Enabling autopoiesis through poiesis

Living as an Imaginal Bridge between Worlds (Part #16)

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Diversity through poesis: There is a fundamental puzzle to such extensive use of both "betwixt" and "between" in the titles of so many of the conventional studies listed in the Annex. Etymologically the two words are poorly distinguished and therefore their use together would appear to constitute an unusual tautology. The justification can however be found to a degree in their poetic function, further emphasized by alliteration. The question is why that is of any value in relation to unconventional, cognitive confusion. In that mode, the term might be extended in the form of "betwixt and between and bewildered".

The biologist/anthropologist Gregory Bateson, in explaining why "we are our own metaphor", pointed out to a conference on the effects of conscious purpose on human adaptation that:

One reason why poetry is important for finding out about the world is because in poetry a set of relationships get mapped onto a level of diversity in us that we don't ordinarily have access to. We bring it out in poetry. We can give to each other in poetry the access to a set of relationships in the other person and in the world that we are not usually conscious of in ourselves. So we need poetry as knowledge about the world and about ourselves, because of this mapping from complexity to complexity. (Cited by Mary Catherine Bateson, Our Own Metaphor, 1972, p. 288-9)

Poetic logic: This suggests that, as with notions of "poetic justice", a form of "poetic logic" may continue to reinforce use of the term "betwixt and between" where redundancy would otherwise be assumed (John E. Fritch and Karla K. Leepe, Poetic Logic: the metaphoric form as a foundation for a theory of tropological argument, Argumentation and Advocacy, Vol. 29, 1993; Frederick Sommer, The Poetic Logic of Art and Aesthetics, 1995; Kaj Skoldberg, Poetic Logic of Administration: Styles and Changes of Style in the Art of Organizing, 2007). Poetic comprehension of "betwixt and between" might also be found through associations such as the following:

• whilst betwixt and between may be equivalent, their distinction could derive from their being some form of mirror image of betweenness, as with two distinct threads, exemplified in a spiralling DNA coil. This offers a sense in which the strands are best understood as twisted together -- emphasizing their degree of knottedness (as previously mentioned) and exemplifying the logical paradoxes of Catch-22 and Kafkaesque situations characteristic of the experience of being "betwixt and between"
• betwixt and between could indicate two distinct kinds of betweenness, perhaps structure-based and flow-based, as suggested by Edward de Bono in a book with an appropriately convoluted title (I Am Right, You Are Wrong: From This to the New Renaissance: From Rock Logic to Water Logic, 1990). This distinguishes two-sidedness (as with respect to the connectivity offered by a bridge) and the flow of time, whether in terms of before and after (in traversing or constructing the bridge), or upstream and downstream (with respect to what flows beneath it). Together these imply a 4-fold logic to "betwixt and between", as previously discussed. It is also appropriate to note that "water" exists in a number of phases of which only one is the "liquid" form with which the term is typically associated. As "ice" it is "rock" hard. In additional to highlighting the "betwixt and between" nature of water itself -- so vital to life -- this suggests that "water logic" might be more appropriately understood in term of the phase transitions of water, as separately discussed (Integrative relationship between reality and fantasy? 2010).
• the spiralling, twisting connotations offered by DNA can also be associated with the characteristic vortex flow of water, in addition to smooth laminar flow -- perhaps recalling mythical allusions to a twisting movement required to negotiate the gap between worlds. More prosaically this may correspond to the purportedly "twisted" logic of one conventional approach as perceived (and deprecated) from another
• the water allusions (whether with respect to bridges or de Bono's "water logic") highlight a typical survival strategy in situations of "betwixt and between", namely to "go with the flow". This theme is reinforced by the degree of similarity between "liminality" and "limnology", with the latter stressing both freshwater flows and the marshy, wetlands of the natural environment. Being "betwixt and between" is of course readily experienced as being "bogged down".
• the water and flow implications suggest that an "unconventional" life, "going with the flow", effectively involves "living on water"
• to the extent that "convention" implies agreement, a bridge is then a constructed convention linking two distinct conventional domains. As a construct it is essentially "unnatural" and contrasts with the "unconventional" thereby bridged -- perhaps, in the case of flowing water, to be considered as exemplifying the "natural". These suggest a further contrast between the inorganic (the bridge) and the organic (the water). A conventional bridge effectively "de-natures", raising the question of how to "re-nature" or to "en-nature".

Participative cognition: These considerations avoid reference to the importance attached to "betwixt and between" in the pagan and wiccan nature-oriented cultures. Their traditional insight is perhaps now appropriately framed by the literature on ecological philosophy and psychology (Henryk Skolimowski, The Participatory Mind: a new theory of knowledge and of the universe, 1994; Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature: a necessary unity, 1979; David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous: perception and language in a more-than-human world, 1997; Theodore Roszak, et al., Ecopsychology: restoring the Earth, healing the mind, 1995).

This entanglement is appropriately explored in the literature on cognitive embodiment as separately discussed (Existential Embodiment of Externalities: radical cognitive engagement with environmental categories and disciplines, 2009; En-minding the Extended Body: Enactive engagement in conceptual shapeshifting and deep ecology, 2003). This is a challenge to conventional governance of western inspiration (George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Philosophy In The Flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to western thought, 1999).

