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30th December 2003 | Draft
The Isdom of the Wisdom SocietyEmbodying time as the heartland of humanity- / - Produced on the occasion of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, 2003) in celebration of insights beyond those of the "information society" and of the "knowledge society" [See also website of Union of the Whys (2007)] Introduction IntroductionMany studies explore the importance of the distinctions in the sequence from "data", through "information", then on to "knowledge", and finally to "wisdom" [more]. At each stage there is a much-studied challenge of "management" (as in "information management" and "knowledge management"). Arguments are also made for the importance of a corresponding "information society" or of a "knowledge society" -- perhaps expressed as a "knowledge-based society". But clearly it is easiest to argue the case for an "information" focus, especially to hardware, software and information vendors -- hence the title of the UN World Summit on the Information Society. It is more challenging to make a case for a "knowledge society", especially since "knowledge management" is in process of being disparaged as a fad term lacking any real content -- notably in those corporate environments that claim to practice it. And yet it is precisely the transfer of knowledge, in the form of "know-how" that has been a preoccupation of the United Nations over many development decades. But, as Margaret Mead is reported to have declared on a memorable occasion: "We know all we need to know". The problem is that "we" do not know how to fit it together into a meaningfully communicable pattern which could catalyze appropriate action. As a philosopher, Mary Midgley (Wisdom, Information and Wonder: what is knowledge for? 1989) asks the question:
In fact there is no "we" with a shared awareness permitting coherent action. But as is noted on the cover of The (Updated) Last Whole Earth Catalog (1974): "We can't put it together; it is together". It is wisdom that is called upon to respond to such dilemmas -- not knowledge. The following is therefore a necessarily naive exercise in envisaging the nature of a "wisdom society" -- as distinct from the much-studied "knowledge society". It follows from an earlier paper (Global Strategic Implications of the Unsaid: from myth-making towards a wisdom society, 2003) which points to approaches (and web resources) of various groups envisaging a wisdom society. The focus here is not on its desirability in principle or as an ideal, but rather on how it might already exist and function in reality -- for some at least. In this sense it is primarily speculative -- and perhaps essentially so. It is one thing to extol the archetype of an Arthurian Roundtable, for example, but it is another matter to consider the dynamics of such a group -- and what makes for its wisdom (with or without the presence of women). Given the topic, the approach taken here is to emphasize, through hyperlinks, the existence of supportive or complementary arguments and resources. Role of wisdom"Wisdom" has an intriguing status in relation to "knowledge" and "information". This is especially so because of its traditional role in relation to governance. Whilst the highest levels of governance may be dependent on their information services, and the specialized knowledge of their experts, ultimately it is on the "wisdom" in making decisions when confronted with strategic dilemmas that the reputation (and survival) of a governor (or government) depends. Given his considerable experience in government, there is value to the distinctions made by Harlan Cleveland (Information As a Resource. The Futurist Dec. 1982: 34-39): Information is horizontal, knowledge is structured and hierarchical, and wisdom is organic and flexible. As editor of a most valuable overview, R J Sternberg (Wisdom: its nature, origins, and development. 1990) indicates the relevance of wisdom in these terms:
The role of wisdom has been well-positioned as a result of the dramatic intelligence failure associated with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The quantity of data from electronic surveillance was enormous -- even larger quantities are now sought. This was selectively filtered into patterns of information that was subject to knowledgable interpretation -- about which many questions have been raised. But the final challenge for governance arose from the lack of wisdom with which this necessarily partial knowledge was used. Nicholas Mawell (From Knowledge to Wisdom: a revolution in the aims and methods of science, 1984) argues that the radical, wasteful misdirection of academic effort is actually a central cause of the tragedy and dangers of the present era. For him:
