A monk told Joshu, "I have just entered this monastery. I beg you to teach me." Joshu asked, "Have you eaten your rice porridge?" The monk replied, "I have." "Then," said Joshu, "Go and wash your bowl."
At that moment the monk was enlightened.

I do not claim to have attained enlightenment, but as I thought about the elections yesterday, the old Zen story came to mind.

I spent yesterday slicing and dicing voting data to provide call sheets to volunteers for a State Rep candidate in Connecticut. When all was said and done, the candidate did not defeat the incumbent and ended up with the same percentage of votes as previous challengers had received.

In the evening, I read through the election results. State Reps whom I respect and call friends lost their bids for re-election.

This morning, I read an email from a list of group psychotherapists. They have been discussing “collective intelligence” which has been written about it bit recently in some of the scientific journals. One friend commented about obsessing about the election results and saying that it was clearly, in her opinion not a case of collective intelligence.

I noted that when politicians supporting ones views wins, it is collective intelligence. When the opponents win it is the electorate acting as an angry mob. A friend on Facebook shared a similar observation that David Brooks made from his particular perspective.

At noon, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz will hold a media briefing at the State Capital about the latest vote totals from Connecticut as well as an update on the Bridgeport Ballot Situation. Attorney-General Elect George Jepsen, Secretary of the State Elect Denise Merrill are holding a question and answer session at the Legislative Office Building half an hour later. They moved the time of their session back half an hour to avoid a conflict with Secretary of State Bysiewicz’s news conference.

Meanwhile, I am digging out of the emails that have piled up, doing a little laundry, and continuing my quest for enlightenment.