxide to produce sugar that is a source of stored energy to «cook» other reactions using
its own produced-sugar as a starting material, and including the building of cells› walls. A
tree knows that somebody›s waste is somebody›s starting material.
BeBee is a rich forest connecting
different trees around the globe.
BeBee success, like any other
startup, is linked to its ability to
produce products that serve a
purpose. No matter what, beBee
eventual success shall depend on
the quality of individual bees or
trees to produce what is appropriate
with the timespace requirements
of a tree. We need an enriched soil
to provide the microelements for
trees to synthesize the requirements
needed for a tree to grow and face
environmental challenges. The
idea of establishing affinity hives is
simply brilliant because each hive
may enrich the soil as much as other
ideas may act as the equivalent
to sunshine for photosynthesis to
take place. We need «transportation
ideas» so that they may carry watery ideas from the soil to the top of the tree.We need ideas
to protect intellectual rights from predators.We need to do what a tree does so that we may
have a fully integrated beBee platform.
Trees are better cooks than humans as they make so many different varieties of chemicals
and compounds from very few available resources.Trees found creative methods to change
the paths of chemical reactions to produce strategically desired compounds. I am going to
show by examples what we may learn from trees in my forthcoming buzzes.
I believe that representing creativity with a light bulb is a reductionist approach because
we made the part more important than the living whole- the tree.We are trees who convert
shining ideas as an energy source to convert conventional ideas into useful ones.To do that
we need the structure of trees and far more importantly to learn from the trees on when
to produce, to grow, to truncate, to drop and to survive. I shall dedicate few buzzes to look
into these possibilities.

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Among the many things trees teach us is their ability to do complex reactions and functions
with great simplicity. From very few simple chemicals trees are able to transform them into
complex molecules with a purpose. Trees have discovered that complexity comes from the
feedback of few simple reactants much earlier than us.
It is from their simple restrictions that trees have depicted ways to thrive and live for long
timespans.Treesdon›thavedoctorstovisit.Theyneedtotakecareoftheirownhealth.Trees
are forced to stay outside their comfort zone. They have no air conditioning equipment to
cool them in chilly days or cool them when the ambient are high. Trees have to stay on the
edge to adapt for the uncontrollable environment. Trees face great challenges to which
they respond with many creative strategies. In every part of a tree we shall find creative
solutions from which we can learn a lot.
Trees have to stay on the edge to adapt for the uncontrollable environment. Trees face
great challenges to which they respond with many creative strategies.
Trees form symbiotic relationship with algae to get usable nitrogen from them and to mesh
their roots with those of the fast growing roots of algae.These entangled roots form a great
beneath-soil internet. Through this network trees may send warning messages to far trees
to warn them of arriving risks.

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Trees produce primary products (metabolites) to help them strengthen their structure and
to grow. Meanwhile, trees produce secondary metabolites to defend them, protect them
and help them survive. Look at trees grown on land and seaweed. Both produce sugars,
but those of seaweeds produce different complex sugars than cellulose of trees. Living on
the edge of water weeds need to protect themselves from bacteria living in and near water.
Their cells have alginate. This alginate may form gels to which enzymes attach themselves
to. To know the value of having this chemical in seaweed I suggest that you first watch the
following video.
It shows how adding alginate to a calcium salt such as calcium chloride produces gels in
different forms of threads or macaroni-like gels. Now, two brilliant Spanish cooks utilized
this idea to make caviar-like balls that are filled with a delicious material to explode in our
mouths. The most common application of sodium alginate is to create spheres using the
spherification technique developed by Chef Ferran Adria at el Bulli restaurant in 2003. The
next video describes this process adequately. A seaweed chemical opened the door for
many new and healthy food products in the market that generate millions of dollars and
satisfied customers. How did seaweeds figure out the value of alginates?
Trees enjoy the game of life. This is evidenced in the thousand of molecules trees produce.
Because a tree adapts to its microclimate it may produce different types of same complex
molecules.The ability of plants is amazing in changing their chemical metabolites to reflect
their microclimate and their niche requirements.
Trees produce chemicals to defend themselves and antibiotics to kill harmful bacteria.They
manufacture fragrant chemicals that we use in perfumes. Every tree has its own story. How
trees managed to do that is amazing. It is from their weaknesses that trees created solutions
and the scope is wide open for us to learn from them.
The tree of beBee should be not less creative than a tree in a desert or seaweeds. I plan to
suggest some creative ideas as I am inspired by trees.
Trees are fractals not only in their shapes, but also in the way they function.

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Humans and trees share common enemies. We may learn from trees how to deal with our
enemies by elucidating appropriate strategies.Trees may live for hundreds of years because
they know their friends and how to welcome them and their enemies and how to deal with
them. Amazingly, trees can be very selective by producing one chemical that is friendly to
one insect, but not another. Trees are the huge manufacturers of chemicals. They do their
chemical synthesis under mild conditions and we may learn from them how to produce the
complex molecules using simple procedures.
To give one example, trees produce the glucose sugar from photosynthesis. Trees don›t
have a fuel tank to fill and they rely on storing glucose as an energy source when needed.
Trees may transform this sugar to starch and oil. Trees could also use this sugar to produce
a host of defensive chemicals. If only trees could talk for how they mastered to produce
specific and highly complex molecules such as those chemicals that block the enzymes
in the fungi that inflict wood decay. What brains do trees have to allow them to device
such smart molecules and defense mechanisms? Even more surprising is that the blocking
chemicals must have the right notches to lock in the enzyme. How did trees figure this out?
Trees reveal their secrets sometimes for us to observe and learn from.Trees do what they do
for a reason. For example, they produce resins. We may think this is a simple molecule. This
assumption is far from truth.

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Some bees use the resin to construct their nests. Honey bees use this resin to seal gaps in
their hives. Trees produce resin in accordance with their local needs and the resins may
thereforedifferintheirchemicalcompositions.Humansusetheresinsformanyapplications
as varnishes, adhesives, therapeutics and many more. Chemicals are atoms arranged in an
almost infinite number of ways. Each arrangement may produce a chemical with different
properties. How did trees find out which chemical composition and arrangement would do
the job it does is unimaginable.
Trees have been a great source of huge number of chemicals. Anti-malaria drugs, analgesics,
rubber, oils of all kinds, perfumes and many more are examples of chemicals that we benefit
from trees. The tree of chemicals that we get from trees is so well illustrated in this link. Just
visit to wonder.
The conflict between trees and their sometimes hostile environment, pathogens, bacteria
and fungi represents the conflict we depict in writing our stories. You wish to find how to
resolve this conflict in a novel way then trees will be a great inspiration for you. They have
met similar challenges and solved them. If only we learn from trees.Trees are a great source
for ideas of stories.
Trees represent life and distancing ourselves from them is distancing us from real living. @
Irene Hackett commented on my previous buzz by writing «You and I both wish for more
«knowing», which I might interpret as more awareness - awareness of our true nature». I
believe a journey to a forest will awaken us to this reality.

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Those who think too much of the past have no time to think of the future.
What is gone is gone.
Forget about the past and enjoy the present.
Are the above statements correct? Or, do we need to challenge them? If we think within
patterns inherited from the past that extend into the future is forgetting about the past a
wise thing to do?
Nature has many patterns. Look at sand waves in sand ripples, waves in water, spirals in
fossils and cauliflower, in minerals, ring patterns in trees, patterns in snowflakes, stripes on
animals as they all indicate natures› tendency to «think» in patterns. DNA has repeating
patterns as well.There are repeating patterns in the elements periodic table.These patterns
explain the properties of the elements and the way in which elements and compounds
behavewhentheyreactwitheachother.Patternsallowustopredictthefuture.Theperiodic
table allowed us to predict magnesium years before it was discovered.
You may enjoy this super video on patterns in complex systems:

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The mystery of repeating stripe patterns on some animals such as giraffe has been resolved
recently. And the findings are awfully interesting as they reveal some very interesting
findings. Animal Shapes and Skin Pigment Patterns are made by aWave.Yes, it is waves that
create sand ripple are responsible for making the animal stripes. If two chemical substances
expand while reacting with each other, differences in their concentration may make waves.
Pigments are responsible for the formation of stripes. Interestingly, when a striped grows,
the number of stripes increases, but the spacing between the stripes remains the same. A
line splits into two and opens little by little as a zipper does. Sugars in human bodies show
a zipper-like behavior as well.
Human behaviors in the stock markets and in mountaineering show wave-like behavior. I
have shown this to be the case in my presentation Emotions in Actions. Do humans form
waves similar to the waves that cause the formation stripes of animals? When ideas are
viewed as interacting molecules so that if they expand while reacting with each other,
differences in their concentration may make waves? Do we human have hidden stripes of
thinking? New perspectives are emerging.
Patterns in nature may repeat in different forms. The repeating hexagons of ice crystals,
the hexagonal patterns on a giraffe’s skin and molecular hexagons are typical examples.
You may find very interesting images of hexagons in liquid crystals here. A very interesting
new finding is that light and atoms arrange themselves to form striking hexagon and
honeycomb patterns. Indeed, patterns are everywhere.
The crack pattern we see zebra skin are similar in shape to the cracks observed in basalt as
it cools. Is this the reversal of two molecules reacting with expansion to form waves? Are
the shrinking waves of cooling? More importantly, so these cracks help us in understanding
societal cracks? Patterns and their repetition in different systems have a story to unfold.
I wonder if the molecules of past event would react with the present event to form the
future. I wonder if time is like a human cell with a membrane allowing the concentrated
past events to diffuse in our present and expand to form stripes of repeating patterns that
dictate our behavior. The reality is pattern have their roots and extend from the past to the
present and extend to the future. They affect us. Patterns are the strange attractor that we
fall in. To forget the past means blindness to the foggy future. Our pasts are our finger like
patterns. They may predict our behavior in the future. Human resources staff may study
past behavior patterns to predict a candidate›s future behavior.
Can we afford to forget the past and live in the present? I doubt it. Patters are our mirrors
to the future.