For UNESCO, as the intergovernmental body mandated for information-related matters, it would appear that "wisdom" is subsumed under philosophy (that so lovingly studies it) -- or as the acknowledgement of the "wisdom" associated with indigenous knowledge, cultural expression, world religions, or "wise use" of resources. For the Director-General: Philosophy, as the term signifies, is the love of wisdom. Regardless of its specific terminology in various cultures all over the world, tetsugaku in Japanese, indicating the discipline of wisdom, or in Arabic, falsafa, meaning science of wisdom, this act of thinking about thinking turns by definition around the fundamental concepts and ideas that lie at the heart of existence, both individual and collective. It is this act of philosophizing that is the lifeblood of philosophy. And it is precisely this act of reflection, of analysis, of questioning – whether of concepts that are taken for granted, ideas dulled by time, or long-established paradigms... (Philosophy Day at UNESCO, 21 November 2002) But for the editors of participant interviews on the occasion of the UNESCO-sponsored 20th World Congress of Philosophy (Boston, 1998) (Michael Tobias, et al. A Parliament of Minds: philosophy for a New Millennium, 2000):
And yet the UNESCO 1998 World Declaration on Higher Education for the Twenty First Centrury: Vision and Action (Article 6d) indicates: "Ultimately, higher education should aim at the creation of a new society - non-violent and non-exploitative - consisting of highly cultivated, motivated and integrated individuals, inspired by love for humanity and guided by wisdom". As with other such secondary references to "wisdom", including those in the UN Dialogue among Civilizations (2000), it remains unclear what content is implied or how any "guidance" is supposed to function in relation to governance. And, with respect to "wisdom", the UNU's Global Virtual University (created in 2002) has only this to say:
It is not for nothing that appeal is occasionally made -- even in industrialized countries -- to "councils of the wise" (see Development beyond Science to Wisdom: Facilitating the emergence of configurative understanding in Councils of the Wise. 1979). It is also a theme in speculative popular fiction as an imaginative attractor. The Club of Rome, and similar bodies, tend to perceive themselves as such. Various groups of "wisdom keepers" (possibly restricted to women) have been formed, notably in relation to the concerns and insights of indigenous peoples [more | more]. One such group met on the occasion of the 1992 Earth Summit. An International Council of Wise Women has been created and the creation of a World Council of Wise Women has been proposed. The expression "Council of Wise Men" (or Group of Wise Men) continues to be used in contemporary society (notably in the UN, Commonwealth, OECD and EU systems) [more | more] -- despite its sexist bias, less obvious in some languages (eg Conseil des Sages) [more]. The Council of Europe uses the formula "Council of Wise Persons" (earlier "Council of Wise Men"). Other examples include:
Interestingly UNESCO, despite its mandate, appears no longer to use the form -- perhaps because of the male bias. In the UNESCO Report of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty first Century chaired by Jacques Delors (Learning: the treasure within, 1996) the notion of wisdom appears only in the final phrase of his introduction, despite this statement reporting on its first session in 1991:
Echoing Margaret Mead, one member of the UNESCO Commission, Karan Singh makes the point:
No guidelines appear to exist regarding the functioning of such councils to elicit most effectively the collective wisdom of their wise participants. It is unclear how the emergence of "wisdom" is recognized in such groups -- or whether the pronouncements of participants are simply accepted as "wise" because of the selection process. There appear to be no indicators or ciriteria to assist in the recognition of wisdom although, for UNESCO, this is not the case with respect to "wise practices" in dealing with resources (see Characteristics of Wise Practices 1999-2002; Wise practice criteria as an international instrument, 1999) -- although the distinction from the more widely used "best practices" is unclear. Where are the responses to the challenge articulated by Julia Atkin: "What are the powerful ideas and processes captured in human wisdom that form the basis for, and enable lifelong learning?" (Reconceptualising the Curriculum for the Knowledge Era, 1999) On the other hand there are many who offer "wisdom" -- notably in "schools of wisdom" -- or who are "keepers" of it. It is also a traditional role of wise people. The wise are unfortunately much challenged in practice when called upon to make available that wisdom -- or to reconcile their views in response to any collective challenge faced by governance. Unexplainable nature of wisdomThe distinctions between