Neti Neti -- none of the above

The Isdom of the Wisdom Society: Embodying time as the heartland of humanity (Part #17)

---

[Parts: First | Prev | All] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]

---

In many respects all of the above is more than presumptuous with regard to the eminent who hold alternative views -- and especially if they are held to be wise.

The work of Alfred Korzybski (Science and Sanity An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, 1994) -- followed by David Boulard -- make the case for extreme precaution in using the verb "to be" to express dogmatic beliefs or assumptions. Perhaps, again, it is a special form of play with assumptions of "what is" -- "isplay" -- that is required to sustain the dynamics of Isdom. Without such play, declarations of "what is" are reified into belief systems and institutions such as to preclude any flexibility or openness to dialogue. Why might it be expected that any form of wisdom could be sustained amongst such reifications?

As many texts of the wise affirm, wisdom is necessarily "none of the above" -- the Sanskrit "neti neti" -- the not-ness of what is to be affirmed that has traditionally been explored by mystics through the via negativa. The affirmation of the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching -- concerning the unreality of "the way that can be named" -- recalls the remarks above concerning the "quenching" boundary of Isdom:

The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be spoken is not the eternal Name.
The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of creation.

---