Spyderco Forums

I haven't been on the boards very long so maybe this has been addressed. What is Sal's pendant? Is it just some cool thing he made or does it have some deeper meaning?

I believe that Sal and his wife Gail came up with the pendant and it is a symbolizes a state of mind. Gail has a website called http://happythoughts.com

There is more of the story there, I will let others fill in the gaps because I don't know the full story and don't want to butcher it.

cougar337 wrote:I believe that Sal and his wife Gail came up with the pendant and it is a symbolizes a state of mind. Gail has a website called http://happythoughts.com

There is more of the story there, I will let others fill in the gaps because I don't know the full story and don't want to butcher it.

Hm, interesting philosophy behind the totem pendant. I actually really like the idea.

I always wondered what it was so thanks for the info.
Now all they need to do is make these in materials that appeal to knifenuts.
Like bladesteels, S30V or H1! :eek:
And handle materials like G10 in multiple colors, carbon fiber and of course TITANIUM. :D

We discussed this in 2004 over here (zer0sig=me). Just a little more insight into the concept.

Hi Grover. The Avatar is a pic of the pendant that I've ben wearing 24/7 for about 12 years. It's made of walrus tusk (30,000 years old).

I call the pendant a "values totem". Each hole represents a value, the larger the hole, the greater the value.

The values that were originally conceived of when I developed the symbol were more unversal in nature, but a more personal example might be;

What are the 5 most important things (values) in your life and in what priority order?

The biggest hole might be "health". The geatest "value" in my personal values. If I don't keep myself healthy, then I probably won't be much good to myself or anyone else.

The 2nd most important thing in my life is my family.

The 3rd my home. the 4th my career and the 5th is friends and hobbies.

Every time I look in the mirror, I see the totem. It reminds me to remember what's important.

The holes are empty so anyone can place their own values.

The "universal values" that were used to develop the totem go back 40 years and is a much longer conversation.

sal

and

The totem was designed to make one do what humans seem highly capable of; to think. The emphasis is on one's own priorities, that's why I used "open spaces" (holes). Mine are my own, and I find each has his or her reasons for their own.

The origin was to find universal powers/forces/values based on what yielded to what. For more than 20 years, I placed "time" as the highest force/value. The logic was that all things yielded to time. Even thought occurs in sequence and sequence requires time. Without time, everything would happen at once. Einstein says we can bend time, but not eliminate it. Change requires time...so even change yields to time. (a start )

clarify it pretty well.

Wow that's deep. I'm surprised he puts health over family. But I'm sure he means good. I really like this.

c.joe wrote:Wow that's deep. I'm surprised he puts health over family. But I'm sure he means good. I really like this.

When you're healthy you can enjoy all of the other values in full.

c.joe wrote:Wow that's deep. I'm surprised he puts health over family. But I'm sure he means good. I really like this.

If his health fails, his family could fall apart. Then, even Spyderco could collapse. Things like this are not unheard of in life.

For myself, I put my business at the top. If that fails, my entire family could suffer. Work needs to be first or no family eats, or has a home. If you are not the main source of income, then you could place things in a different order.

Then, I would say health as that can cause problems with your job, then family and friends mixed together, as all my friends are my family, too. I do have a wonderful set of friends, all of them I have known for well over 30 years. My work income will take care of my house and whatever hobbies.

It all comes full circle when I roll out one of my sport bikes, and run it up to 149 MPH on my special CHP free test run road, and 15 minutes later, I put it away, and go back to my desk. Head cleared! I am working on 200, but that will have to be on a track. (Everyone should go 100 MPH on a motorcycle at least once.)

This is too much philosophy for one day.

This is just me, I never bothered to buy the text books for my liberal arts classes in college, so what do I know?

As a sidebar to all of this...living up to the promises you make is very important, when people fail in this area, things will never be right. I would just add this in with your job and doing it well, and to the best of your abilities.

Everyone will have a different outlook. There is no one way to put things in order across the board.

Very fun thread.

Are there any photos of this neckwear?

If you go over to Bladeforums.com, Sal uses it for his avatar picture.

I would like to have one made out of H1. :)

+1 LV

I think, actually, I might either try and carve one out of a piece of Pin Oak I have out in the car, or if I'm REALLY feeling ambitious, Dremelling it out of a piece of Apatite I have sitting around here somewhere... will post pics if I create something that doesn't suck :D

I like the spirit behind the pendants. The jade pendants on the website look cool. I'd probably prefer a metal one, however.

Thanks Cougar and defenstrate.

That pendant is pretty cool. I agree with Vader, it would be sweet if they made one out of H1.