data, information and knowledge are increasingly problematic as is to be seen in efforts to give content to "knowledge management". It is perhaps helpful to see the sequence as a progression from more objective to more subjective -- namely an increasing dependence on judgement, cognitive ability, experience and the capacity for synthesis (see Evaluating Synthesis Initiatives and their Sustaining Dialogues, 2000). Whilst software can be provided to manage information, those packages designed in support of "knowledge management" are far more dependent on the knowledgability of the user. Similarly, whilst data and information can be readily explained, this becomes more of a challenge in the case of knowledge. This is exemplified in the case of appropriately ordered information on a food recipe. Although the recipe may be followed, it is only in the light of the knowledge acquired through past learning and experience that there is any guarantee that the result will be tasty. Again, whilst data and information can be sold and inherited as property, this is not the case with respect to knowledge. The latter is the attribute of a knower who knows how to make use of information -- as is evident in the "art" of wine-making. As an art, it is only to a limited degree that it may be learnt from books or websites. In this light, it might be said with respect to wisdom that, because of the degree of subjectivity involved, it does not lend itself to explanation. Nor can it be inherited. In fact the term "explanation" points to the challenge. Essentially wisdom is distinct from the geometrical perspectives suggested by possibilities of "ex-plan-ation" -- as a perspective over the "plane" of knowledge (perhaps understood as a gridwork of category pigeonholes). It might usefully be said that it is more intimately related to the properties of space-time -- notably because of its recognizably timeless quality. Wisdom tends not to be time-bound. A valuable summary of current thinking is provided by Helena Marchand (Overview of the psychology of wisdom). There are of course many books of wisdom appreciated for the inspiration that they offer. As noted above, there may be wisdom schools and people of wisdom. It could be argued that what they can successfully communicate is information and knowledge -- pointing however to a mode of understanding to which they can only allude through parable and paradox. Wisdom has more to do with the quality of knowing and understanding -- and not the content. It is a higher order of knowing -- begging the question of what ordering might make for "higher" -- or whether that spatial metaphor is appropriate or misleading. It might be described as knowing how to know -- with the emphasis on a quality of discernment (as suggested by Peter Russell) largely absent from conventional knowing. "Isdom" -- the locus of wisdom?The suggestion above -- that wisdom is uniquely related to the properties of space-time -- frames a question as to the locus of wisdom and of the quality of knowing with which it is associated. In what follows the suggestion is that this may be fruitfully explored in relation to the quality of understanding in the present moment -- the Spirit of Now, as articulated by Peter Russell (The Global Brain, 1983; The White Hole in Time: Our Future Evolution and the Meaning of Now, 1992). This theme has been explored in earlier papers (see Presenting the Future, 2001; Present Moment Research: exploration of nowness, 2001; Composing and Engendering the Future, 2001) Paradoxically, as one might expect with respect to a "timeless" quality, its uniqueness derives from a way of "being in the present". This focus on the present is echoed in many sources of wisdom -- as the key to appropriate action in the more extended framework of space and time. Its proximity is for example stressed in various religions. Judaism and Islam recognize that the separation between Heaven and Hell is but a "hair's breadth" -- echoed by Zen in the acknowledgement that the separation between enlightenment and ignorance is again just one "hair's breadth". It is for this reason that -- playfully -- it is suggested here that the domain of wisdom might usefully be recognized as "Isdom". This might be seen as corresponding to terms such as "Kingdom", "Dukedom" or "Fiefdom" -- except that the focus is on the domain of "is-ness" in the present. The suffix "dom", deriving from domain and dominion, has connotations that include:
