Monday, June 10, 2013

Promo/Excerpt: Untangled:Contemplation And Entanglement by Henry Sienkiewicz







Untangled:
Contemplation And Entanglement

by
Henry J. Sienkiewicz

Henry
J. Sienkiewicz has served in multiple positions within the United
States Federal Senior Executive Service since 2008. His previous
commercial experience was as the founder and chief executive officer
for Open Travel Software, an award-winning software developer focused
on the global travel community, and in the chief information officer
role at three technology companies.  He or his companies have
been the recipient of multiple awards for innovations or achievement
in the technology industry.  He retired as a United States Army
Reserve lieutenant colonel in July 2008.

Henry
holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Notre Dame and a
master of science from Johns Hopkins University. He is also a
graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff
College.

In
2006, he completed and published his first book, 
Centerlined,
which dealt with interpersonal and organizational dynamics.

Henry
resides in Alexandria, Virginia.

Website Book
Site
 | Facebook | Twitter

Genre: 
Practical Philosophy/Self-help
Publisher: 
DogEar Publishing 


Release
Date: April 2013


In a  social
media-centric, Twitter-driven world we live, the complexity created
by the entanglements has caused an overload Called a
 Walden for
the Internet Age,
 Untangled draws
from the rich traditions of both Eastern and Western philosophy to
tease apart the hyper-connected web of the modern world and
challenges the reader to recognize and embrace contemplation as a way
cope. 


Through a highly
approachable framework and the imagery of a journey through
the heartland of Taiwan, Untangled provides the reader with the
background of entanglement and contemplation, and identifies and
discusses the three pillars of contemplation - silence, stillness and
solitude.  The book closes with a series of actions that allow
anyone to untangled through active contemplation in daily life. 


Excerpt:

UNTANGLED


A
Big Ball of Twine


We learn the rope of life by untying its knots.
—Jean Toomer
As we reached the first stopping point, we opened
our packs and found chaos. The ropes that we had neatly packed were
completely jumbled. The gear we had carefully stowed had been shifted
around; it was an unrecognizable mess.
The jostling and shifting from the simple movement
of the journey caused our coils of rope to transform from a neat roll
to an entangled mess. We thought that we had taken care to pack them;
the journey ensured that we had a mess to deal with.


Our mental backpacks are similar. Sometimes,
regardless of the care we have taken, our world becomes a completely
entangled mess in ways that we had not expected. Our journey ensures
that we have a mess to deal with.
Many writers have used the terms connected
and hyperconnected to describe our current state. I think that
the term entanglement is more reflective of the state of our
condition.
Connection implies that there has been an encounter
but does not imply that the relationship is persistent. As will be
discussed later, entanglement means two or more “things” have
formed some type of permanent bond. This permanent bond is why I
think that the term entanglement is more expressive of our actual
condition.
Entanglement has many layers and many textures. It
may be accidental or intentional. Entanglement may be in ways that
may or may not be are attractive. Entanglement may or may not have
relevancy to our lives. Entanglement may or may not have real
meaning.
Entanglement may be the vines that catch your feet.
Or it may be the limbs that brush your arms. Or it could be the rope
that safely holds you onto the mountain.
Contemplation lets us mentally sort through the mess
of entanglement that we all carry with us and allows us to repack
meaningfully.








4 comments:

  1. I think about it all the time. Some times remembering my dead daughter puts me in a sad mood of feeling she is silent and I am in solitude and stillness comes over me. I at times I fell all alone and yet I not I am not

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes. I've went through depression so I know how all of that feels. I try to not dwell on it too much.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes I think about it alot. I feel so different from everyone and I never truly feel like I belong.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have. I was a ministry major in college and I remember how they preached the values of silence and solitude.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by - please let me know what you think