May 11, 2003 - Mothers Day
La Paz, Mexico
~1600 miles

Sunday... mother's day called mom on the sat phone...

Thoughts on Competition:
Competition is a concept that only exists in a time-dependent, place dependent
universe... no?
 
Competition is competition for a marketplace, but its time and place
sensitive... i don't mind that Ford owned the market for cars in the 30s, because
i am competing for the market now-- but those guys over at toyota... i have my eye
on them. if i don't capture a larger market share of the SUV class this year,
my margins may start to erode to the point where i can no longer be competitive.
.

Competition is competition for a race... first *place* at a certain time...

do fifth dimensional creatures... creatures that can perceive the fifth
dimension (though perhaps only as helpless travelers) and have complete
mobility in the fourth... do they have competition? is there another type
of control then for position in the fifth dimension?

is competition universal to all things that are equal in dimension?

fifth dimensional creatures might be benevolent... because they
can sidestep around us if they like... and because we possess nothing of
value to them. or maybe not. trees and most plants are in a sense lesser
dimensional beings... they have control over neither place nor time... they
simply fight to be where they are and when they are... and we cut them down
... to exinction if we do not self-regulate. perhaps we would be of
similar use to 5th dimensional beings... simply harvested in rows of time
by a giant time-traveling combine.

what *is* the fifth dimension? are all in agreement as to its characteristics?
can we at least get a taste of it somehow... a quick whiff... like pulling
the gas cap on that old abandoned buick behind the crazy man's garage
next door? (ask sir martin reis...)

we think of restraint from competition as gracious, civilized, noble,
enlightened, chivalric... nafta. bhuddists teach the placement of self below
others-- though not quite of course. if that were completely the case then
the tibetans, that remarkable group of humans, would have meekly stepped aside
for the chinese in 1959 and held the door open for them.... so what then?
perhaps that is the nuance of all bhuddist teachings... the how and when of
giving unto others and turning the other cheek. (you'd think i would know this).

i think of my good friend chris purnell.... one of the most competitive
people i ever met... god i miss him. doing flips off the end of the lake
mendota pier on our hopped-up schwinns and then diving and recovering them
off the lake bottom -- that is one of my most cherished memories... that
fucker could almost do a full flip. competition for style... hmmm...

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