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Nuggets of Wisdom
I have been honored by a considerable number of comments on my buzzes. Some comments carried
gems with them. I extracted some gems and compiled them as Nuggets of Wisdom. I have plans to write
Part 2; however I wanted first to probe your reactions to the idea of this buzz. I know there are many buried
gems waiting for extraction, but they shall be.
beBee is a great platform to allow for such high level of exchanging minds. Compiling scattered gems may
lead to the emergence of new ideas, thoughts and concepts. I hope this idea appeals to all bees and that
they too start on compiling gems from the comments they receive.
«When we look at nature we get a sense that the Past, Present and Future are one in the same»- Harvey
Lloyd
I think that the word that applies here in connection with the movement discussed is «comfort zone».
We establish an area in which we assume we have control when in reality all we have is familiarity- Sara
Jacobovici
«You can›t live in the future but you can live in the past. Similarly, you can›t change your past but you can
change your future»- James O›Connell
«Does a tree respond to some outside influences automatically and to others by sensing, experimenting,
connecting with other plants and communicating to create an adaptation? I don›t know the answer, but,
what I like is musing on questions where the answer is yet to be found. Maybe it is important not to
necessarily know the answer, but, to know that living, animate beings in nature all have soem form of
consciousness and creativity»- Deb Lange
«We are within the trees, and the trees are within us»- Irene Hackett
«We›re good at developing things that wipe out the bad stuff but unfortunately take all the good stuff with
it. Seems the art of selectivity of trees has out done the science of man»- Sara Jacobovici
«The reason we struggle so much is we want to narrow down cause to one big bang or a few logical inputs
but life is organic and in flux. An answered question today may need to be answered differently tomorrow
based on what occurred overnight. We experience this all the time»- Deb Helfrich.
«Tree leaves speak in whispers. I grew up talking to them»- Melissa Hefferman
«I love trees. Each and every tree has multiple personalities. A tree can be lush and green and reflect the
glorious sunlight making us happy. A tree can be bare and frail making us sad. A can be in covered in
delicate blooms making us think of new life»- Franci Eugenia Hoffman
«Whoever learns how to listen to trees, can learn the truth about life»- Amina Alami
«The sophistication of trees lies in their ability to move with the wind, like organizations that are able to
bend with the market trend»- Mohammed Sultan
«I think“Mother Nature”is creative and all she has created is part of creativity. I think for human creativity,
our ability to imagine is the sole criteria. We can imagine without creating, but we can’t create without
imagination»- Sara Jacobovici

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«Are some tree types more creative than others»? - John Rylance
«We need new symbols, metaphors to begin to impregnate our body/mind/energy with ways of being
that we are a part of nature. We are integrally connected to nature, as we are nature too, but we have
separated ourselves from»- Deb Lange
«…trees exist in stillness peacefully and yet are so much at work - creating that which it needs, which in
turn, creates that which all of life needs - reminds me that creativity occurs naturally and for good reason»-
Irene Hackett
«Every tree produces fruits that someone will like.There is never a reason for zealously. If two trees produce
the same kind of apple they will taste different. Trying to hinder other tree´s growth will only make our
own fruits taste bitter»- Aurorasa Sima
«If we can learn to flow, or to swim, changing our responses as we encounter the different states, then we
will become resilient»- Deb Lange
«It is impossible for a cell to be evolved alone! The external factors are very important in order to make an
idea enriched according to me»! - Jeet Sarkar
«The past is gone but obviously impacted the future, and the present. I feel being immersed fully in the
edge of the present offers an advantage of using what we learned and applying this to what we want to
learn»- Franci Eugenia Hoffman
«The irony of our age is that we are becoming more innovative as a human race yet also less adaptive»-
CityVP Manjit
«The edges we choose to be on should be the ones that enable us to search , learn and adapt rather than
adjust»- Fatima Williams
«As long as we don›t isolate a state of being, an idea, experience or learning, but move it with us, carry it
over, that is when the sum becomes larger than the parts.That›s when we become whole»- FatimaWilliams
«The very act of cleaning could be as well a contaminant, if the criteria are wrong»- David Navarro López
«Let›s clean the ours «rooftops/brains» with the soap of colorful and cheerful thinking so we can be wrap
around in the brilliant colors of life and allow them to wrap our»- Emilia M. Ludovino
«Our brains have become the battlefield of right and wrong. This mash up seems to divide us and nature
does provide the solution, if only we would listen»- Harvey Lloyd
«…there is so much hype about negative stuff in this world that we have perhaps forgotten to record our
happy hours»- Anandhi Krishnan
«Then she whispered in my little ear it›s raining my dear because God is washing all the negativity away»-
Loribeth Pierson
«A tree works great in a forest but if the trees grow too close to one another sometimes they will compete
for limited resources which can even hinder their growth»- Aurorasa Sima
Whatever our joys, they vanish with the crowd at the end of the day. Grieves don›t vanish with the crowd,
but in loneliness»- Mohammed Sultan
«…it may be something we do that feels so simple, yet could have a ripple effect!»- Lisa Gallagher
«Social media is a virtual mirror of the real world or reality and variety is its very essence»- Praveen Raj
Gullepalli
«We are inundated daily by traditional media, our social media «feeds» and all of the other «stuff» this life
throws our way»- Aaron Skogen
«…it›s again a matter of realization that there are processes at work in nature all the time - and however
small or big - these stimuli create an impact only after repeated acts of persistence»- namita sinhanamita
sinha
«Future leadership is about social complexity with a growing trend of social encounters and exchanges»-
Milos Djukic

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Parasitic Thoughts
Initially, I intended to write this buzz on cellular times as @Sara Jacobovici urged me to
do so. However; during the thinking of the flow of ideas I found myself attracted to other
aspects of our lives and I was dragged into writing this buzz on emotions and how they
affect our lives benefiting from new research findings.
TheshiftinmyfocusresultedfromreadingabuzzonbeBeeonthetoptenfearsofAmericans
in2016.Theseare:
1# Corruption of government officials: %60.6
2# Terrorist attacks: %41
3# Not having enough money for the future: %39.9
4# Being a victim of terror: %38.5
5# Government restrictions on firearms and ammunition: %38.5
6# People I love dying: %38.1
7# Economic or financial collapse: %37.5
8# Identity theft: %37.1
9# People I love becoming seriously ill: %35.9
10# ObamaCare: %35.5
Fear is epidemic and may reach a critical mass leading to widespread of fear and its terrible
consequences. New findings show that fear, anxiety of the unknown and stress may have

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far reaching effect on us that was known before. The emotions-carrying molecules travel
not only to our brains, but also with specific cell receptors in our bodies. We are made of
cells and cells connect to form tissues and tissues form organs. So, if we affect the cells, we
also affect our tissues and organs and therefore the whole body system.
It crossed my mind then that parasitic thoughts aren›t different from parasites as both
affect our cells and the whole body accordingly. Fear is a parasite and its ill-effects could
spoil the whole societal body. Amazing are the new findings and how the protein in our
cells throughout our bodies respond to stress. Some proteins unfold upon stressing them.
If all proteins unfold they form a mess. To stop this some proteins in the same cells isolate
the folded proteins in pockets or clamp them to stop proteins from unfolding excessively.
You may enjoy five ways on how proteins protect themselves from stress here. It is a great
reading with nice illustrations. It turns out that emotions share some very real biochemical
links with our nervous, endocrine, immune and digestive systems because we affect the
cells that form these systems. The whole body gets affected and not the brains only. The
human body uses molecular compounds that travel through the extra-cellular fluids and
hook to specific cell membranes like a key hooks on a lock. The science behind all this is
fascinating, and the conclusions are staggering. It turns out that biochemical reactions to
mental and emotional stimuli – your everyday thoughts and feelings – occur not just in the
brain but also, often simultaneously, in virtually every system of your body. These findings
show the shortcomings of our dealing with emotions and thoughts primarily on how they
affect our nervous system when in fact they affect every system in our bodies. Human
bodies are complex and all systems talk to each other.We can›t separate electrical signaling
from molecular signaling. Emotions release molecules that travel in the extracellular fluid
and eventually hook to a cell protein and affect its shape and function accordingly.
Parasitic Thoughts
We have living memories of some events. Triggering those memories leads to eventually
a bio reaction that releases peptides which can anchor to specific cells throughout our
bodies. Our emotions dictate which peptides get hooked to our cells and thus change its
chemistry. Fear could have a butterfly effect as few fearful people may through a whole
society into fear. One example is what happened in Peru. A meteorite smashed into an
area in Peru, releasing noxious gas that smelled like sulfur. Thousands of people became
physically ill, simply from smelling it — and then, as fear spread, people were getting ill just
from seeing other people getting sick and smelling only a whiff of the gas. Apparently, our
bodies too as a small fear could influence the whole body sending it into chaos.
This brings a main question if humans and trees are both made of cells would trees be
affected by negative experiences and fear as humans do! In their own way, plants can see,
hear, smell, feel and it is possible they even have a memory. Would studying the effect of
fear on trees be relevant to its effects on humans? Trees have tissues and we have. Trees
have organs and we have. Trees have systems of how their organs work together and we
do. My search on how trees respond to emotions came up with mind-boggling facts, which
I shall share with you in my next buzz.
I dare say we humans have been short-sighted not only using a reductionist approach
to study the human body. We are guilty of even separating what applies to trees by not
considering that they may be also extensible to us. We form a «human forest» as trees form
forests. We may extend what applies to tree forests to human forests with adaptations. We
need more integration of our perspectives to our world. The fears of trees and fears in the
USA are not distant from each other.