Such possibilities raise the question, as yet to be explored, as to whether there is an essentially "poetic" quality to the quest for sustainability and its comprehension (Psychology of Sustainability: embodying cyclic environmental processes, 2002).

Strategic autopoeisis: It is intriguing that as "poesis" or "poiesis", poetry shares etymology with the "autopoiesis" of the complexity sciences (K. K. Murthy, Autopoiesis and strategic management in emerging economies, 1997; Peter A. C. Smith and Carol Ann Sharicz, Autopoiesis and Fluid Self-Organizing Networks In Business, 2008; Rodrigo Magalhães and Ron Sanchez, Autopoiesis in Organization Theory and Practice, 2009).

Irrespective of occasional (deprecated) spelling as "autopoesis", the common origin lies in the Greek "poiesis", meaning production, creation or composition. In the complexity sciences it therefore refers to the process of self-creation and is held to express a fundamental dialectic between structure and function. It is the creative emphasis on "making" which highlights the readily obscured dynamic sense in which even a conventional bridge is not only a one-off construction but must be maintained over time. In the metaphor explored here the emphasis is to a far greater degree on the continuing process of reconstruction. Like poetry, it is the process of composition which is essential to its recreative function. It is the weaving together of words which potentially enlivens both poetry and strategy -- as separately explored (Poetry-making and Policy-making: arranging a marriage between Beauty and the Beast, 1993).

This process of re-making may be the key to any "renaissance", as implied in de Bono's book title -- with its juxtaposition of "rock logic" and "water logic". Any imaginal exploration of such possibilities could also be appropriately informed by the science fiction articulation by M. A. Foster of the construction of a hyperspaceship by a mutant community (The Gameplayers of Zan, 1977). This recognized the need to navigate any such vessel in hyperspace during the process of its construction -- essentially to ensure that (given its complex dynamic nature) it stayed in place (and time) until the construction was complete. This recalls the self-reflexive challenges of global governance in responding to change, as separately discussed (Consciously Self-reflexive Global Initiatives: Renaissance zones, complex adaptive systems, and third order organizations, 2007).

Given the above-mentioned value attached to ma in Japanese culture, it is not surprising that haiku poetry should have been variously interwoven with the martial arts and bushido culture. It is fundamental to the classic strategic text The Book of Five Rings. The question is whether this offers clues to global "strategy-making" at this time (Ensuring Strategic Resilience through Haiku Patterns: reframing the scope of the "martial arts" in response to strategic threats, 2006). The potential value of poetry to ongoing conflictual situations has been separately explored (Poetic Engagement with Afghanistan, Caucasus and Iran, 2009; Strategic Jousting through Poetic Wrestling, 2009).

Living the magic: In this interplay of poiesis and autopoiesis, it is tempting to recognize the possibility that any process of living as the bridge is best understood as one of living the magic of the process of autopoiesis -- where the magic is intimately related to the emergence of insightful poetic associations sustaining cultural coherence. This could be understood as consistent with the symbolism of solar processes as mentioned above.

Mary Catherine Bateson's focus on "composing a life" might then be reframed to encompass both "playfully" improvising any composition ("making magic") and living the dynamics of that magic. Bateson provided the foreword to the complementary focus of Jean Houston (A Mythic Life: learning to live our greater story, 1996). Intimations of this cognitive engagement are evident in relationships to music -- expression of identity through a melody and "being a tune". Living the magic may be associated with some proactive, or enactive, process of imbuing life with joy -- of "en-joying" it (as noted above) -- perhaps to be understood as "en-livening" it. This offers a radically different appreciation of the "final warning" of James Lovelock (The Vanishing Face of Gaia: a final warning: Enjoy It While You Can, 2009). Comprehension of "it" is then also called into question.

It is curious that although "magic" is central to the worldview of pagan traditions and Wicca (however deprecated by convention), it is now celebrated with imaginative enthusiasm in the widely popular fantasy literature (Magic, miracles and image-building, 1993). Even more surprising, it is a key attribute in the promotion of the quality of many commercial services. A "magical experience" is a primary attractor for tourists  seeking alternatives to the existential boredom of the conventional.

Insights regarding composition have been developed in relation to the design of so-called magic carpets (Magic Carpets as Psychoactive Systems Diagrams, 2010; Tao of Engagement -- Weaponised Interactions and Beyond: Fibonacci's magic carpet of games to be played for sustainable global governance, 2010; Sustainability through Magically Dancing Patterns, 2008)

Poetic inspiration: Bridges have of course long been a source of poetic inspiration, notably as offering a degree of coherence (Robert Bohm, Bridging the Disconnected: Five Poems, Avatar, Summer 2003, 5). The Ponte Vecchio has offered such inspiration (Erika Enggren, The Old Bridge At Florence: Florence and the Ponte Vecchio in the poetry of Henry Longfellow).

There is however a delightful poetic irony to the Wiccan invocation by the Director of the Texas (USA) Betwixt and Between -- given to an opening of a Dallas City Council meeting, despite controversy (Dallas Wiccan Gives City Council Invocation In Dallas October 2000).

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