It's Elemental

Category: Cybernetics

  • zen mindfulness

    To the question:
    “Is there any art or skill than can not be done with a Zen mindfulness?”

    I answered:
    “No.  Even the skill of not being Zenly mindful can be done with Zen mindfulness.”

    DRAT! Foiled again!

  • Transformation exercise part 2

    Now, another challenge was proposed, to proceed to a third transposition inspired by Varela’s star cybernetics.

    My response:

    simplistic/complex —> multi-ordered simplexity 
    how to fix/how to engage —> ascripted re-presencing 
    compulsive mappings/flexible relations —> constructive deconstruction 
    textbook categorizations/situational phenomenologies —> second-order homeodynamics 
    control the universe through mapping/participate in the universe through walking its territory –>  co-construction of universe and self 
    dominant masculinist purposefulness/creatively shifting between feminine/masculine —> post-dual dynamics 
    shift power from the described to the describer/described and describer abdicate power to each other —> described as describer, describer as described 
    psychic inflation and self-magnification/psychic robustness and continuous self-recontextualization —> the fractal self 
    a grand pyramid with the advocate on top/a complex web with the advocate teleporting between nodes —> a-nodal/plen(r)um-nodal phase space 
    lacking poetic insights/poetry as rhythmic healing —> language as regenerative/dissociative capacity 
    lacking a feeling for the concrete/able to connect without abstraction through action —> recursive manifestation/abstraction 
    lacking embodiment of an aesthetic/able to create and shift between evolving aesthetics —> the aesthetics of aesthetics

  • transformation exercise

    The following exercise was proposed:

    Take the following list, culled from a critique of Ken Wilber’s work by philosopher William Irwin Thompson, Coming Into Being and write the opposites.

    simplistic 
    how to fix 
    compulsive mappings 
    textbook categorizations 
    control the universe through mapping 
    dominant masculinist purposefulness 
    shift power from the described to the describer 
    psychic inflation and self-magnification 
    a grand pyramid with the advocate on top 
    lacking poetic insights 
    lacking a feeling for the concrete 
    lacking embodiment of an aesthetic  

     

    My response:

    simplistic —> complex 
    how to fix —> how to engage 
    compulsive mappings —> flexible relations 
    textbook categorizations —> situational phenomenologies 
    control the universe through mapping —> participate in the universe through walking its territory 
    dominant masculinist purposefulness —> creatively shifting between feminine/masculine 
    shift power from the described to the describer —> described and describer abdicate power to each other 
    psychic inflation and self-magnification —> psychic robustness and continuous self-recontextualization 
    a grand pyramid with the advocate on top  —> a complex web with the advocate teleporting between nodes 
    lacking poetic insights —> poetry as rhythmic healing 
    lacking a feeling for the concrete —> able to connect without abstraction through action 
    lacking embodiment of an aesthetic  —> able to create and shift between evolving aesthetics

  • Why every line is a circle… and vice versa: a projective geometric exercise.

    I’d like to make a contribution with regards to circularity/linearity, from a geometrical standpoint.  If you don’t like geometry, stop reading, or better yet, read with increased intensity.

    The polarity between circle/line is one that is fundamental to many geometries – they are taken to be quite different logical entities.  Primarily this arises because of (in a move parallel to Russel’s need to introduce the Theory of Types to avoid paradox) a limited way of dealing with infinity.  Cybernetics shows us, by providing a wider view (attention to relations, recursions, and thus relations of relations, etc.) that the Theory of Types is unnecessary and points towards a more flexible and mysterious understanding of paradox.  In the same way, projective geometry provides a way of dealing with infinity that encompasses, expands, and re-frames the conventional geometric view. (more…)