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Trapping Ideas
A great value of a social media platform is linked to its ability to promote symbiosis of
minds. I have reasons to claim this. Like a tree and a fungus forming symbiotic relationship
that both parties strive to keep so are minds that work together with both realizing that
their survivability depends on fostering this relationship and preventing it from decaying?
Symbiosis of minds elevates sensitivity of thinking. Crickets tweet just before rain and
their sound alerts the trees to open their stomata (breathing opening). My mind smells
the fragrance of rainy ideas before it rains and the pores of my mind open to receive the
fragrance of ideas coming from great minds. Trees can hear sound and we too can hear
«sound» ideas. It was Backster who did a great experiment by deciding to light a dracaena
plant in his office with a match to which an electrode was attached. The surprising thing is
that the plant reacted to the threat before even Backster lit the match! Amazing- the plant
anticipated the danger and read the intention of the man. Trees think, feel and anticipate.
When we build symbiotic relationships we upgrade our senses and anticipation and we
may then «read» events before then happen!
Trapping Ideas
One of the plants that catch my attention is flytrap. The reason is this plant is the closest to
animals than any other known plant. It is stays on the edge between animals and plants. It
shows some very interesting phenomena and provides unique opportunities for learning.
For example, plants tend to defend themselves against predators using different strategies;

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In contrast, flytrap eats its predators. Staying on the edge as you see may lead to «reverse
behaviors». Not only that as this plant doesn›t like to live in nutrient-rich soil; it thrives on
poor soils. Enriching the soil with fertilizers may in fact kill the plant! Are minds on the edge
between two different worlds as peculiar as flytrap?
The flytrap needs to catch insects to use as a source of nitrogen. It has a four-step strategy
to do that. I find this strategy even relevant to us to «trap ideas» from each other and further
strengthen our symbiotic relationship.
Trapping Ideas
The strategy starts with seducing a prey by its color and aroma. But how a plant can tell
if what is falling in its leaves is an insect and not something edible? Flytrap knows that
assuming can be killing. Therefore it follows simple rules to avoid wasting its energy in
consuming bad objects. The sensory hairs will become alert with the first touch; but only
alert enough if the trapped object is a moving insect and the flytrap will wait for a second
touch before getting more alert. Only after a third stimuli the insect will decide to close its
«teeth» and digest the insect over a weeks› time before spitting out the residues.
We trap ideas and they may act as stimuli. We need to ensure first those ideas are of value
and relevance to us. We need them as a source of nutrient and make sure they are before
wasting our energy in dealing with them. We need to be able to digest them over some
time to get the most out of them before discarding what remains. Flytrap grows the flowers
way above the leaves so that the pollinating insects may not be trapped by the leaves.
There are insects to be eaten and others to pollinate. The movement of the parts selve the
functionality of the whole system.
We trap ideas and we can learn a lot how to trap the relevant ideas and digest them only
when we are sure of their worth. How many times we spent times on ideas that were
irrelevant? We need to attract new ideas with the simultaneity that what we attract is truly
worthy. We need then to be able to interlock those ideas so that no «bacterial-like» ideas
may contaminate them. We then proceed to digesting them.
Trapping Ideas
Trapping of ideas is not different from
the way flytrap traps its victims.

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Google celebrates today the 384th birthday of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. I wanted to
know more about him and found out that he was Dutch being a tradesman and scientists.
He is commonly known as «the Father of Microbiology», and considered to be the first
microbiologist, according to Wikipedia.
I pondered because this is unusual mix of jobs. More stunning is that this gentleman started
his career in trading in which his family was experienced. He had no formal education in
science and yet he became the first microbiologist. Is that easy to achieve? What would
make him get distracted from what he knew well to a science field hat he knew very little
about?
We are not talking about ordinary achievements that many scientists brag about. More we
are talking about pioneering works that disrupted our thinking positively for generations. It
was he who discovered bacteria, free-living and parasitic microscopic protists, sperm cells,
blood cells, microscopic nematodes and rotifers, and much more. His researches, which
were widely circulated, opened up an entire world of microscopic life to the awareness of
scientists. Luckily, he revealed his passion by this glorious quote « . . . my work, which I›ve
done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly
from a craving after knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men.
And therewithal, whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to
put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof».
Antony van Leeuwenhoek. Letter of June 1716 ,12

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As strange as it may be van Leeuwenhoek benefited from a book that was published earlier
on microscopy by Robert Hooke. This man had a architecture background, but his passion
for innovative research made him rich. However; his thirst for more recognition for his works
from his colleagues led him to tensioned relationships, which eventually got him sick. I
mentioned recently that this gentleman was the first to show that cork and other materials
are formed of cells. A new and challenging conflicts are ready for storytellers.
Human resources are trying to find today T-Shaped candidates who know one subject very
well and a host of others as well making the top of theT.Where is the passion? Robert Hooke
and Antony van Leeuwenhoek created more exciting jobs than thousands of business
people or scientists combined.The migration away from what we are passionate for to what
pays more is deadlocked. It is not going to create enough jobs; and only for the lucky few.
Jobs emerge when people do what they have passion for and not that what pays more.

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My previous buzz on Unexpected Passion Migrations and subsequent lovely buzz by Sara
Jacobovici on Bee Passionate drew great discussions. A comment by Fatima Williams led to
the formation of what I suggested as the WPD Factor (Wonderment, Passion and Drive) as
the main factor of succeeding in whatever we do.
ThisWPD Factor prompted me to investigate it in more detail for many reasonWonderment
or curiosity is the starting passion and then a mix of complex passions and self-drive may
be all what we need to succeed. But don›t we? Is wonderment short-lived? Is it because our
emotions are contaminated and thus leading to contaminated efforts? Or, are there other
possibilities?
We contaminate our emotions with many negative ones such as fear. Fear is what ties up
our minds from seeing more possibilities and options. We contaminate our emotions with
trying to please others rather than pleasing our inner drive and doing what affectionate us.
The inner drive and prevailing emotions oppose each other only to see our efforts come to
no fruition. We contaminate our emotions as we contaminate our waters. We see microbial
and fungal growth in water and forget that our bodies are mainly filled with running water.
We too tend to contaminate our inner waters with negative thoughts and allow for the
growth of fungal ideas fast in our bodies and then ask we failed.
The movement of emotions has been revealed and I covered this movement in a
presentation titled Emotions Movement. I find it appropriate to re-visit this presentation
and tie it up with the WPD Factor. The next image shows that emotions aggregate in five
major clusters. Green stands for positive emotions, blue for quiet and low energy emotions,

25
red for inflated negative emotions, orange for physical discomfort and yellow for sexual
emotions. Examples of each cluster are given in the bottom part of the image.
Findingsestablishedthatitisfareasiertomovewithinthesameclusterthanfromonecluster
to another. This tags well with the WPD Factor. Successful people start from a green cluster
with positive energy and stay within it. They don›t contaminate their positive emotions
with contaminations from other negative clusters. They know what they want, they accept
failure as a learning experience to build on it and continue their drive.
In contrast, The WPD Factor explains why investors fail in the stock market. They allow the
contamination of early positive emotions movement by negative ones and once they are
trapped there they find it very difficult to dislodge themselves from the consequences.
HandleyourWPDwithcare…itisfragileunlessyourself-determinationformsahighenough
barriertocontaminationbynegativeemotions.

