2002
Combining Clues to 'Ascent' and 'Escape'
- / -
Annex 5 of Navigating
Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms
through movement (2002)
Introduction
Metaphoric Entrapment (Annex
1)
Clues to Movement
and Attitude Control (Annex
2)
Combining Clues
to Movement and Attitude Control (Annex
3)
Clues to 'Ascent'
and 'Escape' (Annex
4)
Combining Clues
to 'Ascent' and 'Escape' (Annex
5)
** Tuning and
playing category arrays: methodological challenges
** Patterns of
aesthetic associations
Conclusion
References
Clues to 'ascent' from a disparate variety of sources are very tentatively
(even crudely) juxtaposed in the following table -- excluding at this stage,
for reasons of space, those deriving from spiritual traditions (although they
appear to follow a similar pattern). The intention is to show how, in a number
of well-known domains, there is a possible progression in the manner in which
the relationship of self to other may be understood. This may be described as
an 'ascent', or as a progression in subtlety (namely an 'escape'
from simplistic understandings), or as some form of transcendence of duality.
But in this sense, where or what is 'up'? The 'up' in such
a case may perhaps be understood as a form of attenuation of the subjective
dissociation from objective reality -- a progressive blurring and reframing
of subject-objection relations such that the reality experienced may well be
enacted.
This reflects the perspective articulated by Francisco Varela (Laying Down
a Path in Walking: essays on enactive cognition, 1997). It is also
consistent with that of Stéphane Lupasco (Le Principe d'antagonisme et la
logique de l'énergie, 1987, Chapitre IV):
Les Propriétés spatio-temporelles de la Logique Dynamique du Contradictoire:
'un élément, un événement, un phénomène, précisément de par sa structure
logique . . . ne se déroule pas dans le temps, mais déroule un temps.'
(p. 101) and 'Ainsi les phénomènes, quels qu'ils soient, ne se déroulent
pas dans l'espace, mais déroulent un espace. . . . L'espace, comme le temps,
sont des fonctions des éléments, plutôt des ensembles, des systèmes d'éléments.'
(p. 110)
The 'ascent' is unlike the launching of a spacecraft into orbit,
and more a launching of the vehicle of awareness into some form of inner space
through modification of its relationship to the surrounding reality (perhaps
akin to fictional speculations about the 'movement' of spacecraft
in the distant future -- a form of displacement 'in place'). Indeed
some have warned of the metaphoric trap associating 'ascent' or 'up'
with 'better' (George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We live
By. 1980 [review]).
The nature of the 'ascent' is described in the sequence of rows,
starting with the first. This reflects to some degree the sequence of rows (similarly
colour coded) in Table 2.
Table 6: Juxtaposition of stages of refinement from different domains with
respect to understanding relationships
|
|
Relationship to other |
Martial
arts
(aikido, karatedo) |
Love
(tantric) |
Dialogue
(politics, education) |
Marketing
(selling) |
Song
Dance
Poetry |
Judge-
ment
(justice) |
Conflict
(Harmony) |
| A |
1 |
Conquest, domination,
imposition, indifference |
Principle of inversion:
whatever has a beginning has an end; antagonism in time
Courtesy at all times |
Instinctual, appetite, hunger, thirst, no discretion;
sexual love, pleasure (Mikareu)
|
Isolation, in which
no alternative perspective is encountered |
Imposition
of goods and services irrespective of views of consumer |
Monotone (enunciation
of single pattern of values, drowning out or ignoring all others) |
Physical judgement:
mechanical, simple, blind. physical reaction to heat and cold etc |
War is all-out,
sustained fighting between organized armed forces. |
| 2 |
Requiring:
recognition, respect, submission |
Principle
of front and back: whatever has a front (omote) has a back (ura);
antagonism in matter
Unfaltering devotion to the task at hand. |
Physiological,erotic, seeking comfort or sensual pleasure;
sensory love or sensuality, which seeks satisfaction and pleasure (Koi,
Suki).
|
Hostility,
in which other perspectives are demonized |
Forced
sale (hard sell marketing) |
Competing
monotones (recognition of discordant patterns of values) |
Sensorial
judgement: distinguishes opposites all the degrees between two extremes:
colors, shapes, temperatures, agreeable and disagreeable tastes sympathy
or hostility |
Crisis
is a level of conflict with tense confrontation (threats and skirmishes)
between mobilized armed forces. |
| 3 |
Competition,
stimulation, excitement, mutual respect |
Principle
of non duplication: there is nothing identical in this world; no two thiings
are dentical.
