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Nonsense commensurate with dysfunctionalities of "theo" variants
The-O Ring and The Bull Ring as Spectacular Archetypes (Part #10)
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A number of authors have articulated what is now a matter of daily reality for many (Comprehension of ignorance, nonsense and craziness. 2011). They include Charles Handy (The Age of Unreason, 1991; The Age of Paradox, 1995) Michael Foley (The Age of Absurdity: why modern life makes it hard to be happy, 2011), Paul Feyerabend (Farewell to Reason, 1987), and Brent C. Sleasman (Albert Camus's Philosophy of Communication: making sense in an Age of Absurdity, 2011).
It is in this spirit that the above "argument" can be taken further.
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Kenneth Boulding was wont to conclude the discussion of the complexities of an international conference -- plays in their own right -- through composition of a poem reflecting its processes and preoccupations. This offered a striking contrast to the theo modalities exemplified by such events -- especially given his notable speech impediment. The poem introduced an aesthetic connectivity typically designed out of the conference content and processes -- or marginalized into receptions and entertainment whose cognitive significance could be ignored.
As a piece of relevant nonsense, given the Greek etymological associations explored here, it is appropriate to recall that the famed futurist and Cold War strategist, Hermann Kahn was co-founder of the Hudson Institute at Croton-on-Hudson -- improbably recalling the homebase of Pythagoras, as one of the earliest of "model-builders" (based at Croton in Sicily). More improbably, Croton-on-Hudson was also the base of the World Modelling Association -- grouping the top models employed to display their looks in the promotion of commercial products. Kahn was an early exemplar of global model-building -- and was himself a model -- for Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
It was Kahn who facilitated reflection on the "unthinkable" in relation to the strategic doctrine of "Mutual Assured Destruction" (Thinking about the Unthinkable, 1962; Thinking about the Unthinkable in the 1980s, 1984). Curiously common to both "models" was the manner in which they offered a comprehensibly simplistic enshrinement of ideals -- thereby precluding considerations of the challenges of more complex realities.
Of course the Hudson River is also the location of the headquarters of the United Nations with its laurel-wreathed logos. In terms of the bull metaphor, sadly the UN has been emasculated since its Secretary-General framed the Iraq intervention as illegal. This disempowerment seems to have been further reinforced by highly controversial invasive surveillance (Alleged Breach of UN Treaty Obligations by US: press coverage and commentary following WikiLeaks cable dissemination, 2010).
Thus framed, the Brooklyn accent, native to the location facing the United Nations across the river, can be used to offer a twist to the above argument in a world tormented both by the cognitive drone conditioned by the "theo" modalities and by the increasingly fatal use of invasive drones.
Ode to the Theo Drone: De-O and De-US | ||
| De spring is sprung, de grass is riz I wonder where de boidies is? De boid is on de wing, but dat's absoid, De wing is on de boid De grass is riz de trees is green And in de moitle tree a boid is seen. A boid is seen and also hoid And also felt. He dropped a toid. Dis gets woise | And so de boid what did doit Has got to die and dat's a coit I gets me gat intent on moider Detoimined dis won't get no foider Oh boy! Oh boy! Am I pertoibed I lifts me gat de boidie choips I gotta give de squoit de woiks But in the moitle tree above There sits a little toitle dove Remember moitle? | I've got me shooter primed but now 2 boids are sitting on de bough And so, I cannot shoot de dove Because de spring's de time for love |
The commonly recognized first verse (above) points helpfully to the surreal relationship between the explicit "wings" (of which the "vanes" of the Möbius strip below are suggestive) and the implicit "boid" which they engender and transport. The emergence of explicate and implicate are a matter of dependent origination or dependent co-arising as featured in Buddhist philosophy (Pratityasamutpada).
| Use of Mobius strip to interrelate the 'theos' |
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The challenge of course is how to recognize the need for a "ring" and how then to discover it -- as teasingly intimated by one of the Poems Every Child Should Know -- implying a dynamic outcome in a strange light.
| The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear (renowned for his various works of nonsense) | ||
| The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five pound-note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, 'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are.' | Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl, How charmingly sweet you sing. O let us be married, too long have we tarried, But what shall we do for a ring?' They sailed away for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-tree grows, And there in the wood a Piggy-wig stood, With a ring in the end of his nose, His nose, His nose! With a ring in the end of his nose. | 'Dear Pig, are you willing, to sell for one shilling Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.' So they took it away, and were married next day, By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon, The moon, The moon! They danced by the light of the moon. |
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As concluding "nonsense", it is appropriate to note the value that continues to be attached in unsuspected ways to bull/cow/ox and an associated ring. The image on the left below depicts a phase in the classic sequence of Zen Ox-herding Pictures, or Ten Bulls -- with implications separately discussed (Commentary on the Integration of perceived Problems). The image on the right of a famed goddess of ancient Egypt is augmented by a suggestive animation, discussed separately (Embodiment of Identity in Conscious Creativity, 2011) . Hathor remains significant to the current symbolism of freemasonry.
| One phase in the classical Zen Ten-Bull sequence | Animation using an Egyptian deity, the cow goddess Hathor -- a suggestive vehicle for transcendent insight? |
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