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Going Viral- Is it wrong?
I remember when was doing my PhD viva that I pointed out to a typo in my thesis to the
external examiner. He smiled and reacted by saying that he had never encountered a similar
case before. Bringing writing errors to the attention of the examiner was a surprising thing
to him.
I remembered this story upon my realization that we all do knowingly and unknowingly.
One striking example is the call for having a campaign to go viral to obtain the best results.
Being viral we draw the attention of the customers to our mistakes in promoting what is bad
for him/her. The minute a customer senses the attack by a virus his/her immunity system is
alerted. Who would welcome viruses?
Apart from creating a barrier from calling a campaign viral, we also create negative thoughts
amongthecustomers.Howwouldthenacustomerreacttoavirus-likecampaign?Customers
have surveillance systems are linked to specific pre-programmed actions. The body might
react by producing antibodies to attack pathogens. This may combine by the simultaneity
of the body getting rid of the destroyed cells.
We may induce fear in the customers by making them feel being attacked by a virus. The
customercouldresorttootherdefensessuchasshowinghisthornsintermsofcriticalreviews
that cause harm to the predator. Te customers could also send alarming volatile words to
alert their mates to the risk of the viral campaign. Bad commenting, recommendations and
reviews are easy means to do that. The competitors evoke heir immunity systems to the

27
incoming viral campaign by highlighting that your product/service is a virus-based one.The
competitors shall not remain with tied-up hands the incoming danger to their business and
shall use available and creative defensive and attacking methods to curtail the risk trying
to invade the bodies of their businesses. These businesses could emulate some plants that
allow ants to feed on so that if a danger is approaching the ants shall fight the predator to
protect the hosting plants. In order to survive, the ants make sure their host trees survive.
Many businesses accommodate small suppliers and it is the interest of the small suppliers
(ants-like) to ensure the supportive business (trees) survives.
SometimesbusinessesawakeotherstotheirownmistakesasIalertedmyexternalexaminer
to my typo. It is not only going viral; it is also about the acceptance of other parties to allow
in a virus! And we keep repeating our mistakes.

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The Consortium Hive
beBee is the land of affinity. A bee may choose the hives that appeal to his taste and flavor.
As much as the hives serve as landing platforms for people with similar affinities, still there
is the risk bees would tend to develop similar thinking. I may call this the groupthink of
hives.
Discussions within hives are elevating. However; they might soon become as comfort zones.
We need to inject new ideas, new thinking and new perspectives from bees on different
hives. We need hives to talk each other. While each hive will have its own personality there
is a desire that each hives is aware of what other hives are doing. Exactly, like the human
body in which each system such as the digestive system to have its functionality and yet
this system works with other systems in the human body.
Discussions have revealed that some ideas reach a point where «foreign» input from other
hives becomes a necessity. This is the case with the new hive WPD Hive.
To inoculate ideas from other hives I announce the establishment of the «Consortium Hive».
Ideas that are worthy and are in need of further discussions shall be shared in this hive to
receive due attention.

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If you wish to join this hive, the link is:
https://www.bebee.com/group/consortium-hive

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Pathogenic Thinking
Life is a full of conflicts. We experience conflict between new ideas and old ones, between
the familiar and long-standing beliefs and the emerging new ones. We have conflict of
interests. We have conflict between new strategies and old ones and self-conflict between
two ideas. A great story builds itself on an important conflict like fighting for a country and
staying close to a new love.
Our bodies live in constant conflicts between their immunity systems (the protagonist) and
the antagonist pathogens. We have a built-in conflict. Understanding the mechanism of
how the immunity system works against pathogens may help us in understanding and
finding new ways to write stories and including our story on how to fight off the pathogens
of making false assumptions and holding to irrelevant beliefs. The worst enemies are those
that reside within us and topping the balance in favor of our immunity system is a noble
goal to understand.
How do our bodies react to the invasion of pathogens such as viruses? Normally, our bodies
release proteins that would inhibit the virus from replication. The immune systems in our
bodies consisting of both structures and processes shall try to halt the replication of a virus

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because this system is capable of telling harmful viruses and that they are not part of the
healthy tissues in our bodies. Our defense system starts with innate defense. Defenses that
we accumulated and are ready for fighting contaminant pathogenic ideas as our bodies
fight pathogens.
Sometimes innate immunity fails and our bodies start using other mechanism to fight
pathogens such as humoral immunity by releasing antibodies or /and cellular immune
response by what is known as T -cell activation.
Quick responses to pathogens that wood decrease our WPD Factor (Wonderment, Passion
and Drive) start by using protective methods such as filtering pathogens and burning them
in the acidity of our stomachs. This first of defense may succeed and if not second line
defenseswork.Whitebloodcellstravelthroughthebodytokillthepathogenswhereasother
organs are busy getting the body rid of the killed pathogens. We may kill the pathogenic
ideas, but if we fail to get rid of them they shall intoxicate our bodies.
There is a third line of defense- the molecules which use a lock and key approach to
deactivate the pathogens by interfering in their cellular composition.
There is a fourth line of defense in the body- the organs. I find the way our bodies defend
themselvesagainstpredatorsisextensibletohowwemayprotectourselvesfrompathogenic
ideas. We need a hero who has lots of defensive lines. We may resort to our innate abilities,
but these may not be enough to combat certain pathogenic ideas.We need a hero to adapt
the immunity system through different shaped ideas to hook to the pathogenic cells and
deprive them from replicating. We need different thinking on where to place the organs in
the body of the story to quicken our reactions to pathogens.
I am not a medical doctor. But I dare say the conflict between pathogens and immunity
systems in our bodies would provide us with a new way to structure our stories. Like our
bodies adapt and produce adaptive immunity to conquer pathogens, so we may need to
adapt the structure of our stories. Creative thinking shall lead to reshaping our approaches
and bring creative ideas to combat pathogens.
Our bodies have great stories for us to reveal and adapt to combat intangible pathogens of
negative thinking and to chart art novel approaches.
Thestoryofhowourbodiesbuildimmunitytonewpathogensmaywellserveasaparadigm
inbuildingourimmunitytopathogenicthinking.
This pathogen for this buzz started from a great buzz by Sara Jacobovici on The Business of
Defense. What I am suggesting here that the four lines of defense in the human body may
serve as a great metaphor to building our defenses against pathogenic thinking. In no way I
claim this is a comprehensive buzz; to the contrary it is far from. My aim is to get ideas from
medical doctors, thinkers and experts on how to best do that.

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Raining Miseries
Today I «celebrate» being ill at home for the last two weeks. It all started with falling and
having six teeth removed. Like the Arab poet who said I went through very dry periods I
prayed so that the sky would rain and wet my miseries. It rained, but more miseries on me.
The teeth problems uncovered other serious health issues and more sufferings.
My seclusion from the world gave me a breathing period to think of myself, my past, my
fortunes and misfortunes. Somehow, I remembered reading a post on human behavior
and age. It said between 24-16 people are hopeful. They see rosy opportunities coming.
Expectationsofhavingagreatjobormarryingtheirbelovedonesblossomandgivemeaning
to life. They sound enter the second phase of 28-24. To their dismay, most people find that
their dreams were difficult to achieve and they become optimistic and less hopeful. Now,
they enter the third phase of 35-28 and still most of peoples› hopes were mirages. They
feel time is running out to achieve their dreams and become pessimistic. As these people
enter the phase of 44-35 years old they become magnifiers. They tend to magnify small
issues into big ones as they become edge. They expend lots of their energies complaining
and exponentially making of a small problem big one. As they spend lots of energy during
these years these people turn accepting. This is how the ball bounces and there isn›t much
to do about it. People above 44 years old tend to do that.

33
I belong to the last group and I started asking myself do I accept things as they are? Did I
fall in certain limiting patterns of thinking? Do I accept things the way they are? Do I accept
my limitations? I have developed certain patterns of behavior over the years and would it
be easy to drop them like a tree drops its autumn leaves?
To be living is to learning, growing and self-renewing. Over the last two weeks I wrote four
buzzes for beBee and I enjoyed tremendously establishing The Consortium Hive. I enjoyed
immensely the exchange of comments with brainy readers. I expanded my knowledge
while getting more aware of my limitations. I aspire to learn more. I feel I am living. Ageing
is not in the number of years we live; more it is on the attitudes that we accept and limit
our options in life. Yes, like some cells they die or stop reproducing in our bodies, but there
are also cells that keep replicating and self-renewing. We have the choice to be this type of
cells or that.
Life is a journey and it is up to us to make this journey a living one. We may see a mountain
and like a mountaineer we climb the «Mountain of Difficulties». Or, we may stay in the valley.
But who gains more self-confidence and acquires more talents? You know the answer. We
store not only memories, but also experiences that we find as a great source for facing
problems when we are not as physically fit when we were young. We also store patterns of
behaviors that grow like fractals do.
We need to stay «experience fit». This shall be our source of power as we grow older. What
else would we store in our young hood so that we may have our own reservoir when we
grow old? We need to adapt to age, but also we need the experiences and tools to make
this adaptation a useful one.

