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Making things whole -- imaginatively?


Annexing the World as the Deal of the Century (Part #4)

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Fragmentation: A major characteristic of the current times is the fragmentation across many domains. This is curiously matched by claims to the contrary from particular perspectives, whether of particular religions anticipating resolution through divine intervention, techno-optimists, positive movements of various flavours (New Age, etc), or the salvatory revolution anticipated in some political ideologies. For William Davies:

It's not about foreign trolls, filter bubbles or fake news. Technology encourages us to believe we can all have first-hand access to the 'real' facts â-- and now we can't stop fighting about it. (Why can't we agree on what's true any more? The Guardian, 19 September 2019)

Clearly both science and religion have variously demonstrated complete and total inadequacy in "making things whole" and framing a richer understanding of unity for which many appeals are made -- despite dubious claims to the contrary. The inadequacy of science is demonstrated by the deprecation of interdisciplinarity (or transdisciplinarity) in academia -- other than for token purposes of self-celebration. The need for any such integration is essentially unrecognized by disciplines committed to their particular cognitive modalities.

The same pattern is evident between religions and in the deprecation of interfaith initiatives -- other than for token purposes, again. This is exemplified by the total lack of investment of the Abrahamic religions in any effective resolution of their historic differences -- long a major driver of international conflict -- a pattern reflected in the relation between the denominations and sects of each of them.

Creative imagination: Both science and religion voice the need for imaginative "new thinking" to address this disarray -- without necessarily treating such appeals as other than exercises in tokenism by the few, unrepresentative of the many, The pattern is similarly evident in political discourse where there is a heavy investment in binary decision-making -- with a majority of 1% held to exemplify the "will of the people", irrespective of the degree of commitment to alternative perspectives. Curiously the implication is that any integrative perspective is a matter for the individual, unsanctioned (if not deprecated) by the collective.

The role of the imagination, and the calls for it, have been widely recognized:

There is an intriguing pattern of appreciation of imagination through the role of angel investors in support of innovative dreams whether in business or the arts.

Having a dream: What scope is there for the individual to "make things whole" -- and for whom? Expressed otherwise, what are the constraints on any individual engaging in this process -- as a personal act of imaginative creativity? To what extent does any such creativity need to be communicated to "others" -- especially given that otherness may be refamed by the creative process such that any communication of that kind is unnecessary, if not impossible? To what extent is there a requirement for "peer review" -- justified from what perspective? Those promoting the peer review process at this time would have the greatest difficulty in establishing its contribution to "making things whole".

More recently Johan Galtung has echoed use of the dream metaphor:

I have a dream. Like an American from Atlanta, Georgia, MLK Jr. Imagine West and Islam focusing not on the worst, like Western violence for prevention and Islamic for retribution, but on the best. Like the capacity for innovation and freedom in the West, togetherness and sharing in Islam. Imagine them dialoguing publicly at a high level "how can we learn from each other"? (Violence In and By Paris: Any Way Out? Transcend Media Service, 23 November 2015)

In conflict-torn societies, "peace" may indeed be readily framed by many in terms of an especially desirable dream. Conflict is then to be understood as a "bad dream". World peace is frequently the focus of collective aspiration, notably articulated in cultural events designed to enable that dream and give it credence.

What is the "cognitive twist" which enables the individual to take personal responsibility for this disarray and to imagine coherence otherwise -- if that is meaningful -- through framing "outside" as "inside"? How does one see the set of disciplines as a knowledge ecosystem -- with whatever degree of complexity is appropriate? How does that approach apply to the array of religions -- taking account of the criticism of syncretism, for example? How might an ecosystem of religions be understood -- given the arguments for exclusivism and the perceptions of blasphemy? What imaginative capacity is there to interweave the quarrelsome arguments of contrasting political ideologies, without the faintest desire for any form of unity, other than on their own terms?

Given the challenge to comprehension of unity in any sphere, there is a case for recognizing otherwise the role of diversity -- as exemplified by natural ecosystems. Unity, to the extent it exists, is then transcendental and beyond the scope of conventional definition and comprehension. Again, as exemplified in nature, such "unity" may call for comprehension in systemically dynamic terms rather than in conventional static terms. Alien to the disciplines rejoicing in their fragmentation, such comprehension may be facilitated by aesthetics, as exemplified by music, song and dance -- by movement (Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, The Primacy of Movement, 2011; Mark Johnson, The Meaning of the Body: aesthetics of human understanding, 2007).

How are the fragments to which one is exposed to be conscripted into a larger aesthetic form -- of appropriately epic form for example? Can such a magnum opus frame the "voices", "actors" or "instruments" with suitable "orchestration"? Is that what Shakespeare did?

The question is given particular form in that there is neither insight nor curiosity as to the dialogue at the Last Supper or at the archetypal Arthurian Round table created in emulation of it. What do the 12-fold set of deities of Greece and Rome have to say to each other -- especially at the prospect of their declining civilizations? For an individual, are these to be understood as sub-personalities or functions whose integration is the challenged framed by some schools of psychoanalysis?

More intriguing is the extent in which the iconic personalities, so frequently framed by the media, are the contemporary analogues to such pantheons of the past. How to integrate Trump, Johnson, Putin, Bolsonaro, Duterte, Netanyahu, MBS, and the like -- each with their dreams -- as configured at the G20 or at the G7? What to make of movements such as Christian fundamentalists, Zionists, the Taliban, radical nationalist?

Dream marketing and dream theft: The passionate declaration to the UN Climate Summit (as cited above), highlights the challenge of "dream stealing" and "dream theft": You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words (Greta Thunberg to U.N. climate summit: 'you have stolen my dreams', Reuters, 22 September 2019 -- video). Clearly there is an argument for exploring many dream-inspired strategic initiatives in this light -- especially when the consequence is the contrary of that suggested by the dream, as argued with respect to Christianity, Communism, and the like. Are Israel and Palestine to be recognized as having stolen each others dreams?

Marketing, whether at its best or at its worst, may be understood as the creatively persuasive dissemination of dreams. The focus is on ensuring that people "buy into" a particular dream -- possibly recognized as propaganda and misrepresented in the form of fake news. Many can be recognized as "selling dreams" in the hope of pesuading others to "buy" them. Many face the challenge of being "sucked into" the dream of someone else -- denying the greater significance of their own, thereby "crushed". This perspetive calls for rethinking of "purchasing power" as it may relate to buuing into a dream.

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