Experiencing otherness as wave-like globality

Encountering Otherness as a Waveform (Part #8)

In its more extreme forms, in the experience of otherness there is a fundamental contrast between that which is associated with a menacing threat and that which is profoundly attractive. Both however have an all-encompassing integrative quality -- readily to be associated with some sense of globality by which the experiential world is redefined in the moment. The experience might well be termed "awesome" in some cases, for example.

In the first case this is recognized in life-threatening insecurity and terror -- as currently evoked by the risk of "terrorism". In the second case this is characteristic of the world-reframing encounter with a profoundly significant other -- perhaps in falling in love, or in encountering a life-changing spiritual mentor.

The attractiveness of the second case of course offers an archetypal echo of the attraction of the ovum for a sperm -- with all that is implied by the encounter of the one with the other. This is suggestive of how any one-pointed attraction to otherness may be transformed into one with sexual connotations, whether physical or otherwise. The serpent recalls the reference by D. H. Lawrence, as discussed by (Daniel Dervin, A "Strange Sapience": the creative Imagination of D.H. Lawrence, 1984) and the argument of Douglas Hofstadter (I Am a Strange Loop, 2007). The metaphorical implications can be fruitfully explored with respect to the subsequent process of invagination -- the infolding of one part of a structure with respect to another (Engendering Invagination and Gastrulation of Globalization: reconstructive insights from the sciences and the humanities, 2010). Such a global transformation suggests more paradoxical cognitive variants (World Introversion through Paracycling: global potential for living sustainably "outside-inside", 2013).

Of relevance to the second case, through use of electrical metaphors (as indicated above), is the manner in which the "globality" is echoed in the geometry of the sphere typical of very high voltage electrical discharge experiments. These recall common reference to the unusual experience of a "spark" passing between two people -- transcending conventional recognition. Comparison might even be made with a solar flare and its extension out to a planet in the form of solar wind.

The fundamental nature of solar dynamics in sustaining life suggests their exploration as a cognitive metaphor with a range of psycho-social implications -- in contrast to a widely promoted "flat earth" framing of globalization, as separately discussed (Irresponsible Dependence on a Flat Earth Mentality -- in response to global governance challenges, 2008).

The dynamics suggest richer possibilities than those based simply on static structural metaphors of the sphere (Metaphorical Geometry in Quest of Globality -- in response to global governance challenges, 2009; Spherical Representation of Icosidodecahedral Net of Strategies: configuring strategic dilemmas in intersectoral dialogue, 1995; Spherical Configuration of Interlocking Roundtables: Internet enhancement of global self-organization through patterns of dialogue, 1998). Some possibilities of the dynamics of the solar metaphor have been discussed separately (Embodiment of Identity in Conscious Creativity, 2011). The cognitive subtlety of cycle "re-cognition" can also be explored, as mentioned above, through "circulation of the light" (Circulation of the Light: essential metaphor of global sustainability? 2010).

Insights into the "global" significance of an encounter with another person are available through many individual accounts, perhaps most notably those of Martin Buber (I and Thou, 1937) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Elective Affinities, 1809). Much-valued attempts have been made to elicit insights from dialogues or trialogues between those esteemed for their insight (David Bohm, Limits of Thought: Discussions with Jiddu Krishnamurti, 1999; Sitansu Ray, The Tagore-Einstein Conversations: reality and the human world, causality and chance, 1995; Ralph Abraham, Terence McKenna and Rupert Sheldrake, Trialogues at the Edge of the West: chaos, creativity, and the resacralization of the world, 1992). As a dynamic, dialogue would seem to imply an as yet poorly understood relation to the completion associated with globality (Sustainable Dialogue as a Necessary Template for Sustainable Global Community, 1995; Enabling a 12-fold Pattern of Systemic Dialogue for Governance, 2011).

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Experiencing otherness as wave-like globality