34
Fatima Williams wrote a mind-absorbing buzz about our perceptions. This buzz sent my
mind in different directions thinking about the linkages between our emotions, feelings
and perceptions on how we see ourselves and the world.
We are fractal bodies. Our lungs, brains, artilleries are fractal. Our behaviors are fractal as
is demonstrated by the wavy patterns of the stock markets, to give one example. Are our
emotions fractal? If they are, how would they affect our perceptions to the world? Are our
sensuous feelings related to our perceptions?
It occurred to me to show the growth of emotions in tree-like format. Trees are fractals and
this way our emotions are fractal too. I show one example of negative emotions in a tree-
like format. I could do the same with other emotions.
This is quite interesting. Our emotions this way have a large surface area and could therefore
have a more drastic effect than we expect. They may affect our behaviors and senses in
a greater way than their volume occupies. They are like our lungs whose surface action

35
exceeds far their physical volume.
The question now is: do our emotions affect our perceptions? If yes, then how would
fractal emotions influence our actions and perceptions? Our fractal emotions lead to fractal
behaviors as evidenced by the fractal waves of the stock market. Do the same extend to our
perceptions?
Recent studies show this is the case «fear, for example, can affect low-level visual processes,
sad moods can alter susceptibility to visual illusions, and goal-directed desires can change
the apparent size of goal-relevant objects». Research published in January 2014 finds that
being in love makes food and drink — even tasteless distilled water — seem sweeter.
Powerless people feel things heavier than they are. Their emotions affect their perception
of the physical world. Our emotions have linkages with the outside world and thus affect
our perceptions. It also amazing that feeling the cold of loneliness extends to our feelings
to our surrounding. People suffering from loneliness feel their rooms colder than they are.
That «How we feel affects what we see» has been proven. People who place an emphasis on
positive things and are generally optimistic are sometimes said to “see the world through
rose-tinted glasses”. Studies have shown that «Thus, positive moods enhanced peripheral
vision and increased the extent to which the brain encoded information in those parts of
the visual field, to which the participants did not pay attention. Conversely, negative moods
decreased the encoding of peripheral information».
The initial conditions of a fractal affect the trajectory of complex systems. Our emotions
are fractal and they change their trajectories depending on our starting emotion. Fractal
emotionsaffectourperceptionandareourperceptionsfractaltoo?Ifyes,isiteasytopredict
perceptions? Partially yes, only if we could uncover their repeating patterns.
So much remains to think about.

36
It amazes me, and may be you too the reader of this buzz, that we tend to go the extremes and swing
from one extreme to the other. Is this the call of nature? We find many trees living in arid zones, or water
logging areas, but very few trees living in areas where land and water are close by. Trees living in water
flooding areas adapt well to the flood of water. In contrast, trees living in arid zones adapt well to the
scarcity of water. In areas where land and water are neighboring to each other and adaptations to living
in the border areas are challenging, far less number of trees exists. Is it easier for businesses to adapt to
extreme conditions than it is for varying conditions of flooding business and for businesses thirsty for the
waters of survival than adapting to both scarcity of water and being flooded with customers, demands and
showering orders?
Trees living in one extreme condition of drought or flooding waters have developed strategies which are
variant from those strategies developed by trees living in areas where in one side there is plenty of water
and on the other side there is arid land. Understanding how trees adapt may suggest a huge number of
different strategies for businesses to consider.
Strategies for Scarcity
Trees combine different strategies to combat the extreme condition of water scarcity. These include:
· Dispensing off leaves or having small leaves to minimize water loss. Avoidance of loss is the core point.
Businessesmayalsoconsideravoidanceoflosseswhenexposedtosunnydays-lossofcashflows,customers
and talents are among the main losses businesses should thrive to minimize.
· Trees try to keep water in reservoirs of their own. Tree store water in specialized tissues such as in leaves
and trunks. So, the strategy is minimize water losses and maximizes water storage. In arid businesses
climates each business should consider what makes its «waters» and maximize their storage and minimize
their losses. It is balancing the opposites of losing water and storing it that tree excel at.

37
Trees in arid zones develop long roots to reach the maximum amounts of available water resources. Desert
trees remain dormant during scarcity of water and germinate only when trees sense water availability. So,
the combined strategy is reduce water losses + store as much water as possible for difficult times + reach
the scarce water to the maximum degree possible + reduce germination till trees sense water availability.
How about businesses in drought environments? Shouldn›t they consider the same strategies?
These are scare example of strategies adopted by trees in arid zones. How about growth and adaptation
in rain logged environments?
Strategies for Over-Supplies
Trees living in excessive water availability have other problems to cope with. Trees accept what they sense
and adapt to it. Trees know that controlling the environment is beyond their capacity.
Honestly, I could write more than twenty buzzes on how trees adapt and strategize with water flooding
environments. For brevity, trees may do the following:
· The flooding of roots deprives them from oxygen as oxygen diffuses less in water and microorganisms
competing for the scarce oxygen. This is a prime concern for trees. Flooding stress has resulted in a wide
range of biochemical, molecular and morphological adaptations that sanction growth and reproductive
success under episodic or permanently flooded conditions that are highly damaging to the majority of
plant species. Tolerance adaptations and/or avoidance adaptations have been the two main strategies to
adapt to flooding.
· Some plants do their photosynthesis under water to produce their own oxygen.
· The primary morphological plant strategy in response to flooding is the development of air spaces in the
roots and stems which allow diffusion of oxygen from the aerial portions of the plant into the roots. These
plants find an alternative route for the supply of oxygen.
· There are so many other strategies and I may dedicate a buzz to focus on them.
How about trees that live on borderline between land and water? Surprisingly, very few plants can do that.
The challenges to adapt are huge.
Trees Living on the Borderline, or Edge of Challenge
Trees living on the borderline have to adapt to salty water and wave action. To cope with these stringent
challenges, trees have evolved different strategies:
· Trees living in borderline areas have complex salt filtration system and complex root system to cope
with salt water immersion. They either have the capacity to store salts or throw them out using innovative
technologies.
· Trees limit loss of scarce fresh water in salty mud trees change the direction of their leaves to avoid
exposure to sun. Trees use avoidance strategy.
· A creative strategy trees in borderline areas adapted is to germinate their seeds while still on the trees.
· Trees such as mangroves have developed very long pods for their seeds.
There is a great video on mangrove trees and their adaptations. This video is a must see.
Sara Jacobovici has written a great buzz on «Sorry, you can’t blame it on politics or politicians». She wrote in
this buzz «We are a part of this dynamic existence we call life, not passive receivers or observers. It is within
the tension of what is and isn’t in our control, fighting for our individuality while living in a community and
the choices we make, that moves us on our chosen paths».Trees teach us how exactly to do that.
We live on the edge of challenges and trees have so much to teach us on how to grow and adapt in these
challenging environments.

38
I am not discussing the flooding of markets with products. I am not discussing the flooding
of information. I am interested in this buzz to talk about emotional flooding and its
consequences. I am tempted to write this buzz having read the buzz of @Lisa Vanderburg
titled «Brad Fergusson: ring a bell? The comments on the buzz reveal the extent to which
innocent people suffered from this guy taking their money illegitimately to attend a
conference that never was.
The combined feeling of loss, guilt, being cheated, anger may result in high levels of
emotional floods that cause the body all sorts of problems. We are not different from trees
which are waterlogged or submerged in waters. These trees suffer from stress because
too much water deprives the roots from oxygen and the carbohydrates that trees need
for breathing. Trees adapt by many ways such as shifting to fermentation to cover their
needs for lacking oxygen in water. Trees adapt their roots as well by developing air spaces
in the roots and stems which allow diffusion of oxygen from the aerial portions of the plant
into the roots. Trees follow a combined strategy of avoidance and adaptation to meet the
challenges of flooding.

39
We humans are the same when we get immersed in the floods of negative emotions. The
metabolism of our bodies change. Our rate of breathing increases. Our heart pulses go up.
Treespurposefullychangetheirmetabolism;elsetheydie.Weneedtobeawareofsituations
that flood us with negative emotions and send our bodies «astray». Our bodies respond by
releasing stress hormones and the more flooded we are, the more stress hormones our
bodies release. Our bodies are integrated and the effect of stress transfers to all parts of our
bodies. Adrenaline increases your heart rate, increases respiration, increases sweat, slows
digestion and these lead to more severe health problems. The spiral effects of flooding
negative emotions take their grip on our bodies.
The more we think about the bad experiences, the more we allow the feelings of remorse
build up. We may reach a stage whereby we start we look down at our selves, hate us and
the emotional flooding increases. The horny actions of one person escalate our negative
feelings going from feeling sad to rejected, upset, devastated and up to depressed. This
combines with the negative feelings starting from stressed to distress.The combinations of
these feelings flood us and we get immersed in them. We are like trees immersed in water
and finding survival a big challenge to meet.
Negative emotions distort our thinking and in turn our distorted thinking distorts our
actions. This happens at the same time we need to calm our thinking, to find alternative
ways to avoid thinking about the past and see bad experiences as a learning opportunity.
We need to train our breathing to control the ill-effect of the stress resulting from emotional
flooding. We need to see the world in new eyes.
The direct financial losses are less important than the cost of having flooding negative
emotions. We need to control those emotions or else they shall flood us with terrible
consequences. Brad Fergusson didn›t only steal money; more he stole the balanced life
of people. We need to make him a loser by not letting him immerse us in the negative
emotions of his evil actions. This is the way to defeat people of his kind. We need strength
to do that. This is only possible if we may turn the negative emotions that flooded some of
us into a horse power.

40
I wrote a presentation on separation thinking in which I discussed our tendency to ask this
or that such as is it the egg or the chicken? I wondered why not this AND that. More relevant
questions are available that reinforce this separation thinking such as do you want to be a
leader or manager, when in fact we need a leader and a manager attributes together. This
separation thinking goes against nature because opposites co-exist.Tall and short trees live
together. We see closed and open flowers together. Flowery and thorny plants neighbor
each other.
We have many examples in which the opposites have to work together if we wish to have a
working system. Look at batteries and how they work. Batteries have three parts, an anode
(negative), a cathode (positive), and the electrolyte. The cathode and anode are connected
to an electrical circuit.The chemical reactions in the battery lead to an upsurge of electrons
at the anode. The electrons repel each other and therefore seek to go to a place with fewer
electrons- the cathode. This way we have an electric current. It is not the negative or the
positive; it is both together.
Similarly, an atom has a positive nucleus around which the lightweight electrons exist in a
cloud orbiting the nucleus. We can›t have atoms, which are the basic units of matter and
the defining structure of elements, without having the positive nucleus and the negative
electrons together.
Negative pressure has many positive applications. One outstanding example is how trees
transport water from the roots of trees to their top leaves. For water to be sucked up there
must be a pressure difference between the top and the bottom of the tree. It is this amazing
negative pressure at the top that allows water to make its upward journey in a tree. The
video below explains negative pressure amazingly well.

