AD.

So I came up with a fairly pleasing design mockup for my friend’s site, Critical Knots.

I like that the site focuses on the booklet so people know exactly what they’ll be getting. I really wonder what prompted my friend to develop the guide. He is so very talented. I wonder how long it took him to design it.

I’d been thinking a lot about the symbolism of the knot. There’s the thought about “tying the knot” meaning to get married. There’s also the thought of the knot as a kind of pretzel of interconnectedness.

In Buddhism the knot might represent dependent origination.

What I like is the idea of making the knot of Reality more simple. Rather than a kind of big messy thing with a lot of problems, let’s visualize a simple knot that represents harmony and solutions that are interwoven into the “knot” of Reality.

I also like the idea of cutting the Gordian knot—in my mind the Gordian knot being some kind of thing like Zeno’s paradox but the cutting of it not something that would refute “all being one.”  According to a Wikipedia writer, here’s what Aristotle said about Zeno’s paradox, and I find this a very astute way of putting it:

Aristotle also distinguished “things infinite in respect of divisibility” (such as a unit of space that can be mentally divided into ever smaller units while remaining spatially the same) from things (or distances) that are infinite in extension (“with respect to their extremities”).

~ Lady

4 Responses

  1. i like the thought that a knot is a single thread used to hold something fast. or together. some can be made super strong others can be made to slip or move… there are dozens one can learn… and they are meant as a means of survival for those people who know them and use them in there work.

    I wonder if they might be analogous to what we attempt to do with our minds in meditation? because knowing how to make a knot entails knowing how it works -it’s strengths and weaknesses- and how it is undone.

  2. The knot is magic and practical.
    It’s everything in one.
    It’s useful and efficient which is an analogy i have tried to understand.
    It’s natural but man made.
    It is obvious but complex.
    There are many ways they can be considered a type of meditation.

    When you learn a few knots, it’s a whole world of practical metaphors which file in through the doors. It is one of the most beautiful things i’ve ever learned, these few knots.

    My Critical Knots pamphlet took me four years to make. It partly took that long because i needed to find the one’s i thought i would include and i also had to teach myself and find what was already out there. It was a grand adventure leading down many good paths. Knots really are very fascinating little beasts and carry with them a kind of self proficient mindset which is good for the soul.

    You learn ’em one day, forget ’em the next. It takes time to drive them into your brain. They are strangely ethereal things which gives them their mystery. It was precisely this aspect of them, this ability to disappear from the recollection, which drove me to start drawing them down. Step by step. To get them to stay put in my mind. Then it was a no brainer to then xerox them and give ’em to my friends. Then of course, hand them out at Burning Man. By then it was obvious, this thing should be sold for some rent money.

    Most cultures around the world have come to these same knot conclusions thousands of years ago. Separated from each other completely, these disparate cultures come up with the same beautiful little technologies with the same purpose. After i finally compiled what i thought would be the chosen one’s for inclusion, i went to a Boy Scout retail store. I picked up their official manual, and behold, the same one’s i thought were essential, they did too. But mine are more charming and full of life and more accessible.

    Ancient technology meets underground comix? What could be better?!

    The manager at REI in Berkely, after seeing this thing, pissed his pants with glee saying it’s the best thing like this he’s ever seen and then said in a whisper: “If you get these in here you’d make a million!” Then in an even lower whisper, looking around so nobody could hear, he said “WALMART!”

    I swear to anything you call holy that when people who are practical in mind see this thing in their hands they light up like Christmas trees. It has by far been the most positive and agreeable project i’ve ever come up with. I am a proud papa of this charming thing and there are two more “Critical Concepts” in the making. Two more fold-outs of important Critical informations. One more is gonna be camping recipes designed by the best cook in the world who i know. Gourmet camping, easy-peasy.

    I made it because i couldn’t find it already out there. I would ask for something like this at outdoor shops but they would hand me a huge tome of a book instead. It’s a new mouse trap, and i own the copyright officially. Name and all. Bar codes too. Also the cute little creatures inside.

    BUT I NEED LAWYERS. And a bit of money to launch the thing proper.

    It’s the most darling thing in the world for folks who like this kind of information and i’m looking for an investor. I need money for lawyers and printing and book keepers until this thing starts to rake in millions. Five million in five years, that’s my goal. It’s my retirement.

    Anyone know of anyone wanting to make ten times their 50 thousand dollar investment? You give me 50k now. In five years you’re gonna have 500k. (I hope!)

    To make money you gotta……?

    I need to launch this thing proper. And that means lawyers and guns. I’m stepping into the big boy world and they play rough so i need some guns of both kinds.

    I also need to get this thing making money so i can finish Steven Smith’s comic book!!! I need to get this thing going to make my other art, in other words. I got’s plans!

    Here’s some of my stuff if you wanna see more of what i do. I kinda do a few different things:

    http://www.storyboardcomix.com

    Love and Knots, and comix, and rock and roll!
    Blue7

  3. Blue7,

    I understand what you mean about the knot project being an adventure. The work I do often leads me through interesting experiences. I figure it’s Reality commenting on what I’m doing or giving me thoughts to ponder.

    This first part of your comment is very much a poem. I think much of this comment good fodder for putting on the Critical Knots website in the “about” page.

    I look forward to seeing the recipes project and of course if you feel it meshes with your reality in an OK manner, the comic book.

  4. Chris,

    I really like the symbolism of the knot, too. Yes, I think it’s a good metaphor for what we work on in meditation. I wonder if learning Blue’s knots will somehow help me meditate? Perhaps I can work on learning the knots as a practice.

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