Engaging with Hyperreality through Demonique and Angelique? (Part #4)
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Memes | "Angelic" ("positive", "constructive") | "Demonic" ("negative", "destructive" |
problems | as necessary challenges to creativity | as seemingly unjustified cause of pain |
memories | good memories, evoking nostalgia | memories of past injustice |
images | attractive images | repulsive images |
issues | as a focus of creativity | as a focus of concern |
values, principles | values framed as positive | values framed as negative |
strategies | remedial strategies | disruptive strategies |
goals | global collective goals (MDG, SDG) | questionable goals ("total system dominance") |
concepts, models, hypotheses | creative concepts | destructive concepts |
explanations | inspired, imaginative | unimaginative, restrictive |
(dis)agreement | consensus, harmony | disagreement, discord |
(mis)understanding | sharing an understanding | misunderstanding |
findings (judicial, scientific) | balanced, insightful | biased |
collectivities | benevolent collectivities | malevolent collectivities |
decisions | good decisions | bad decisions |
identity | developed, fulfilled | constrained, demeaned |
Documenting the insubstantial: With respect to the existence of angels and demons, a remarkably balanced commentary is provided by Gustav Davidson, as compiler of a massive compendium: A Dictionary of Angels -- including the fallen angels (1967). The commentary might well have been adapted to that relating to the existence of problems (as "demons") and remedial strategies (as "angels") in the above-mentioned Encyclopedia (on which extensive methodological comments are separately provided).
Relevant to this argument are the following statements by Davidson on his experience as compiler, individually annotated here (as indents) with respect to conventional problem and strategic preoccupations:
The comparisons made above can be reframed and reviewed in terms of cultural memes (D.J.H. Brown, Cultural Memes and their Inhibitory Impact upon Energy Policy Change, 2008; Robert Walker, Cultural Memes, Innate Proclivities and Musical Behaviour: a case study of the western traditions, Psychology of Music, 2004; Alexis Morris, et al. The Evolution of Cultural Resilience and Complexity, 2011). Engendered and sustained by belief, both solutions (angelic or otherwise) and problems (demonic or otherwise) merit consideration as creations of the human spirit which may "rise" and "fall" under circumstances -- potentially defying forms of comprehension the future may find appropriate.
Hierarchical orders? Conventional articulations of the clustering into angelic and demonic orders and hierarchies call for continuing critical review regarding the implied prioritization -- notably given the ineffectual and unsustainable consensus they tend to inspire. Especially intriguing with respect to angelic and demonic perspectives are the distinctive modes of cognition they purportedly imply when ordered in this way.
How does nesting within the lower orders of any hierarchy imply a form of "subunderstanding" -- following the argument of Magoroh Maruyama (Peripheral Vision: polyocular vision or subunderstanding?, Organization Studies, 25, 2004, 3, pp. 467-480)? More challenging is the nature of of the insight implied by the highest levels of any proposed cognitive hierarchy upheld as a focus for belief. To what extent does such positioning -- as the "archangels" of secular society -- go beyond facile manipulation of conventional labels: environment, security, employment, education, resources, and the like?
Named otherwise, the angels and demons in the Dictionary resemble strangely the entities profiled in the Encyclopedia as problems, strategies, values and concepts. Other labels for the insubstantial -- whose nature also remains elusive
Given the limited set of archangels recognized, there is of course the provocative case for recognizing that functionally their secular equivalent could be compared to the limited sets of corporate entities that "rule the world", as implied by the argument of Pier Giuseppe Monateri (Rational Angels: understanding the theological background of economic rationality, Cardozo Electronic Law Bulletin, 2011; La Natura Angelica della Corporation). This argument is distinct from recognition of "corporate angels" in various forms (Corporate Angel Network; Types of Business Angels; Brian E. Hill, Attracting Capital from Angels, 2002).
The contrasting perceptions of their ruling function could be compared with deprecation of the various hierarchical orderings of angels (Swiss study shows 147 corporations rule the world, 12 October 2012; Revealed -- the capitalist network that runs the world, New Scientist, 19 October 2011; The 50 Corporations that Rule the World, WhiteOut Press, 16 September 2012; The Four Companies That Control the 147 Companies That Own Everything, Forbes, 26 October 2011; 10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy, Information Clearing House, 4 November 2013).
Dynamics? Missing from Davidson's very comprehensive Dictionary of Angels is any sense of how particular angels interact systemically with other angels in Heaven or in Hell. This dynamic is only implicit, if at all, in the hierarchical orders and arrays presented. An analogous dynamic has been a preoccupation of the Encyclopedia and the visualization of the networks of entities it profiled. Such systemic insights are under exploration for possible future evolution of the Encyclopedia (Encycling Problematic Wickedness for Potential Humanity, 2014).
To the extent that problems and remedial strategies can be imaginatively framed as demonic and angelic in nature, as memes they offer another way of speculating about the nature of the final battle envisaged by some religions in their end times scenarios, notably the Battle of Armageddon. Should such a battle be understood in the light of what is now being termed memetic warfare (Missiles, Missives, Missions and Memetic Warfare: navigation of strategic interfaces in multidimensional knowledge space, 2001; Brian J. Hancock, Memetic Warfare: the future of war, Military Intelligence, 36, 2, 2010, pp. 41-46)
Evocation and invocation: The correspondences implied above offer the ironic implication that the deprecated traditional magic rituals of "evocation" of demonic and angelic entities could be fruitfully compared to the practices and settings in which modern day politicians ceremoniously invoke values in response to selected issues.
As exercises in public relations, image management and "talking up" strategic options, such processes could well be compared in systemic terms with traditional magical operations -- effectively "summoning" demons (notably through fear mongering) and invoking angelic assistance in response.
Especially intriguing in any such operational correspondence are efforts to control the demonic in a cultivated culture of fear -- drawing on myth when appropriate.
Quest for angelic language: There is an evident absence of any unifying language or discipline -- highlighted by the failure of unified science and philosophy (Nicholas Rescher, The Strife of Systems: an essay on the grounds and implications of philosophical diversity, 1985). It is then appropriate to note the traditional quest for the language of angels as variously imagined (Aaron Leitch, The Angelical Language, 2010).
As argued separately, traces of it may now be speculatively recognized in use of Twitter (Re-Emergence of the Language of the Birds through Twitter? 2010). The associated set of communication concerns is contrasted there with the quest for a language adequate to governance, as notably recognized by Umberto Eco in exploring an appropriate language for "The Making of Europe" (The Search for the Perfect Language, 1993). He summarizes the insights of philosophers, theologians, mystics and others for at least two millennia about the idea that there once existed a language, notably a "language of the birds", which perfectly and unambiguously expressed the essence of all possible things and concepts. He explores the history of that idea and of its profound influence on European thought, culture, and history.
The question here is whether global use of Twitter -- exemplifying many of the current communication concerns -- can be understood as enabling the emergence into practice of a form of that mythical language of the birds, common to the memory of many cultures. These include Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and shamanism, as indicated by Philip Coppens (Tweet Tweet: the language of birds). Despite that title however, no reference is made to Twitter, whose potential relationship to any "language of the birds" does not seem to have been considered by others.
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