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Our emotions are not different. We say positive emotions and negative emotions. This
classification of emotions raised some objections by great minds. In my last buzz on
«AdaptationstoEmotionalFlooding»,@MaxCartercommentedbywriting«Psychologically
speaking by saying some emotions are negative we will do anything we can to avoid them
or someone experiencing them
A negative is a loss and the only loss that we truly experience is the loss of growth and
learning when we ignore our emotions or other people because we use words such as
Negative to describe the emotion and therefore the person».
I believe it is our attitude and thinking that leads to these concerns. It is our separation
thinking that wants the positive without the negative. It is our perception that negatives
are bad. Negative emotions stabilize positive one and the two together make this stability.
It is only when we flood ourselves with one emotion excessively on the expense of the
other that we run into problems. If we consider what I term «The Battery of Emotions», then
the buildup of negative emotions on the anode that these excessive electron-like passions
become self-repelling and seek places in our bodies in which there is more space for them.
Moreover, like electrons in atoms, they are the orbiting and light weighted bodies and
can move much more freely than the positive nucleus. Negative emotions are mobile and
orbit our thinking and positive emotions are the heavy nucleus around which the negative
emotions orbit.
Negative emotions are an integral part of our existence. It is only when we allow them
to flood that we experience their ill-effects. Positive emotions are not different. However;
apparently negative emotions affect us more because of their orbiting our minds more
freely than positive emotions.
I shall greatly appreciate your feedback on this buzz.

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BeBee is to Engage with Passionate Curiosity
I wrote a comment addressed to Javier beBee that beBee is Engagement with Passionate
Curiosity instead of Engagement with Passion. I find the reasoning would be of interest to
manyreaders.Moreover,thisbuzzshouldserveasrealexampleofthedegreeofengagement
that beBee allows for as I base this buzz in response to comments and buzzes published on
this platform.
The Story First
Mypreviousbuzzattractedabouteightyengagingcomments.Thecommentsthatprovoked
me to write this buzz are was the two comments of Sara Jacobovici and Franci Eugenia
Hoffman. Franci wrote a comment that inspired Sara to formulate the following equation:
KNOWING + DOING = ACTION/MOVEMENT
If we lack knowledge or action there shall be no movement. For this reason, I suggested to
Sara to change the equation to:
KNOWING X DOING = ACTION/MOVEMENT

43
In this way if either knowledge or doing is zero the result zeros (not the case in summation).
I love this equation because it has many merits such as its provision of a new definition
for procrastination or its possible causes. This led me to draw a quadrant for the Doing-
Knowing relationship.
beBee is to Engage with Passionate Curiosity
The Linkage Story
It is when we have high degree of knowing and doing that we have the «vitality of action». I
introduce the word vitality in the quadrant to link with another buzz that Deb Lange wrote
and titled «Creating the Conditions for Business and Personal Vitality PART 1». I reproduce
her quadrant as a reference.
beBee is to Engage with Passionate Curiosity
We have vitality when we have high degrees of trust and autonomy. The metaphor that
crossed my mind to link the two quadrants is the vitality of seeds. Seeds vitality is a crucial in
increasing agricultural output. Seeds that lack vitality shall not give good yield. Low vitality
leads to less action and less movement.
So, how to ensure that vitality is of high degree to get action going? We need to have the
seeds of curiosity and these seeds vitality is crucial to get moving and acting. I quote here
«One of the best ways to better appreciate the power of curiosity is to start exercising it
more consciously in your daily experiences. By doing so, you can transform routine tasks,
enlivening them with new energy. You will also likely begin to notice more situations
that have the potential to engage you, giving your curiosity even more opportunities to
flourish». We increase the power of curiosity by doing and exchanging knowledge much
more than we do by simply reading. We learn more, get more curious and improve the
seeds of curiosity to get moving and germinate new curiosity seeds.
We need to keep the vitality of beBee by engaging with passionate curiosity. I hope I
succeeded to explain why.

44
Finding Answers to Simple Questions
Did you experience any of the following?
· Chasing a dream girl till she accepted you only to lose interest in her afterwards
· Chasing for a creative idea and once it sparks in your mind you didn›t care to document it
only to find that you have lost it
· Searched for a key and once you found it you misplaced it only to lose it again.
· Looked for connecting with a bee on beBee and once you succeeded you lost interest. By
reviewingyourcontactsyoushallsurpriseyourselfwithhowmanyyoustoppedexchanging
of comments and reading buzzes of bees with whom you had great interest before.
· You aspired to work for a company and tried hard to get a job there only to lose interest in
it soon afterwards.
· Work so hard to lose weight and look in shape, only to lose your shape by gaining weight
again

45
· You dared to invest in the stock market and made huge profits only to lose it and feel the
agony of your losses.
· Your company tried hard to reach profitable customers and finally it succeeded only to
lose those customers soon afterwards.
·Youtriedhardtoquitsmoking,butthenyoustartedsmokingagainbylosingyourwillpower
· Had health problems that forced you to quit smoking. Once you felt better you started
smoking again.
·You had illusions about something and once you discovered the truth you felt you became
wiser. But then you lost the truth and went back to your illusions.
These are few examples of things we try hard to find and then to lose them. The amazing
thing here is that we humans try to avert losses, but then we lose what is good for us. Why
do we insist on doing the wrong things when we know the right answers? For example, we
know that creative ideas have short life spans; paradoxically, we keep ignoring recording
them on the spot and only to feel their loss and regret afterwards. This causes us to suffer
and yet we continue repeating the same.
ThisremindsmeofabuzzthatmyfriendDavidNavarroLópezwroteonforgingofcharacters.
In cold forging we change the shape like we change our shapes by exercising and dieting.
Cold forging may lead to revert to type. It is hot forging that introduces new characters,
new behaviors and new us.
I wish you would help me and others find answers to my question. I promise not to lose you
for whatever feedback you may contribute

46
Iteration of Ideas
Our world is full of surprises. The expected and simple interactions may lead to complex
behaviors with unpredictability that surpasses our imagination. The behavior of many
systems shows this «anomalies». They include the weather, the prey-predators societies
and the Mandelbrot Set of equations. These systems show strange behaviors even though
they originated from simple equations. Their complexity is amazing. They teach us a big
lesson- don›t assume and verify.
Let us start with a simple system- the growth of population. The population in a basic year
shall grow at certain percentage of the previous year.There is a feedback in play here.When
we increase the population this year from the previous, even the percentage of population
growth is kept fixed, the number of population increases more rapidly as, say %4 of 100,000
is more than the previous year with less population. Could this formula go like this forever?
The answer is no because eventually the available resources shall not be sufficient to sustain
the exponentially growing population. Resources are available in limited supplies only. So,
what happens? Very peculiar result are obtained in that we change the population growth
rate, the output shall develop from linear, bifurcating into two values, four values and so on
till we each a random state. It shall be very difficult to predict the population. The following
diagram shows the bifurcation diagram where in where X {displaystyle x_{n}} is a number
between zero and one that represents the ratio of existing population to the maximum
population possible
Iteration of Ideas
The Mandelbrot feedback equation is again a reiterative equation of a very simple equation

47
in which the output is feedback as an input in the equation. See this video to see how
simplicity generates complexity.
Iteration of Ideas
Social Simple Interactions May Lead to Complexity
Humans interact and ides may become heavily populated and their growth may be limited
by our capacity to fully comprehend them. The output of an idea may be the new input for
more ideas. If too many people are engaged in the discussions so the rate of producing new
ideas reach a value that our ideas may rearrange and produce a chaotic stage in which it
shall be difficult to guess what shall happen next.
The complexity of social actions may experience the feedback effect. Our behaviors on
social media might appear simple when they could hide surprises for us. We affect each
others› thinking, emotions and understanding and the rate by which these changes could
reach a level where chaos starts.
The use of equations to study human behaviors is not new. Kurt Lewin suggested that
human behavior may be modeled by a simple equation:
B = f(P, E), function of the person (p) and the environment (E). The significance of this
equation is that we may express in words we may also express in equations. The equations
may be not right and feedback from others may improve the equation. Lewin himself
modified his initial equation to the present version. The equation allows for the person and
his environment to have influence on their behavior in complex and profound ways. beBee
is the environment and we may affect it and in turn the environment may affect us. What
starts as a simple equation could develop into a complex one.
The Iteration of Ideas
I am writing this buzz because of a seed idea that started by suggesting an equation to
reveal when we may move or take action. This was bases on an initial exchange of ideas
among the triad of @Sara Jacobovici, @Franci Eugenia Hoffman and myself. The equation
started with:
Knowing + Doing = Movement (Action).
So many ideas poured in resulting in its revision. In fact, the growth of ideas may have the
shape of a tree. I shall be discussing this in a forthcoming buzz and I know Sara is writing a
buzz too. It looks like the iteration of ideas may lead to complexity and find ourselves going
into paths that we never predicted.
This is the beauty of simple equations as they too are subject to iteration. We don›t have
to be right or wrong as much as learning together and developing the simple equation.
Who knows what results we shall end up with? Like the simple population equation led
to complex behaviors, the exchange of ideas might do. Writing equations may reveal such
complexities no matter how simple these equations are.
I believe it is the challenge of simplicity that carries the most pleasant surprises.