The domain, rather than emphasizing the spatial as is conventionally the case, here emphasizes the temporal -- as one in which the time dimension is pre-eminent -- a complex standing wave in time, for example. Additionally, however, given the intensity of the subjective focus, it might be considered to have echoes of the 6 "curled-up" dimensions of the 10-dimensional framework of string theory (see Higher dimensionality as the prime characteristic of human consciousness? 2003). In the spirit of David Bohm (Wholeness and the Implicate Order, 1980), it would then be associated in some special way with implicate order [more | more]. Arthur Young (Geometry of Meaning, 1978) has explored a related view in terms of inverse time (1/T) rather than negative time (-T). Inverse time would then be very short -- eternity in an instant -- implying that:
As argued elsewhere (Hyperspace Clues to the Psychology of the Pattern that Connects, 2003), the focus by cosmologists on Big-Bang type origins of the universe, to be eventually followed by a Big-Crunch collapse, suggests that:
Any such significance in the moment derived from a Big-Crunch collapse could also be derived from the various doomsday scenarios currently foreseen for the current century for humanity and the planet -- including the temporal collapse explored by Peter Russell (The White Hole in Time: Our Future Evolution and the Meaning of Now, 1992). Attention can be significantly focused if humanity is considered to be on Death Row (see also Globalization of Death: a checklist, 2003). The imagination of death is a a feature of religious studies, mythology and spiritual discipline. Sustainable ecology of IsdomIdentified in this way, Isdom may appear spatially distant (or temporally unattainable) when the contrary is implied. Since, as argued, explanation is inappropriate, the challenge in what follows is to explore ways of providing a sense of the ecology of Isdom through which wisdom moves and has its being. As the domain of the present moment -- the present instant -- Isdom is a place of being characterized by a quality of appreciating that moment, and sustaining that appreciation. It might be understood as the mode of expression and interaction in the instants before conventional exchanges occur. As such it resembles a kind of existential foreplay -- in part made of glances and understandings that are global in their quality -- an interplay of being. For example, one international event focused on The Butterfly Effect as the "coordinates of the moment before discovery" [more]. It is the sparkle on a pool -- or in a person's eyes (or those of any other animal). The moment may be imbued with a sense of incipient knowing or of intuitive re-membering -- of re-cognition. It may be understood through the anticipatory quality of "happening" -- a sense of in potentia -- as when encountering a significant other (perhaps for the first time). It is, for example, the instant before any process of falling in love -- "at first sight" -- namely before intentionality or action of any conventional kind. As an encounter of being, such a momentary experience is necessarily evanescent to any "be-holder" -- and is not to be "be-held". It springs into being and disappears -- as with ancient memories and perfumes or a sense of déja vu. The moment cannot be "caught" and "preserved". What may be captured is something else. As with the quality of being in the moment, it cannot be held onto -- although it may be danced with (see Beyond Harassment of Reality and Grasping Future Possibilities: learnings from sexual harassment as a metaphor, 1996) Perhaps the sustainability of the ecology of Isdom is best to be understood in terms of Gregory Bateson's "pattern that connects" (Mind and Nature; a necessary unity, 1979) (see also Hyperspace Clues to the Psychology of the Pattern that Connects, 2003; Psychology of Sustainability: Embodying cyclic environmental processes, 2002). Isdom's quenching boundaryAs a domain, Isdom is surrounded by what may be termed a "quenching" boundary. Its nature is "quenched" by any encounter with the cognitive "not-ness" of conventional understanding of space-time. The metaphor of quenching derives from the research on nuclear fusion (in contrast with nuclear fission). This fusion process is dependent on plasma that can only exist under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure and is "quenched" when it comes into contact with the container in which the fusion reactions take place. Many decades of research have been devoted to the design of a container capable of containing plasma -- in order that nuclear fusion can take place as a prime source of energy for the future. The art has been to contain the plasma within a "magnetic bottle" such that magnetic field effects repel the plasma from any part of the encircling container wall. In the larger scheme of things, it is perhaps no coincidence that such research is now entering a new phase with the construction of ITER as a major international project to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy. This work on the "governance" of fusion processes essential to economic development may be as valuable as a metaphorical pointer to governance of psycho-social processes of sustainable development. Understanding "plasma" as a