This thought by Antonio Dias jumped out at me from Dwight Towers’ post about mastery and control.
Control is tied to the idea that we can limit energy expenditures and funnel them down paths of our own choosing. We call this greediness “efficiency.” Life processes require the broadest form of energy dissipation into the finest possible “mist” of flow instead of the fire-hose we tend to hold as the ideal. A mist feeds a fire-hose erodes and destroys.
I don’t think this is some absolute truth, but I find it exciting to see some provocative pushback against efficiency. I’m fond of saying that the effort to make meetings efficient makes them inefficient – generally because it’s really an effort to control and, in effect, censor dissent. The thought of a mist suggests the need for finer attention and participation, rather than just doing things to others.