48
I say the more we know, the more we should ask questions to discover how little we know.
Surprisingly, what we know for sure becomes our handicap. We all know for example,
that water is an essential ingredient for our health and vitality. We know we need to drink
copious amounts of water. We know that not drinking enough water may lead to terrible
consequences. I am guilty of the same. I had blood pressure reaching 140/200. I have been
on medicines for long times to regulate my blood pressure. Recently, I had another problem
with my prostate being inflated to 2.5 of its original size. My MD told me that my problem
originates from me not drinking enough water. Here is the surprising thing- because my
MD warned me strongly of the possible ill consequences of not drinking plentiful amount
of water daily I listened. The unexpected result was that my blood pressure fell to 70/110
and stabilized.
I am sharing my story because Deb Helfrich asked me to share it. I am listening again.
However; this experience led me to ask myself why we fail to do basic things in life even
though we are conscious about them. I am a chemist who knows the value of water for the
human body and still I failed to conform. Knowledge is there. So, why not doing? This is a
topic that I shall cover in another buzz.
I feel there is a missing issue- the missing subconscious questions that I failed to ask? If we
ask simple and conscious questions we shall not possibly act. Let me explain.Trees do many
things that we don›t understand. Why two similar trees of the same species growing next
to each other develop different shapes such as one being symmetrical and the other not?
Or, why one tree grows high and the other doesn›t. These are simple questions, but their

49
answers aren›t you completely satisfying. The trees apply on us the concept of negative
certainty. We know more to find out that we have more issues that we make less certain
of what we know. This way we keep our passionate curiosity to know more. If we know
the answers we may then lose passion to know more. Natural phenomena are like that.
The more we know, the less we are certain and the more passionate we are to remove the
uncertainty only to fall in the rabbit hole of uncertainty. Because our minds remain clouded
with these issues we may ask subconscious questions that may give us a hint to the answer.
The issue of my failing to respond to my knowledge by not drinking enough water stems
from the fact that I reached a definite answer and therefore the element of negative
uncertainty was removed. Are definite answers a form of mental block or even a barrier to
ask subconscious questions?
Harvey Lloyd responded to one of my comments on a great buzz on Developing aTolerance
to Negativity by Sara Jacobovici as follows. Emotions are neither good nor bad. But they can
be either if, they cause us to fluctuate between interdependent and independent. A team
recognizes this fluctuation instantly and it can have a souring effect on success, individually
and team. I agree with Harvey. The keyword in his response for me is fluctuation, between
on emotion or another. Or, fluctuation between shapes such as a drop of water is rounded
or not when it falls on a tree leaf depending on whether the leaf is waxy or not. It is the
fluctuation in protein in our bodies between different shapes and the fluctuation of the
trunks of trees between growing linearly or spirally.
The question remains- when we fail to fluctuate between conscious and subconscious
questions do we fail what we need to do what we should do? Is this one reason for my
failure to abide by simple facts to keep my health in good shape? Apparently, subconscious
questions lead to subconscious answers.
I dedicate this buzz proudly to the great thinker Harvey Lloyd whose comments propelled
me to write this buzz. Dear Harvey- I am full of gratitude to you.

50
Humans Are Constantly Fractals
The question that is keeping my mind busy these days is if humans are fractals not in their
bodiesonly,butalsointheiremotions.Weknowthatournervoussystem,lungs,artilleriesare
all fractals. Human bodies have cellular structure. Are or cells fractal too? Are our emotions
fractal too? The consistency of design necessitates the answers to be yes. I wanted to find
support for this idea. Fractals are rough shapes that look the same at all scales.
Brain cells fractals
The advancement of technology has made our insights deeper. The new research tools
opened the way for us to answer these questions. Recent research has shown that the
environment of cells is indeed fractal. In new experiments, Sebastien Huet and Aurélien
Bancaud of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, tracked
the movement of molecules within cells in a lab dish, and then compared the pattern of
movement against mathematical models. Large molecules, they found, moved according
to the same rules as small molecules — suggesting that their environment was truly fractal.
Not only is that as bacterial growth in cells fractal as well. Despite bacterial colonies always
forming circular shapes as they grow, their internal divisions are highly asymmetrical and
branched. Dr Jim Haseloff, from the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of
Cambridge, found that Fractal patterns spontaneously emerge during bacterial cell growth.
Heconcluded«aseachbacteriumgrowsinasingledirection,linesorfilesofcellsareformed,
but these files are unstable to small disturbances. As large numbers of cells push and shove
against each other, mechanical instability leads to buckling and folding of cell files. This
is repeated as the cells continue to grow and divide, leading to the formation of rafts of

51
aligned cells arranged in self-similar branching patterns or fractals». This finding reminds
me of the huge number of molecules that crowd our bodies. Apparently, this crowdedness
lead to fractal formation the same way fractals build up in the cells of bacteria. Humans are
all fractals.
If humans are all fractals then are their emotions fractals too.Yes, they are.The stock market
shows fractal movement. The Elliott waves are fractal. Mountaineers build up fractals of
emotions as they ascend. You may refer to my presentation on «Emotions in Action» for
more details. The image below is the evidence.
In the case of stock markets the prevailing emotions provoke of greed and fear causes
the stretching and folding of investors to show constantly the same fractal behavior of
the stock markets everywhere. It is a global phenomenon. We are not only fractal bodies,
but also fractal emotions. I wonder if emotions get overcrowded like cells so that they too
stretch and fold to form the fractals in markets.The stock markets reflect the interactions of
investors and how they push against each other to cause the fractal structure of markets.
Humans no matter where they come from have all fractal bodies and emotions and the
consistency of fractals leads to fractal actions. The behavior of large populations can be
hard to predict and the greater the population is predictability becomes less; regardless
this population is cells, humans, emotion, molecules in the air and in our bodies.
Our societies are heavily populated. Our social networks are heavily populated. beBee is
increasingly getting more popular and populated. The crowdedness of ideas is becoming
too heavily populated. Where shall these trends lead us? I shall try to answer this question
in my next buzz.
I dedicate this buzz to Joris Plaatstaal, who has enriched my mind by exchanging comments
with me on my previous buzzes. I say to Joris: I am grateful to you.

52
Two illusions don›t make a fact
Joris Plaatstaal made a great comment on one of my recent buzzes titled «Conscious and
Subconscious Questions». This comment led me to respond by saying that «»Between
freedom and illusion there is a borderline of knowledge.» Joris responded by writing
«This is an interaction I truly love. ......Between freedom and illusion there is a borderline of
knowledge...... It is just great; I did not realize that while commenting.You kick my thoughts
a step further and at this time I am not sure why.....
Between freedom and illusion there is a borderline of knowledge. There are so many ways
to look at that. I will have to let it sink in». So, I did as the comment of Joris kicked my
thoughts two steps further. Pondering deeply on these exchanges of comments led me
to modify my thinking to «Between the illusion of freedom and the illusion of knowledge
there is a borderline».
We live in a world which suffers from two major illusions: the illusion of knowledge and
the illusion of freedom». What kind of a borderline that separates the two illusions? Do two
illusions lead to finding facts or they lead us astray?
I want first to cover two aspects of the illusion of knowledge. How many times we knew

53
more to know less? How many times we were trapped by the illusion of a great scientist
who made a theory and only years later the theory was proven wrong? Aristotle did that for
hundreds of years when he said that our universe consists of four elements only?
The internet is becoming a major source of the illusion of knowledge. This has been shown
by three researchers at Yale University. The researchers, Matthew Fisher, Mariel Goddu, and
Frank Keil found out that because we have easy access to search the net we may know more.
This is an illusion of the internet and technology enhancing the emerging phenomena of
knowledge illusion.
The internet hasn›t only enhanced our knowledge illusion because it did that with
the simultaneity of increasing our freedom illusion. We are filled of fear of hackers who
would do all sorts of things to jeopardize our personal and societal freedom. We have
witnessed religious fanatics using knowledge to restrict our freedom of thinking. We have
seen governments laying rules to free us when in fact they enslave us. Stephen Hawking
expressed this fact very eloquently «The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it
is the illusion of knowledge».
Is there a borderline between two illusions? Do two illusions produce a fact? I leave the
answers to you dear reader.