Seizing the initiative in all things, whilst guarding against animosity
or thoughtlessness. |
Emotionally universal, psychological sentimental love,
romantic affection (Ai)
|
Competition,
in which the differences from other perspectives are stressed in order to
establish their inferiority |
Competitive
marketing in response to niche opportunities cultivating comparative advantage,
locked-in consumers and marginalizing competitors |
Responding
tones (contrasting volumes responding to each other in some measure) |
Affective
judgement: what attracts us effectively and what frightens us or may harm
us; what is desirable or undesirable |
Structural
violence when one is much stronger than another encouraging its repression
thru injustice rather than physical violence |
| B |
4 |
Sustainable pattern
of relationship of different modes |
Principle of balance:
the bigger the front, the bigger the back.
Detachment from reward |
Intellectual love, the minds attraction to study of the
arts and sciences. Understanding, systematic, calculating, scientific expert,
knowledge and research. (Konomi)
|
Partnership, in
which differences are perceived as secondary to similarities, stressing
underlying unity |
Recognition
of the marketing advantage of cultivating a long-term relationship with
consumers |
Runs of tones...simple
melodies (highlighting of sequences of values in resonance one with another)
|
Intellectual or
conceptual judgement: leads to knowledge, abstraction, and synthesis of concepts;
develops conception of the two antagonistic categories: good and evil, just
and unjust. |
Unstable peace or
"cold war" involving palpable tension and suspicion among parties, possibly
with sporadic overt violence. A "negative peace" prevails: little physical
violence but no friendship. Relationship not valued enough to avoid coercion.
Tensions rise and fall |
| 5 |
Persuasion,
orientation of other |
Principle
of dual origin: change (differentiation and motion) as well as stability (a
momentary state of equilibrium between two fundamental; universal, dialectic,opposing,
and interchanging forces as they exchange their energy and direction) are
products ot yin and yang.
Maintaining correct posture |
Social or humanitarian love; philanthropy (Tanoshimi)
|
Dialogue
as a means of conversion (of the other, necessarily perceived as in need
of converting), in which each essentially competes with the other |
Marketing
through education of consumers; upscaling consumers |
Isolated
chords (harmonious value complexes and combinations) |
Social
judgment: beyond oneself from ego to family, friends, school |
Stable
peace or "cold peace" is a relationship of limited communication and cooperation
within a context of basic order, mutual respect and general absence of violence.
Value or goal differences remain; any competition follows accepted rules;
disputes generally worked out in non-violent, more or less predictable ways. |
| 6 |
Mutual
learning, discovery, receptivity to feedback |
Principle
of polarization: the two conflicting forces of yin and yang
are the right and left hands of the one absolute infinity
Persistence in practice |
Spiritual love, devotion to the great religions and philosophies;
ideological love (Tattobi, Uyamai)
|
Dialogue
as a negotiation, in which the aim is agreement, and the search for "common
ground" (which may be reduced to a lowest common denominator, labelled as
syncretism) |
Attentive
response to consumer needs in product innovation and development |
Sequences
of chords (sequences of value complexes, providing a context for those of
a more discordant nature) |
Ideological
judgement: dualism, materialism and spiritualism, life's affirmation or negation,
etc |
Durable
peace, "lasting," "positive" or "just peace" involving both a high level
of cooperation with awareness and pursuit of conflicting interests; overall
relationship valued more than specific self-interests. |
| C |
7 |
Learning through
losing to (or being led by) other |
Principle of polarizable
monism: the universe, the world of oneness, is unchanging, limitless, constant,
and omnipotent. It is infinity itself and produces, transforms, increases,
destroys, and gives rebirth to all people and things both physical and spiritual.
