Finding and walking elven pathways

Walking Elven Pathways: enactivating the pattern that connects (Part #5)

In the social sciences a distinction is now made between the bonding between those within communities and the bridging that exists between communities. Bonding is of course vital to the social integrity of any group. The challenge is the relationship between distinct groups -- the necessary bridging between those distinctions. The challenge is obvious in multi-ethnic communities and the extent to which they tend towards ghettoization -- effectively into "dynamically gated communities". The challenge also exists between disciplines, belief systems, political persuasions, aesthetic preferences, sporting preferences, etc.

The concern here is with bridges -- other than the most tangible -- between distinct communities, modes of thought, or other preferences. Whilst the more tangible ones are evident in sharing of facilities, intermarriage, etc, the less tangible ones tend to be indicated only through vague terms such as "spirit of tolerance" that offer little operational guidance. With what subtle language can such bridges be more clearly described -- especially since the different communities tend to be associated with different languages or jargons through which their future is articulated?

A possible generic term for these intangible walkways is "elven pathways". Elves are common to the mythology of the founding countries of the European Union (and the culture of many permanent members of the UN Security Council) and have come to constitute a significant part of the imaginative literature and games in cultures around the world -- whose myths have corresponding entities. As with all myths, it is the contemporary significance of elves as carriers of certain qualities that is of importance -- rather than the degree to which they exist or have existed "in reality". The closest "real-world" counterparts to the elves are said to be the Tuatha Dé Danann of Ireland -- a people ageless, heroic, skilled in the arts, and of wistful beauty, doomed to pass from the world, "withdrawing into the stones" and remaining only as a memory to those who come after through the fairy traditions that have delighted generations. [more] Is it possible that the same will be said in the distant future of the heroic visionaries and cultural creatives of the current era?

Some of the characteristics of "elven pathways" may include (in no particular order):

aesthetic associations: these are the core of design (interior decoration, clothing design, landscape design, building design, etc); they are also evident in other arts (poetic associations, musical associations, dramatic associations, etc). Such associations are based on principles of harmony, proportion and surprise that have long been studied. They enable understanding to travel pathways between seemingly unrelated contexts -- possibly set in opposition as complementaries. These aesthetic associations constitute the pathways across the abyss of difference. Those engaged in this way have a sense that they are engendering the future through innovative design.
lateral thinking associations: these are now well-recognized as essential to breaking "out-of-the-box", to thinking creatively, notably in strategic situations to bring about a desired future
humorous associations: however understood, these tend to offer unforeseen (even mischievous) links between contrasting domains. Humour "works" through providing a degree of credibility to such associations. Their subtlety for the humourless is recognized in the challenge of "getting the joke".
creativity: whether associated with aesthetics, invention or strategic thinking, creativity depends on making probable and possible the improbable and the impossible -- through giving form to unforeseen patterns. The emergence of the worldwide web exemplifies the manner in which new thinking pathways have totally transformed global communications -- as well as the understanding of globalization and the emerging knowledge society.
intuition: however inexplicable, this is a well-recognized factor in creativity of all kinds. Through intuition unusual associations may be acknowledged as meaningful -- and emerging patterns may first be sensed
appropriateness: this may be understood as a design criterion, expressed as the "goodness of fit", but may possibly be as subtle as a particular well-timed gesture -- prompted by intuition
resonance: this may be understood in terms of sensed "vibrations" (eg "good vibes") amongst people or groups between which such a "connection" could not have been predicted. Between individuals it may be profoundly significant, as with encounters described as "love at first sight" -- or some other form of recognition. Any such mutual recognition may be the basis for building more tangible relationships
symbol and myth: the nature of several of the intangible associations above may be intimated in the patterns of associations in symbol or myth that may well be fundamental to the sense of identity of an individual or a group. Reference to such devices may reinforce the credibility of aesthetic associations and any sense of appropriateness.
nature and wilderness: these of course exemplify subtle relationships and the varying extents to which they are recognized, by the most modest gardener or the deepest ecologist.

In his seminal study, Erik Davis (TechGnosis: myth, magic and mysticism in the age of information, 1998/2004) argues that of all the godforms characteristic of classical Greece, Hermes is the one that would feel most at home in the wired world of today -- as ruler of the trans-temporal world of information exchange. Many of the characteristics of Hermes as highlighted by Davis are of relevance to any understanding of "elven pathways":

Apollo can be considered the god of science in its ideal form: pure, ordering, embodying the solar world of clarity and light. Hermes insists that there are always cracks and gaps in such perfect architectures: intelligence moves forward by keeping on its crafty toes, ever opening into a world that is messy, unpredictable, and far from equilibrium. The supreme symbol for the fecund space of possibility and innovation that Hermes exploits is the crossroads... Crossroads are extremely charged spaces. Here choices are made, fears and facts overlap, and the alien first shows its face... Crossroads create... "liminal zones": ambiguous but potent spaces of information anjd threat that lie at the edge of cultural maps. Here the self finds itself beyond the limits of its own horizon...

Hermes embodies the mythos of the information age not just because he is the lord of communication, but because he is also a mastermind of techne, the Greek word that means the art of craft.... Hermes the messenger helps us glimpse the powerful archetypal connections between magic, tricks and technology....

This excluded middle is where the postmodern Hermes is born: a sacred ironist or a visionary skeptic, dancing between logic and archaic perception, myth and modernity, reason and its own hallucinatory excess. And it is precisely this tension, and not some abdication of critical intelligence, that now leads so many intelligent and curious minds to conspiracies, alternative histories, paranormal phenomena, and pop science fiction.

The designer innovator, R Buckminster Fuller (Critical Path, 1981) offers one possible description of "walking eleven pathways" in this introduction to a checklist of eight personal lifestyle operating principles that he adopted:

Since nature was clearly intent on making humans successful in support of the integrity of eternally regenerative Universe, it seemed clear if I undertook ever more humanly favorable physical-envieonment-producing artifact developments that in fact did improve the chances of all humanity's successful development, it was quite possible that nature would support my efforts, provided I were choosing the successively most efficient technical means of so doing. Nature was clearly supporting all her intercomplementary ecological regenerative tasks -- ergo I must so commit myself and must depend upon nature of providing the physical means of realization of my invented environment-advadvantaging artifacts.

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Finding and walking elven pathways