54
When not to ask why?
A comment by Mohammed Sultan on my previous buzz read in part the following « A
customer may attack you by saying if you really cared about customer service you won›t
DO that Instead of beginning your replies withWhy do you think that?The smartest answer
could be; when did you started to think that? Because the reply with why may give the
customer an opportunity to blast you again, whereas when questions may help diffuse the
confrontation by elevating his pre- assumption about his reasons».
This comment triggered my mind for two reasons. First, the Golden Circle of questions has
in its core the why question. Should why then be relegated to a lower order? Second, could
the why question act like adding cold water to very hot vegetable oil making the oil splash
chaotically and possibly harm people who happen to be nearby?
Some question act like dark mirrors and reflect the dark aspect of issues at hands. Why this
only happened to me? I heard this question from people who suffered a loss of a relative or
got infected by a virus. The why question in this context acts like the dark (or black) mirror
that shall only bring dark images that terrify most people.
Thinking deeper I find it true that the wrong timing of asking why could be a source of

55
agitation and nervousness. Asking the customer why is asking for information that the
customer may not have. This works against his/her expectations. The customer needs
information and we ask him to answer what the customer doesn›t know.This could infuriate
the angry customer and make him/her splash his «oil of anger» chaotically. We need to
replace the dark mirror with a white one to generate hope for the customer and us alike.
Instead of asking why this happened to me we could ask «what could I do to stop this
happening again to me». This time the white mirror will reflect hope and possibilities that
were absent from our minds.
I the sea of darkness we look for fluorescent animals that show us the light. We need to
avoid questions that add darkness to the darkness that we experience. When we comment
on a buzz we should pay attention to the question we are asking. Instead of asking an
author why did you mention this or that we may shift the focus to what factors or elements
that made the author writes this or that? The why may sound skeptical and challenging; in
contrast, the question may even help the author review peacefully what he wrote and offer
new insights.
What to ask and not to ask seem to be an area that warrants more attention. What do you
think?

56
Avoid Building Concrete Relationships
The societal -4cycle theory was put forward by the Indian philosopher and spiritual leader‚
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar in the 1950s and expanded by‚ Ravi Batra‚ since the 1970s,‚ Johan
Galtung‚ and‚ Sohail Inayatullah‚ since the 1990s.
If we look carefully at the social cycle and ponder on when the social upheaval starts we
find that it follows the acquisitor stage in which the wealth is distributed unequally.The rich
becomes richer and the poor get poorer. The presence of unequal gaps in any society shall
lead to its destabilization. This is a rule and to restore stability governments tend to use
the rule of force. This solution might be temporarily successful, but shall eventually fail. It is
then followed by the rule of ideas in which intellectuals with creative ideas start reshaping
the society.
This makes me wonder sometimes when I read statements like «we need to cement our
relationship», or «we are trying to build our relationship on a concrete ground». Both
cement and concrete tend to form gaps in varying sizes. Once this is allowed the concrete
shows ailing signs such as cracking. May be you have seen cracks in concrete that resemble
a honeycomb. It is not only bees that build honeycombs; low-quality concrete does so as

57
well.
Like we need to maintain the regularity of voids in concrete so that it retains its strength,
we need to do the same with our social relationships. If we inspect social networks we shall
find what we call structural gaps in which two nodes fail to connect. The presence of few
gaps or voids with varying sizes is bound to weaken the social network structures as voids
are detrimental to concrete if present in widely varying sizes.
Intentions don›t build enduring concrete relationships; in contrast they may produce an
adverse effect. I witness many gaps taking place on social platforms. I received a message
from a bee apologizing that he doesn›t share my buzzes because he doesn›t like to be
bombarded by notifications. The funny part of his message was that he requested me to
share his buzz. He doesn›t mind that I get bombarded by notifications to use his words.
One main reason for creating voids in our relationships is selfishness. This may only lead to
the creation of voids in our concrete-like relationships and thus weakening the concrete
to fall apart. Other factors include the freezing and thawing of our relationships. You may
have noticed that some bees may show tremendous zeal and engagement to what you
contribute only for this zeal to fade away. This cycling of freeze and thaw can cause the
cracking of concrete upon which we worked hard to keep in good shape.
Premature asking for favors is another cause for weakening any social platform. Fresh
concrete has pores which are filled with water. If we freeze a new relationship prematurely
the water in the pores freezes and may cause the concrete to crack. Sometimes the wrong
timing of freezing a relationship can be damaging to the concrete ground.
I dare say that what cracks concrete or cause it to flake is extensible to social networks.
What keeps social networks structures isn›t different from what keeps concrete in buildings
strong.
Be careful when you say that we have a concrete-like structure or relationship unless you
are aware of what it takes to keep concrete in good shape and strength.

58
Static Concepts in a Dynamic World
Our thoughts should help us surpass the static into dynamic action. We can discuss
concepts until we fully understand, but if it doesn›t lead to change in action then it is static.
This wisdom from a comment by @Harvey Lloyd that he wrote on m buzz «Avoid Building
Concrete Relationships» got me thinking.
A static concept lacks movement or development. In general, dynamic means energetic,
capable of action and/or change, or forceful, while static means stationary or fixed.
I discussed a similar issue on a presentation that I wrote on fixed vs. variable (or dynamic
since it isn›t fixed). In the presentation I gave examples of fixed prices vs. variable prices,
fixed opinions vs. dynamic opinions and fixed policies vs. dynamic policies.
Clicking on the image will take you to the presentation
Businesses realize that fixed costs are a real challenge to cope with. This is why these
businesses are striving to turn their fixed costs into a dynamic one by being variable.
It is the same with fixed opinions vs. variable opinions. Fixed opinions limit our mobility,
increase our rejections of different opinions and freeze us in our current position. Only late
we discover that fixed opinions are expensive. Human history is packed with examples

59
in which new theories were shot down simply because they differed from the prevailing
ones. When Staudinger came first with the concept of polymers, a famous scientist at the
time addressed Staudinger by saying if it wasn›t for his earlier important discoveries of war
chemicals he would have accused him of being crazy. Only few years later Staudinger won
the Noble Prize for his discoveries of polymers. This one example validates what Harvey
wroteinhisabove-mentionedcomment«Ireadposts/conceptsthatfocusonstaticconcepts
while we live in a dynamic world. Our thoughts should help us transcend the static into
dynamic action. We can discuss concepts until we fully understand, but if it doesn›t lead to
change in action then it is static».
Sara Jacobovici wrote a great post on «Call to Action: Part Two» in which she defined action
as follows:
Sensation(S) + Perception(P) = Meaning(Mn)
Meaning(Mn)to the power of Imagine(Im){Thinking(T) + Knowing(K)} + Choice(C) =
Decision(De)
Decision(De) x Doing(D) = Movement(M)
Movement(M){Movement’s duration(Mdu + Movement’s direction(Mdi)} = ACTION
By factoring in the ability to imagine into the equation that leads to action, we can then
perhaps see the bigger picture.
Thinking deeply of these equations I find that the reference to power of imagination is
timely. When we fail to imagine shall not be able to either decision making or doing- there
shall be no movement. If there is no movement then there shall be no action.
I am asking if a main root cause of us to move and stick to current positions is due to the
lack of imagination. Or, I would say negative imagination. It is imagination that only sees
the current and long-held opinions and concepts as valid for all times.
Can we have great leaders who lack imagination? I dare say no.

60
The Paradox of Imagination
I don›t recall her name, but mostly it was Charlie. She was a poor girl and her family had
to struggle to survive. She lived in a small state in the USA. As poor as she was she always
imagined herself touring the world. Her family owned almost nothing and her imagination
was almost impossible to realize.
One day her mother walked in her room and showed her an ad that was directed at school
kids from a cookies-producing company. The ad offered a trip around the world for the
school kid who comes first in selling Xmas cookies. The girl eyed her mother and with
confidence she responded «Mum- I won and I am going to tour the world».
Such determination lacked the means, but not the will to realize a dream and make it reality.
The girl decided to move to another state and nearby car manufacturers and other big
industries. Luckily for her, one of her close relative lived there so that Charlie would have
free accommodation and a car to take her around. Charlie kept asking herself «how would
eye get a minute to talk to the CEOs of big companies to convince them to buy cookies
from her in big amounts». She found that by timing her movements and having a powerful
and emotionally-moving statement she could do it. The plan was to monitor when CEOs
come to work, leave for lunch she would rush to them before getting in their cars or as soon
they got out of their cars.
She did and whenever she was lucky enough to reach the CEO she would tell him with a

61
passionate, but not begging, tone «Sir, Investment in my future so that one day I may invest
in yours». Every CEO was curious enough to know how a kid like Charlie would possibly
invest in his/her future. So, they asked her to explain. That gave her the chance to tell her
story and her dream to tour the world. This tour would make her ready for her planned
selling career. Once she become successful she promised to buy from the CEO Company.
She won the prize by a far margin. Charlie became one of the most successful salespersons
and fulfilled her promises to the CEOs.
Imagination may take us from our constraints by not focusing on them, but rather on new
possibilities. Charlie had on paper no chance to win. She lived in a state with low population
and not too many schools. She had no money, but she had the determination to turn her
daydream into a reality.
If you want to surmount your limiting factors imagine a big dream. Live the imagination.
Commit yourself to it. The imagination shall even help you come up with solutions that
wash away your lack of knowledge in some areas. It shall bring distant possibilities close to
you.
Businesses need to imagine the almost impossible. Individuals need to do the same. The
power of imagination shall supersede your limitations because imagination shall find
alternative and much simpler creative ways to achieve what we want.
Imagination brings us creative solutions that we haven›t imagined. This is the Paradox of
Imagination.

Imagination beyond imagination

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