Card #23 – Small World

This is a propitious time to pay great attention to detail. For some, particularly introverts, it easy to lose track of details while cognitive energy is being spent lavishly in inner worlds. Meanwhile, details of the mundane physical world are neglected or missed until they bite us in sensitive areas. At other times the inner world is dominated by what some call psychic entropy, looping negative thought tapes, volatile emotions and obsessions, and this causes dangerous neglect of the details of the outer world. It can be a grounding practice of mindfulness to sometimes give your focus to attention to detail, and often this is a practical necessity. Transitional times — when, for example, you are about to leave your house and an inner dialogue about such and such is in the foreground of your mind — put that inner dialogue on hold for a few moments and check the details — did I turn the stove off? Did I bring my wallet, and everything I need for the next destination? Also, when psychic entropy is attempting to dominate you, the small world can be a way to resist the dark undertow. There is a very useful principle:If in doubt, focus out. Pick a task that is somewhat mechanical, that you have already mastered, but that requires attention to detail — a small home repair for example, and give yourself to doing that task with complete focus and efficiency.

If you got this card in connection to a relationship, opportunity, issue, check the details. Perhaps negotiation of the difficulties requires a moment-to-moment attention to the minutiae of what’s happening. Conversely, there are some people whose natural focus is always on the details and mundane minutiae and not enough on what really matters in life. Those people need to stop, take a deep breath, and ask themselves: Will I remember this well on my deathbed? For that sort of person, focus on urgent but unimportant minutiae (a ringing phone, etc.) needs to give way to spending more time on that which is important but not urgent.