The Law of Pursuit

Awake to what she does not yet know — a mind that leans toward the thing.

1. 01Eager to know or learn something
2. 02Interested enough to go and look
3. 03Inquisitive; given to asking
4. 04Attentive to detail others walk past
5. 05Marked by careful inquiry
6. 06Strange enough to be worth examining
7. 07Prying gently at the seam of a thing
8. 08Wanting the reason, not only the result
9. 09Studious by instinct rather than by assignment
10. 10Unwilling to leave a question unopened

To go into a thing to learn it — travel with a question in hand.

1. 01To travel through in order to learn
2. 02To examine or investigate systematically
3. 03To search a place or a subject thoroughly
4. 04To look into the possibilities of a thing
5. 05To probe, as a physician probes a wound
6. 06To try a direction before committing to it
7. 07To map what was unknown
8. 08To range widely in search of what is there
9. 09To test a subject by entering it
10. 10To open ground for later work

One working thing — a process with parts, running, that she can put her hands on.

1. 01The act or process of working or functioning
2. 02A working method carried out step by step
3. 03A business or enterprise in action
4. 04A single organized undertaking
5. 05The state of being in effect and running
6. 06A planned course of activity toward an end
7. 07A procedure performed with skill
8. 08The way a system actually behaves in use
9. 09A place where work is being done
10. 10The machinery of a thing, considered as working

Quick with what she has learned — able to make the thing work.

1. 01Quick to understand and to apply
2. 02Skillful, dexterous, deft with the hands
3. 03Ingenious — finding a way where none was given
4. 04Mentally nimble; fast at connection
5. 05Inventive in solving a practical problem
6. 06Apt at learning by doing
7. 07Shrewd in arrangement and design
8. 08Adroit — neat in execution
9. 09Bright, keen, sharp of mind
10. 10Resourceful with limited material

To run the thing on purpose to see what it does — exploring with a hypothesis.

1. 01To perform a test in order to discover something
2. 02To try a new method and observe the result
3. 03To subject a thing to trial under set conditions
4. 04To vary one element and watch what changes
5. 05To learn by doing rather than by reading
6. 06To prove or disprove a supposition
7. 07To attempt something for the sake of finding out
8. 08To handle materials to learn their nature
9. 09To repeat a trial until the result is trustworthy
10. 10To risk a small failure to buy real knowledge

The one who works the thing — and who both gives and receives the working of it.

1. 01One who operates a machine, system or business
2. 02A person who runs an enterprise in fact, not in title
3. 03One skilled in making a process perform
4. 04The hand on the controls
5. 05A manager of working parts
6. 06One who knows a system well enough to correct it
7. 07A person who gets things done through method
8. 08A worker of the trade, not a watcher of it
9. 09One entrusted with the running of a thing
10. 10An agent who acts, causing an effect

Cleverness aged into knowing — careful, shrewd, quietly certain of how a thing behaves.

1. 01Shrewd and knowing in practical matters
2. 02Careful and prudent, especially with money
3. 03Wise from experience rather than theory
4. 04Astute — seeing the real motive
5. 05Cautious without being timid
6. 06Skilled in judgment, not merely in method
7. 07Quietly capable; knowing where the edges are
8. 08Sharp enough not to need to prove it
9. 09Thrifty and sound in dealing
10. 10Knowing — from the old word for 'to know'

To make a thing plain to another — the proof of pursuit, and the beginning of learning again.

1. 01To make plain or intelligible
2. 02To give the reason or cause of a thing
3. 03To set out in detail so another can follow
4. 04To interpret what was obscure
5. 05To account for a result
6. 06To teach by unfolding, step by step
7. 07To justify or give ground for a decision
8. 08To smooth out — literally, to lay flat
9. 09To describe a process so it can be repeated
10. 10To answer 'why' and not only 'how'

Not one process but many — the whole working body of a house, running whether she is watching or not.

1. 01The whole of the working activity of an enterprise
2. 02All the processes by which a house functions
3. 03The department that keeps the thing running daily
4. 04Coordinated undertakings carried out toward an aim
5. 05Movements of many parts under one plan
6. 06The practical machinery of governing
7. 07Repeatable systems, documented and taught
8. 08Activities in force and in effect
9. 09The working of a body considered as a whole
10. 10What continues when the founder steps out of the room