Contemplation of action as an opportunity for improvement. |
Absolute all embracing love (Itukushimi,Kanashimi)
|
Dialogue as the
search for mutual understanding, without necessarily seeking agreement |
Willingness
to engage in marketing experiments with a risk of significant loss in order
to benefit consumers or sustain a healthy market |
|
Constitution &
conception of the universe and life, where we are able to embrace all opposites
in order to establish the grand universal unification. |
Harmonious relationship
between communities and nations in which there are virtually no conflicts
of interests or values. |
| 8 |
Recognizing
inherent validity of other |
Transformation
of selfish desires |
|
Dialogue
as integration, through which perspective is obtained on the weak points
of one's own views and the strengths of the other's, with mutually beneficial
acquisition of facilities of the other |
Recognition
of the comparative merits of competing products and ability to present real
choices to consumers |
|
|
|
| 9 |
Unboundedness,
union with other |
Begin
with a point and end in a circle. |
|
Dialogue
as activity, in which those involved together discover forms of understanding
which none had known before, namely a movement "beyond dialogue" in which
there is mutual transformation. |
Development
of partnership relationship with consumers |
|
|
|
| D |
10 |
Illusion of self-other |
Essential insight
through experience, whatever its demands. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 11 |
Proactive
enacting, sacificing to engender |
Abundance
of rewards of a confident and grateful heart |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 12 |
? |
Willingness
to push oneself to the limits of endurance, to persevere under any kind
of pressure. (osu) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[more;
more] |
[more;
more] |
[more] |
|
|
[more] |
[more] |
As an example, in the case of conflict (in the above Table), the commentary
in the source on the gradations indicates some of the reservations regarding
such distinctions.
The gradations from all-out war to harmony provide a kind of barometer of
peace and conflict. In actual situations, these different conditions are not
sharply demarcated but are matters of degree which shade gradually from one
to another. Situations may exhibit several levels of conflict. Yet distinguishing
these gradations has several practical implications for policy-makers and
practitioners. The gradations suggest that conflicts and peace rarely, if
ever, arise suddenly, shift quickly from one status to another, or end suddenly.
Relations do not move from total peace to total war without going through
intermediate states -- even the "Cold War" evolved through periods of direct
confrontation, détente, and renewed hostility. [more]
The sequence of stages (in the above Table) in the case of the martial arts
is valuable because of its widespread recognition in principle (through judo
belt colours and rankings) by many who would not acknowledge the subtleties
of such distinctions in other domains (in parallel columns of the Table 6).
It is amusing to compare the juxtaposition of martial art distinctions about
understandings of 'the other' with stages in the appreciation of 'the
other' in love -- whether in the light of tantric philosophy, the stages
of 'ninja love' popularized by Eric Van Lustbader, or otherwise (eg
the 'marital arts'). As in all the examples, the distinction may be
appreciated and recognized in one domain but considered meaningless in another.
A practitioner of the martial arts may have no sensitivity to analogous distinctions
in the case of dialogue. Similarly many might be sensitive to higher skills
in marketing, salesmanship and conmanship without considering how subtler relationship
to a potential client may offer strategic lessons in other domains [more].
Accepting that Mahatma Gandhi could usefully be described as a nonviolence
'10th Dan Black Belt', the question remains how the attitudes characterizing
such behaviour are to be meaningfully distinguished from those of any lesser
mastery of nonviolence. Given much improved version of such a framework, how
might it become useful to distinguish the capacities of those who can really
'handle themselves' in very tough relationship situations? Superficially
there is recognition of the skills of those described as: a 'cool customer',
resounding unreactively to insults; skilled in repartee or in debate (as exemplified
by some lawyers capable of rapidly changing tack between emotional and rational
appeals); as well as the many dramatizations of the ability of a hero(ine) to
handle themselves extraordinarily well in impossible situations. One might usefully
speculate on the extent to which these reflect, or are exceeded by, the attitudinal
skills of the Shao Lin monks underlying their recently publicized dynamic encounters
with each other [more; more],
or of those whose understanding of polarities is disciplined through skill in
quarterstaff combat [more].