quality of intensity, of attention, it might then be understood how the high energy "is-ness", characteristic of the state of being within Isdom, can readily be quenched by contact with any mundane cognition. Sustaining interaction within Isdom therefore calls for an analogous existential technology to maintain the detachment of being from that containing spatio-temporal world. This existential technology may be considered as having been identified in many spiritual disciplines (see Navigating Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms through movement, 2002; Psychology of Sustainability: Embodying cyclic environmental processes, 2002) It is useful to consider various efforts to capture and contain the essence of the moment of being:
Reification of the presentThe previous argument may be considered in terms of the forms of reification of "is-ness". The recognition of physicists regarding the characteristic increase in entropy in the universe is paralleled by, and reflected in, what amounts to the increasing entropy of "is-ness" -- its reification into "is-not". The sense of the present -- the Spirit of Now -- is ever-emergent, however. Hence the widespread appreciation of the fountain as a central symbol across cultures for the water of life -- and in the sense of a fountain of youth. It may be indicative of spiritual rejuvenation -- offering a sense of aliveness and invigoration. David DeMaris (Dynamic Symbolism, Chaos, and Perception, 1995) explores the nature of an invisible or virtual fountain. What might then be the stages of reification as the quality of knowing in the moment "hardens" into objective reality -- passing through analogues to the states of matter (plasma -- gas -- liquid -- solid):
A possibly more fruitful metaphor than this linear sequence is that of a phase diagram such as that for water [more]. This is a representation of the states of matter (solid, liquid, or gas) as a function of temperature and pressure. Lines separating the regions of space indicate the pressures and temperatures where phases can coexist and are in equilibrium with one another. Lines in the phase diagram may intersect at a point where solid, liquid, and gas all coexist -- a unique "triple point". Similarlry a "critical point" may exist that is characterized by large fluctuations between the liquid and vapor states. Such diagrams are also used in describing the conditions of plasma -- understood as an ionized gas [more]. Plasma is however characterized by much higher temperatures and pressures. A highly simplified diagram of that type is adapted below to show the variety of relationships between the different forms of insight -- especially indicating that the transition from data to knowledge may not necessarily pass via information. It suggests possibilities for resolving definitional ambiguities associated with any assumed linear progression between them..As the extreme ionization of gas, plasma is not directly represented in the diagram (it would be far to the right). The diagram does however suggest possibilities of exploring the ionization metaphor in relation to knowledge -- and the corresponding implication of the bonds in the case of solids, liquids and non-ionized gases. The adaptation calls for a metaphoric equivalent to temperature and pressure -- which are both commonly used metaphorically in insight-related processes (eg "feeling the heat", "under pressure", etc).
Of special interest are the implications for the transitions across the boundaries, such as sublimation (from data to knowledge) and deposition (from knowledge to data). The more tenuous bonds between elements of knowledge (corresponding metaphorically to atoms or molecules in a gaseous state) call for exploration in the light of implications of some equivalent to ionization. Aspects of this may be intuited in language used to describe the degree of "excitation" of a debate, whether academic or otherwise. Note that such excitation in an exciting meeting, for example, does not necessarily make for the conditions with which wisdom is associated. This may be more closely associated with the intensity of that excitation and hos its focus and coherence can be sustained. Another approach to this core experience of the moment is through what have long been termed "peak experiences". As one of the original authors to explore their significance through numerous books, Colin Wilson (starting with The Outsider, 1956) offers this description:
Wilson has been especially concerned by the decay of this experience into banality. Emergence from IsdomIt is interesting to explore initiatives that might be considered emulations, recollections or commemorations in some way of the progressive emergence -- or reification -- of Isdom. This is most evident in the hierarchical structures cultivated by various groups.
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