When working in an oil company (London, 1980s), one result of a recent management consultant’s report was that Hans and his fellow “Existentialists” had to be left alone to “do their thing” without too much busybodying and interference from managers.
“Don’t assume they’re not working because they stare at maps for long periods (and take off to the cinema in the middle of the day for a couple of hours). These are the small group of people who are finding oil for you.”
Hans’ background would have been in geology - described by their engineering colleagues as the “arm-wavers”
In geology indeed, but they would have gone into geology because they like the rocks and want to know more about them, not because they think humanity can know everything about them by doing geology.
I am put in mind of Bazhov’s Malachite Casket / Stone Flower series, a rather eerie cycle of collected folklore about dealings between a mountain-spirit and various serfs working for the mining outfits in the Ural Mountains. In which the audience is taught that it doesn’t matter what ingenuity you bring to mining if the Malachite Lady of Brass Mountain forms a poor opinion of you.
To me, the most surprising thing is that corporate oil is smart enough to realize that the Hans of the world have value. I've been at my corporate job for a while longer than I'd like to admit, and during my time there, I've seen the intangible knowledge the old timers have that is impossible to put on a spreadsheet or quantify. When they inevitably leave for greener pastures, everything gets shittier in ways that don't fix themselves when new people are brought in. The managerial class thinks they can just slot in another unit to sit in their seat, but eventually the whole system falters in ways they can't predict because that special intuitive magic that was greasing the wheels has completely evaporated.
The Hans story makes me think of my grandfather, who grew up in the hills of eastern Kentucky. He was reputed to be good at water-witching, using a forked hazel stick to pinpoint good locations for digging wells. When I was a kid he cut such a stick for me and showed me how to hold it, sent me off to wander around the property with it, and kept me out of trouble for a couple of days.
A few years ago the charter school I work at decided they needed to drill a second well on our country property. We are chartered through the county office of education. The elected conservative county superintendent (I live in the heart of California’s Trump leaning area) told the superintendent of my school to be sure to have some one dowse the location of the well. The dowsing happened and the chosen location resulted in a good well.
The water dowser /(“diviner”, in Europe - I like that name), was an mining geologist who has taken this up in retirement. It wasn’t simply intuition - he was using his lifetime of experience with the local rocks and their structures as well as the magic of the rod to, I suppose, get himself out of the way!
I know what this is. This is infracognition. I had to define this to be able to explain how this works for 2e. The Somatically gifted can feel their intuition but the savants or 2e can articulate their intuition. This is what the creative Intellectuals 2% are capable of. This is why they deny creative cultivation and oppress somatic intelligence in our education system and pathologize it in our medical system. You CANNOT condition an entire population unless they exist only in their cogntive intelligence.
Somatics are the future makers. 2e are the future seers. Cognitives will sadly be replaced by AI.
I would feel sad if they were not overwhelming the tech bros.
Peep Show reference read, noted, appreciated. My fav is Super Hans, goes against my inner Corrigan, but there it is! “The secret ingredient is crime” perhaps it’s also….”The secret ingredient is magic”…..🪄✨✨✨💯
Yeah, map dowsing. Dowsing is weird, in that it’s closely associated with tools that may or may not be necessary to do it. Or maybe, at a close range, the dowsing stick, rods, or pendulum are useful, but at map level, not so much.
When working in an oil company (London, 1980s), one result of a recent management consultant’s report was that Hans and his fellow “Existentialists” had to be left alone to “do their thing” without too much busybodying and interference from managers.
“Don’t assume they’re not working because they stare at maps for long periods (and take off to the cinema in the middle of the day for a couple of hours). These are the small group of people who are finding oil for you.”
Hans’ background would have been in geology - described by their engineering colleagues as the “arm-wavers”
In geology indeed, but they would have gone into geology because they like the rocks and want to know more about them, not because they think humanity can know everything about them by doing geology.
I am put in mind of Bazhov’s Malachite Casket / Stone Flower series, a rather eerie cycle of collected folklore about dealings between a mountain-spirit and various serfs working for the mining outfits in the Ural Mountains. In which the audience is taught that it doesn’t matter what ingenuity you bring to mining if the Malachite Lady of Brass Mountain forms a poor opinion of you.
Now, what was that line, Christ has no Hans on Earth but yours?
Dammit! That's a good one. *Edit Post*.
LOL
I thought Hanseatic League was good but this is better!
To me, the most surprising thing is that corporate oil is smart enough to realize that the Hans of the world have value. I've been at my corporate job for a while longer than I'd like to admit, and during my time there, I've seen the intangible knowledge the old timers have that is impossible to put on a spreadsheet or quantify. When they inevitably leave for greener pastures, everything gets shittier in ways that don't fix themselves when new people are brought in. The managerial class thinks they can just slot in another unit to sit in their seat, but eventually the whole system falters in ways they can't predict because that special intuitive magic that was greasing the wheels has completely evaporated.
Same in education.
Beautiful as usual! And I feel imperative to leave a comment because I randomly picked Hans as my online name
Thanks Gordon. I love tales like these and how they demonstrate magic’s real impact in doing a lot of unsexy things
The Hans story makes me think of my grandfather, who grew up in the hills of eastern Kentucky. He was reputed to be good at water-witching, using a forked hazel stick to pinpoint good locations for digging wells. When I was a kid he cut such a stick for me and showed me how to hold it, sent me off to wander around the property with it, and kept me out of trouble for a couple of days.
Thanks. I'm in the southeast of the US right now and you may never know how perfect the timing was for me to read this.
🙏
A few years ago the charter school I work at decided they needed to drill a second well on our country property. We are chartered through the county office of education. The elected conservative county superintendent (I live in the heart of California’s Trump leaning area) told the superintendent of my school to be sure to have some one dowse the location of the well. The dowsing happened and the chosen location resulted in a good well.
We had the same experience on our farm in BC.
The water dowser /(“diviner”, in Europe - I like that name), was an mining geologist who has taken this up in retirement. It wasn’t simply intuition - he was using his lifetime of experience with the local rocks and their structures as well as the magic of the rod to, I suppose, get himself out of the way!
I know what this is. This is infracognition. I had to define this to be able to explain how this works for 2e. The Somatically gifted can feel their intuition but the savants or 2e can articulate their intuition. This is what the creative Intellectuals 2% are capable of. This is why they deny creative cultivation and oppress somatic intelligence in our education system and pathologize it in our medical system. You CANNOT condition an entire population unless they exist only in their cogntive intelligence.
Somatics are the future makers. 2e are the future seers. Cognitives will sadly be replaced by AI.
I would feel sad if they were not overwhelming the tech bros.
Peep Show reference read, noted, appreciated. My fav is Super Hans, goes against my inner Corrigan, but there it is! “The secret ingredient is crime” perhaps it’s also….”The secret ingredient is magic”…..🪄✨✨✨💯
I see Super Hans, and I immediately think Peep Show, but then I am possibly still 14!!! Another great article.
Yeah, map dowsing. Dowsing is weird, in that it’s closely associated with tools that may or may not be necessary to do it. Or maybe, at a close range, the dowsing stick, rods, or pendulum are useful, but at map level, not so much.