Juggling as a Rosetta dynamic -- as its own metaphor of governance?

Governance as "juggling" -- Juggling as "governance" (Part #10)

---

[Parts: First | Prev | Next | Last | All] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]

---

The argument can be taken further through the framework elaborated by Arthur Young in the light of his preoccupation with cycles of learning (Geometry of Thinking, 1976). His inspiration derived from the innovative insight he acquired in developing the original Bell helicopter with its unusual piloting challenges -- usefully recognized as a form of juggling in its own right. He subsequently generalized this in philosophical terms to include the speculative possibility of designing a "psychopter". It could be argued that the quest of global governance for sustainability bears comparison with the challenge of getting the psychosocial system "off the ground" and enabling it to "fly" -- as with a "psychopter" (Clues to 'Ascent' and 'Escape' -- in Navigating Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms through movement, 2002).

With respect to piloting a helicopter, as noted by Ray Prouty:

Deadman's Curve: No matter how clever the pilot is in juggling the energy in both the entry into and the flare from autorotation, there remain some combinations of initial attitudes and speeds from which he will surely crash (Helicopter Aerodynamics, 2009, p. 189)

The sense offered by Young that there may be cyclic learning processes which could offer a new kind of overview (or integrative perspective) justifies a degree of speculation in that regard (Engendering a Psychopter through Biomimicry and Technomimicry: insights from the process of helicopter development, 2011). The 12-fold framework he developed provided a patterned interrelationship between the measure formulae of the physics basic to the operation of a vehicle like a helicopter -- in effect to its governance. This is variously evident in adaptations of that framework (Typology of 12 complementary strategies essential to sustainable development, 1998; Characteristics of phases in 12-phase learning / action cycles, 1995; Typology of 12 complementary dialogue modes essential to sustainable dialogue, 1998).

Young highlighted the inferred significance of the systemic 12-fold framework by naming it as a Rosetta stone of meaning (Young, 1976, pp. 38-50, 159). He attributed to each of the 12 physical conditions of governance of a vehicle (as conventionally named) one or more terms indicative of their psychosocial significance. Curiously, irrespective of the significance to physics or to the psychosocial realm, the terms which can be variously applied to distinguish the 12 conditions can be best explored as metaphors (or as metaphorical connotations) -- as discussed below. Understood in this way, premature definitional closure on each condition is avoided.

The elusive nature of the underlying meaning then remains a matter of continuing reflection. Given the nature of the different isotopes of chemical elements, the distinct metaphors of each condition could be (playfully) termed "isotropes" (sic). Framing the effort to comprehend them in terms of "grasping their meaning" may itself be misleading, as can be otherwise argued speculatively (Authentic Grokking Emergence of Homo conjugens, 2003; Emergence of Homo undulans -- through a "grokking" dynamic? 2013).

Of major implication, in contrast to the absence of systemic insights into the 12-fold Greek and Roman pantheons (for example), is the manner in which Young's Rosetta stone is systemically organized. In this sense it is unfortunate that it is named as a "stone" -- when in fact those relationships render it essentially dynamic. This is indeed obvious in the light of its implication for "governing" the movement of a helicopter. Use of "stone" offers the misleading implication that piloting the helicopter is a question of consulting a manual of prescriptions of some kind, when the challenges of its governance are essentially dynamic -- as of those of any collectivity or with respect to any understanding of self-governance.

Controversially, Young however takes his argument further by indicating how his Rosetta stone is consistent with the traditional pattern of signs of the zodiac -- with all the qualitative connotations they have offered to so many for so long, in a variety of cultures worldwide. Here again however, rather than being locked into that particular framing, their consideration as one possible set of metaphors is more fruitful.

Missing however from the argument of Young is how to work with his Rosetta stone. Again this is arguably as a consequence of it being framed as a "stone". Practioners of astrology give themselves greater flexibility in "juggling" with the variables to which significance is attributed. However, another approach may be explored. given the manner in which Young associates each condition with a physical process fundamental to juggling in practice. -- itself with a fundamental commitment to flow.

Succinctly stated, juggling is effectively its own metaphor of governance -- and a very powerful one at that, most notably as it applies to self-governance. All the considerations required of a juggler of "balls" are those required of piloting a helicopter. However, when the "balls" are concepts or metaphors (as discussed above), analogous considerations are required in "juggling" the functions of psychosocial governance. The perspective of helicopter pilots who are skilled jugglers could offer further insight.

Framed and experienced cognitively as metaphors, the engagement with the 12-fold multiplicity of functions is then far more intimate (and "hands-on") than when those functions are (overly) defined as concepts -- especially when such "instrumentalization" cognitively distances the governor from engaging with the juggling process. The functional coordination required for coherent governance is then disenabled. The helicopter will not fly in a controlled manner; it will crash, sooner or later -- if it gets off the ground. Missing is any sense of the cognitive requirement to "fly by the seat of one's pants".

---

[Parts: First | Prev | Next | Last | All] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]