Sidewalk Oracles: Week 7

Notes on Week 7 of Sidewalk Oracles by Robert Moss, Winter 2024

“Before you walk into a room or turn a corner, your attitude is there already. It is engaged in creating the situation you are about to encounter. Whether you are remotely conscious of this or not, you are constantly setting yourself up for what the world is going to give you.” Robert Moss, Sidewalk Oracles

A Willingness to Walk the Path

Each week, I will post some general discussion, reflection, and thoughts on the chapter or “games" from the week. You are invited to share your experience with this book in the comments section.

---

Basic Information

📌 We are reading Sidewalk Oracles: Playing with Signs, Symbols, and Synchronicity in Everyday Life by Robert Moss.

📅 The reading timeline outlines a slow reading (with weekly discussion posts) for anyone who wants to read along.

📌 Weekly reading notes and discussion (the timeline links to the weekly posts)

🍥 I encourage you to go into this reading with an open mind and a willingness to consider what is being described/discussed.

🧵 I use the comment area for discussions rather than a chat thread. Neither would be private because this read-along is free to everyone. You are invited to comment on comments and interact with those reading together.

---

From Within the Fog, Week 7

In week 7 of our Sidewalk Oracles read-along, we read about Games 7-9 in Chapter 4.

Week 7 felt a bit like a black box for me in terms of gathering symbols. Like some of you, reading this book makes me wonder if most of the time I am just too caught up in my head when I get in the car or go for a walk or enter a store. At the same time, part of me thinks that, rather than simply a factor of me not paying attention, we should not expect signs and symbols around every corner.

If it was always Christmas (or your birthday or Saturday or whatever day or event you enjoy), we would lose sight of it as special. The magic would wear off.

Several of us have expressed this fear, this niggling concern that if we overthink what we see, symbols may no longer be moored in ways that make them seem special and, possibly, instructional.

[This post is from a 2024 read-along. The remainder of the post has now been placed behind the paywall.]