It is worth noting in, relation to metaphoric descriptions of these skills,
whether as attitudes or in physical movement, that they make extensive use of
references to the movements of animals of the type described earlier.
A commentary with regard to the stages of environmental education makes the
important point that any such framework of 'stages' (notably criticized
by feminist scholars) distracts from the degree to which each stage is complementary
rather than superseded:
The evolution of environmental education has required closer and renewed
investigation into learning processes. It has become customary to define the
components of learning relevant to environmental sustainability. These are
sometimes described, misleadingly, as 'stages'. Even though they may seem
to follow a natural sequence and be discrete in themselves, people's encounter
with issues of sustainability can begin and develop from any of these components.
They should be seen as cyclical and interactive, with periods focused on reflection,
research, development and action. (Comments, which apply equally to formal
and informal education, adapted from the international edition of Teaching
for a Sustainable World, edited by John Fien, 1996 (Introduction xxvi-xxvii).
[more;
more]
The variety of relationships of an individual to the environment also acquires
a meaningful policy dimension in the following table, whether through personal
behaviours (Part I) or collective policy (Part II). Table 7 results from the
combination of two separate tables developed by Nadia McLaren (In
the Global Village: options for moving beyond Binge, Whinge, Cringe or Stinge
in local green accounting) in the light of initial work by Peter Harper
(Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales). The row-column organization of
the original tables has been transposed here to correspond to the A-D row organization
of the colour coded tables above.
Table 7: Stages in relationship of individuals to the environment
|
|
Part
I: Evolution of personal behaviours
|
Part
II: Evolution of policy types and their corresponding indicators
|
|
|
'Cringe'
|
'Binge'
|
'Whinge'
|
'Stinge'
|
'Singe'
|
'Tinge'
|
'Fringe'
|
'Hinge'
|
|
|
Harm avoidance
Behavioural inhibition |
Reward dependence
behavioural maintenance |
Novelty-seeking
Behavioural activation |
Persistence
Continuity, consistency |
Harm avoidance
Behavioural inhibition |
Reward dependence
Behavioural maintenance |
Novelty-seeking
Behavioural activation |
Persistence
Continuity and consistency |
| A |
Self-directedness
Individualism
Unenlightened
Short-term
Narrow view |
Denial
Abstinence
Stick to rules
Depression
Projection of problems onto others
Avoid strangers |
Seek material reward
Selfishness / greed
Conspicuous consumption
Indulgence |
Self-serving complaints
Blame others
Impulsive, and often overwhelmed by events |
Scrooge
Minimalism
"Do just enough to get by" |
Blanket restriction
"No exceptions"
Scorched earth
' The pain is worth it' |
Mutual reinforcement
Disinformation |
Fanaticism
Zealotry
Anti-establishment |
Hidebound Status
quo
"Business as usual" |
| B |
Cooperation I
My family / Our mob
Reluctant reformism
Tokenism |
Avoidance
Reduction
Respect for authority
Stress
Procrastination |
End justifies means
Personal improvement
Personal gratification
"Keeping up with Jones" |
Protest
NIMBY
Experimental
"No pain, no gain" |
Prudence
Routine
Accept others weaknesses |
"Tough love"
"This hurts me more than it hurts you" |
Spin
Cosmetic
Growth is good for us |
Unrealistic
Eccentric
"Blue sky" |
Historically determined
Precedent
Incrementalism |
| C |
Cooperation II
Selective philanthropy
Enlightened conservatism Pre-sustainability |
Protection
Reflection
Apology |
"Do unto others..."
