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January 2001 | Uncompleted

Principles of Re-reading and Rapplication

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The world is experienced from the present: Projections into perspectives from the future, or the past, are problematic if that from the present is not of assured quality and groundedness

Phenomena experienced externally are a reflection of an articulation of one's inner world: This applies as much to natural phenomena (mountains, lakes, etc., as intimated by the I Ching) as conditions such as poverty, malnourishment, injustice, unemployment, etc

Failure to recognize the engendering bond with the outer world converts its phenomena into essentially intractable objects: This has the advantage that they can then be acted upon and manipulated but ensures that the significance of any external changes is only symbolically echoed within.

People and relationships may be experienced in the same way: In this sense special relationships are also holding clusters of "undigested" meaning by which one may be challenged and about which one may be forced to puzzle - especially when they are only experienced as externalities.

Quests for meaning, harmony, unity or peace in the external world are essentially symbolic journeys of little consequence unless they are grounded within: From within, the external markers may then be used to firm up the distinctions that need to be made, allowing work to be done with them that is of real (rather than solely symbolic) inner significance.

Quests around the geographic world are symbolic echoes of explorations of one's own roundedness: How and whether one's own inner roundedness can be explored in all its variety is another matter - as with the sense and significance of circumnavigation.

Neither the external nor the internal world needs to be "put together"; each is already "together": The pressure to ensure the emergence of greater unity results from a failure to recognize the existence and nature of that unity - and of one's relationship to it. This failure engenders external projects to bring about a pattern that already prevails -- but is unrecognized because its dimensions are perceived through ungrounded focus on externalities.

The external world is a script that calls for re-reading: As undigested and uninternalized "remainders" of an incomplete relationship to a larger and more fundamental world, the externalities form a complex script that may be usefully re-read for their internal correspondences and significance. As the "writing on the wall", all the disciplines may be mined for such insights.

Rapplication of internalized understanding ensures appropriate cultivation: It is through the resonance between internal and external configurations that overtones of significance can be expressed - nourishing both the inner and the outer worlds.

Harmonies through play on resonance: Just as the relationship between inner and outer experiences is richer than implied by purely mechanical metaphors (bonds, links, etc), so the resonance between them lends itself to myriad harmonies as the art of playing them becomes apparent. How these harmonies play off against each other is the dynamic carrier of deeper understanding.

Re-enchantment of the world: External phenomena are entrained into a new mode as a consequence of such harmonizing. This vivifies the pattern of relationships between what is otherwise experienced as fragmented. This is effectively a sacralizing process.

Isotopes and Isomorphs: External phenomena, as resonant projections of inner structures, may usefully be understood as "isotopes" -- namely structures in the same configurative "place", despite the significant difference in the degree to which the "I" is carried by them. "I-so-tope" might even be understood as "I-so-place". The morphological correspondences are suggested by "isomorph", also holding the implications of the morphological shift through which the apparent "externality" of the phenomena is ensured by "I-so-morph".

Ecosystemic library: Having effectively "stored" or "placed" memetic clusters in the external world -- embedding forgotten meaning there -- this ecosystemic library may be explored through re-reading to trigger recognition of inner correspondences. This raises questions about the roles played by my inner: USA, Hitler, UN, Osama bin Laden, CIA, whales, mosquitoes, rivers, mountains, deserts, volcanoes, forests, bushfires, etc?

Stewardship: Reification into the external world follows from a renunciation of stewardship. Recognition of correspondence re-engenders stewardship for these seemingly disparate phenomena in the light of the resonances between them in one's inner world. This activates one's larger self.

Art and discipline: Once the dynamics for which "they" are normally considered responsible become one's own, the challenges of governance of the world take on a very intimate significance. How should the inner "rivers" flow and when should the inner "sun" shine? How should the "rainforests" be sustained given the needs of the "loggers"? Why is it important to ensure the survival of a particular "songbird"? To what degree should one rely on "oil reserves" and what "alternative energy sources" might be used? How can "people" be nourished -- and is there an overpopulation problem? Does their inner status allow each such dilemma to be resolved through a form of non-action that ensures some form of coherent self-organization? When does discipline become informed by art?

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