Solve et coagulo: neither changing nor resolving?

Eliciting a Universe of Meaning (Part #5)

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The duality presented above as static vs dynamic (as implying that of developing vs resolving), is itself necessarily inadequate to the living experience of emergent meaning -- an existential challenge for those obliged to live "betwixt and between" various states.  This has previously been discussed in terms of the experience of liminality (Living as an Imaginal Bridge between Worlds: global implications of "betwixt and between" and liminality, 2011).

There is naturally meaning to be found in both extremes -- with the challenge being how to elicit a transcendent meaning to encompass them, without denaturing either through overdefinition. Curiously any such quest recalls the principle maxim of alchemy: solve et coagulo. The difficulty for comprehension being in the mystery of the "and", with the possibility of "both", as well as the challenging implication of "neither".

For Paul Coelho (Solve et Coagulo, 2011), the phrase is to be understood as "concentrate and dissolve". For others it implies the need to break down into constituent parts before these can be appropriately built together, namely analyzing a substance into its components, forsaking the exposed dross, and synthesizing the desirable elements into a new substance. In a period of desperate questing for global "solutions" to the "nothing" faced by many, there is a profound irony to the association of the term with one of the commonest chemical processes extensively explored by alchemy.

As framed here, the "solve" could imply the process noted above of "resolving", with the "coagulo" implying a finality embodied in form. The two both imply a process through which any form emerges. This can either be understood as a "solution" (or re-solution) to a problem, namely "coagulation" of disparate intentions. It can also be understood as the dissolution of any form considered prematurely as definitive, namely its coagulation into an inchoate form without distinguishable qualities.

This "both/and" framing can of course itself be appropriately challenged in the light of a sense of "neither/nor". A more fruitful implication may then be one of four conditions -- a quadrilemma highlighted from an Eastern perspective by Kinhide Mushakoji (Global Issues and Interparadigmatic Dialogue; essays on multipolar politics, 1988). Hence:

• static, resolution, development
• dynamic, resolving,
• both static and dynamic
• neither static nor dynamic

So framed, the widely popular phrasing of the song The Times They Are a-Changin' (1964) by Bob Dylan, suggested a possibility for eliciting meaningful identity (Being Neither a-Waving Nor a-Parting: considering both science and spirituality, 2013). This acknowledges the complementarity between the distinguished "parts" and the mysterious "wave-like" process of their interrelationship. The question is whether the experience of "a-changing" times calls for forms of identity without closure, but encompassing such closure in a paradoxical dynamic. Hence the need for a focus on "a-resolving" process rather than any final "solution" or "resolution" to that process .

The trap of articulation is consistent with the arguments for the "unsaying" of apophasis, rather than (premature) overdefinition, as discussed separately (Being What You Want: problematic kataphatic identity vs. potential of apophatic identity? 2008). The case can be presented otherwise in the light of "self-creation" or autopoiesis, as also discussed separately in the light of aesthetic criteria fundamental to a sense of meaningful coherence (Being a Poem in the Making: engendering a multiverse through musing, 2012).

The strategic implications are discussed with respect to premature conclusion -- mistakenly and affirmatively "connecting the dots" -- exemplified by the "intelligence failure" regarding weapons of mass destruction in the case of Iraq (Groupthink: the Search for Archaeoraptor as a Metaphoric Tale -- missing the link between "freedom fighters" and "terrorists", 2002).

These factors serve to frame the classic philosophical question in the process of eliciting meaning, namely "who am I". This applies as much to the individual as to any collective, such as the United Nations -- or the United States. Metaphors may indeed be a valuable aid to this process (Experimental Articulation of Collective Identity -- through a dynamic system of metaphors, 1991; In Quest of Mnemonic Catalysts -- for comprehension of complex psychosocial dynamics, 2008).

Provocatively, the fourfold pattern (of the quadrilemma) may then be applied to the open-ended process of questioning itself -- centered as it is on the experience of "resolving". This is then to be contrasted with that of any conclusive answer as the closing down of that process  of "sense-making" -- offering a (questionable) sense of "resolution" through "sense having been made". Is meaningful identity then to be associated with question and/or answer (Am I Question or Answer? Problem or (re)solution? 2006). The possibility of any ultimate "answer" then fruitfully raises the question of the dynamics of engaging with it such as to avoid the inadequacy of premature closure (Paradoxes of Engaging with the Ultimate in any Guise: living life penultimately, 2012).

Such paradoxes are extensively explored in the work on the implications of the Mobius strip and the Klein bottle by Steven M. Rosen (Topologies of the Flesh: a multidimensional exploration of the lifeworld, 2006; Dimensions of Apeiron: a topological phenomenology of space, time, and individuation, 2004). This has now been given new significance through his discussion of the contemporary relevance of the alchemical process (Dreams, Death, Rebirth: a multimedia topological odyssey into alchemy's hidden dimensions, 2013). Of notable value is his evocation of dream in this context. The elusive nature of dreams helpfully evokes the experientially inconclusive nature of the liminal process of "resolving" -- through which meaning is elicited with respect to "who am I".

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