Dematerialization,
Reuse, Recycling
Repair |
Activism
"Put money where mouth is" |
Austerity
Stay within means
Accept own weaknesses |
Facing up to the
truth
Sharing the load
"We'll tighten our belts together" |
Vision
Image building |
Imaginative
Exploring alternate models
Favour variety |
Test all possibilities
Proven link
Experimentally tested |
| D |
Self- transcendence
Global community
Sustainability
Long-term
Broader view |
"Bite the bullet"
Implement tough decisions
Mending damage
Act according to conscience |
Personal fulfilment
Spiritual nourishment
Affirmation
Celebration |
Initiation
Instigation
Open to change
Test the limits
Multitasking
|
Discipline |
Remediation
Sharing responsibility
Precautionary principle Internalisation of environmental costs |
Vision embodiment
Collective fulfilment
Shared celebration
Intragenerational equity |
Creativity
Risk taking
In touch with minority views |
Reconciling existing
with emergent
Carrying the load
Intergenerational equity |
Tuning and playing category arrays: methodological challenges
Bringing together quite disparate conceptual materials from different cultures
or sectors poses a major challenge. Although the category sets may purport to
relate to similar preoccupations, juxtaposing them may serve primarily to emphasize
their differences or the perils of associating them too closely. Whatever the
failings of the author, it is however useful to consider that the future will
see some of these discrepancies as a reflection of failure of discernment in
this historical period of cultural development. It may therefore be more helpful
to understand the different tables above (as presumptuously constructed or adapted
by the author) as somewhat akin to variously fretted and strung musical instruments,
poorly designed and very badly tuned.
That said, one is then free to consider, metaphorically, issues such as:
- whether a given instrument can be appropriately tuned to distinguish 4,
7, 9, 10 or 12 conceptual 'notes'
- the consequence of having 'strings' on the same instrument tuned
in terms of different numbers of 'notes'
- how and when a 'player' might switch between variously strung
and fretted conceptual instruments ('models')
- the fundamental distinction between any description of the 'strings'
(and 'notes') and the ability to 'play' an instrument
meaningfully in resonance with the semantic space of others
- the existence of some form of 'octave' organization in which
a pattern of conceptual organization is repeated at a higher octave, leading
to the tuning confusion when octaves of different levels are erroneously juxtaposed
(because one octave is more natural or preferable to a particular group or
culture)
- juxtaposition of strings of concepts that are focused on a temporal developmental
sequence with others emphasizing atemporal complementarity
- the implication of having strings of concepts that effectively exclude certain
ranges of notes, or else expand other ranges in ways that reduce the legitimacy
of any juxtaposition
- the possibility that some strings should be 'stretched' to match
the range of notes exemplified in juxtaposed strings
- the challenges of recognizing that some strings are more superficially descriptive,
whereas others derive their primary meaning from the experiential realities
(and possibly implying years of assiduous practice) to which they can only
vaguely point
- how potentially skilled players of any instrument would set out to 'tune'
it, how they might learn to play it (rather than simply handling it)
- what skilled playing might evoke
For the benefit of musicians, a virtual fretboard is already available. It
displays the layout of the fretboard for any fretted instrument for any chord
or scale, for any tuning and in all keys (for example, providing the user with
the ability to freely produce guitar chord charts quickly and easily). New instruments,
tunings, chords and scales can be added at any time in response to new insights
[more]. What is
required, in relation to the category schemes explored here, is some means of
working with multiple category schemes and shifting between them. Whatever the
value of the instruments of the simplest organization, there is no reason not
to explore the possibilities of instruments with multiple keyboards, as in the
case of metaphorical analogues to the organ.
Patterns of aesthetic associations
Whatever the techniques of 'playing' such a conceptual array, some
inkling of how a new reality is enacted and sustained is suggested by patterns
of aesthetic associations -- notably in poetry. The features of a poem, especially
an epic, may interact with one another to activate an alternative mnemonic context
or framework [more]. It
is the movement of attention around the pattern that sustains the space -- rather
like the movement of molecules that effectively exert pressure on the inner
surface of a balloon to keep it expanded. Such movement of sustaining attention
is a characteristic of 'diamond dialogue' [more].
It is Marsilio Ficino who has perhaps best alluded to this understanding and
practice for the western world [more]
although the most systematic and subtlest approach effort to map such patterns
is still probably that of the eastern I Ching [more;
more].
|
