Why Iterance

The word comes from the Latin iterare: to do again. Its root, iterum, means, simply: “again.” The first known use in English belongs to Shakespeare, in the final act of Othello, sometime around 1603.

Repetition. Recurrence. Reiteration. The act of going over the same ground, again. It is the act of returning to something, deliberately, because it is not yet finished. In life, few elements are ever really, truly complete.

Rehearsal can be mindless. Iterance implies direction. Each pass is informed by the last. The painter returns to the same canvas not because the colors are wrong, but because something in the composition hasn’t revealed itself quite yet. The pilot brings a vessel through the same channel a thousand times, reading the draft and the current and the wind differently with every transit, because the water is never the same twice. The pitcher throws from the same mound, to the same distance, and yet every delivery is a negotiation of mechanics, placement, and the count. There is always ground to cover and it is rarely our talent that allows us to arrive at the finish. Rather, it is our willingness to go, and go again.

This is a collection of words about the things that ultimately compound across a spectrum of topics, but mostly the intersection of society, business, and technology. Iterance is the name because the concept is the point. Again, but aware. Again, but better. Again, but closer. There is no final version. There is only the next one.