The name Blackbird Bell comes from a poem by David Whyte called “The Bell and the Blackbird”.
The sound of a bell
still reverberating,
or a blackbird calling
from the corner of a
field.
Asking you to wake
into this life
or inviting you deeper
into the one that waits.
Either way
takes courage,
either way wants you
to become that self
which is no self at all,
wants you to walk
to the place
where you find
you already know
how to give
every last thing away.
The approach
that is also the meeting itself,
without any
meeting at all.
You will walk
with that radiance
you have always
carried with you,
both alone
and completely
accompanied
in friendship
by every corner
of the world
crying
allelujah.
The poem is about the constant decision we make to live and enjoy the world as it is, or to invest and learn and grow in the world as it could be. It’s about the tension between the two, and the courage it takes to live in that tension.
I’ve found so much meaning in the poem, and it applies to both how I experience the environment (should I go out and enjoy the natural world in its beauty and splendor? Or should we sit in front of a screen and fight for that splendor for my future self and future generations? The answer to both is “Yes”).
It also applies to the work I do, which often takes the form of software tooling to get something done in the real world. We can use the tools we have at hand to get something done (I reach for Excel all the time), or we can craft a new tool that does the job better, more specialized, more efficient (I’m always in for building or buying something the makes the work so much easier and fulfilling). And the same fractally downward, for each new feature, each new line of code, each new function. We can use what we have, or we can build something new. The tradeoff, knowing whether to listen to the Bell or to the Blackbird in each moment, with each decision, based on the needs and constraints, is the work of a lifetime.
For more on David Whyte, see his website. For more on the poem, listen to David Whyte talk about it (and read it in his amazing voice). For more on the what Blackbird Bell does, see the About page in the navbar.