I first learned about cosmology episodes when I was taking Organizational Theory the fall semester of my senior class. The class happened to coincide with my being prescribed a heavy dose of amphetamines for my attention deficit disorder. The already-interesting material was especially fascinating when enhanced by speed, and throughout the semester I took notes furiously. Karl Weick’s “cosmology episode” came about in late November, when I was simultaneously finishing my thesis on gold mining while subconsciously realizing that my drinking days were coming to a close.
Born in Indiana, Weick is an organizational theorist and author. For class, we read his 1993 article for the Administrative Science Quarterly “The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster” in which he looks into the tragic deaths of thirteen smokejumpers in a 1949 Montana fire. On page six of the article, a link to which I’ve included at the bottom of this post, he introduces the term “cosmology episode”:
"A cosmology episode occurs when people suddenly and deeply feel that the universe is no longer a rational, orderly system. What makes such an episode so shattering is that both the sense of what is occurring and the means to rebuild that sense collapse together…Stated more informally, a cosmology episode feels like vu jàdé—the opposite of déjà vu: I’ve never been here before, I have no idea where I am, and I have no idea who can help me.”
Finding myself at the helm of my very own blog is, for me, a less fatal cosmology episode in its own right. I’ve been told over and over again that, as a writer, blogging is something I must do. I’ve been told to think of it as a portfolio of sorts—a place where potential employers can view my work and, in turn, give me money to do what I love. Even so, I’ve always been against blogs, feeling that they can add to the constantly expanding sea of dilution that is the internet. I’ve even gone as far as to say that they have aided in the demolition of the craft of writing, and the respect for the jobs: with blogs, everyone’s a writer, cheapening the talent.
That said, I’ve been blogging for just a few hours and I already find myself warming to it, discovering I like having my cheek pressed up against the glass of the blogosphere, feeling its pulse. Further, who am I to say what’s worthy, what’s “real”? Before I get lost in the type of endless pontification I hate (and feel this type of forum can lend itself to), I will get on to exactly what cosmology episodes have to do with exformation.
In short, I didn’t feel “cosmology episode” had a ring to it, as far as blog names go, so I began to google the term, looking for something more catchy yet still related, and I came across the definition of “exformation”. Created by Danish author Tor Nørretranders in his book The User Illusion, exformation is essentially the matter that disappears during a cosmology episode or, in his words: “exformation is everything we do not actually say but have in our heads when or before we say anything at all. Information is the measurable, demonstrable utterance we actually come out with”. Exformation Station immediately brought to mind Schoolhouse Rock’s song “Conjuction Junction” and I was instantly sold as I hope you—potential employers, readers, relatives—are.
Read Weick's article here
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