Untangled: Contemplation And Entanglement by Henry J. Sienkiewicz

Untangled: Contemplation And Entanglement

by Henry J. Sienkiewicz

I hope you enjoyed our week with Henry. I think we all need to slow down and "Untangle" our minds from the rush of life :)

In Closing:

Untangled is a book of theory and philosophy. However, one of the concerns that some readers have expresses it that there aren't a tremendous number of concrete examples used to guide thevreader. I wanted the ideas to rest on their own. I’ve been asked if this was this was a consciousvdescription. At one point, I write, "I also do not presume to offer a concrete series of steps.

Our journeys all differ." The fundamental concern is that while there are indeed a multitude of paths, journeys, and many "right" ones, many may want trail markers. The structure of Untangled was very much a concrete decision. The first two sections, which make up the first

half of the book, discuss the topic of entanglement and contemplate. I use the second half of the book to explore some trail markers, and insights. I didn’t want to put forward so many concrete steps that I mentally locked the reader into only thinking that there was one path to take. I fear that many writers offer what they consider definitive, universal steps that lead their readers to a pre-set destination. The world is so large, so beautiful, with so many destinations. We have free will, we need to exercise it.

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.
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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.

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