Puzzle of the Gordian knot as the strategic challenge (uncompleted)

Potential for Coherence through Engaging Strategic Poetry (Part #9)

Reference to the legend of the Gordian knot with respect to global governance notably featured in commentary on a session of the World Economic Forum, in which John Jullens argues that: It's as if the global economy is being strangled by a gigantic Gordian knot from which it cannot untangle itself (The Gordian Knot of Global Economic Growth, Strategy-Business, 15 October 2013).

The image has been used by a number of authors (Mapping grossness: Gordian knot of governance as a Discordian mandala? 2016). How indeed to engage globally with such apparent incoherence? (Engaging globally with knots and riddles -- Gordian and otherwise, 2018).

Pattern recognition capacity: Arguably the most evident clue lies in the capacity to recognize pattern in complexity -- where that capacity is enabled and enhanced through recognition of symmetry, possibly associated with rhythm. Arguably again, cognitive engagement with such complexity could be especially dependent on aesthetic sensibility. There is a need to clarify the distinction between the aesthetic appreciation of a visual rendering of the Mandelbrot set and the intellectual appreciation of the Monster group which does not lend itself to such visualization, despite constituting the highest order of symmetry discovered by mathematics (Mark Ronan, Symmetry and the Monster, 2006).

The case of the Mandelbrot set, and its remarkable visual elegance, is discussed separately (Sustainability through the Dynamics of Strategic Dilemmas -- in the light of the coherence and visual form of the Mandelbrot set, 2005; Psycho-social Significance of the Mandelbrot Set: a sustainable boundary between chaos and order, 2005). The discovery of the Monster group was enabled through a further clue to comprehension of complexity, namely so-called correspondences (Theories of Correspondences -- and potential equivalences between them in correlative thinking, 2007). Comprehension of the significance of the Monster is another matter (Potential Psychosocial Significance of Monstrous Moonshine: an exceptional form of symmetry as a Rosetta stone for cognitive frameworks, 2007)

Given the focus of this argument, further clues are offered in terms of visualization capacity (Visual thinking as indicated by Tesla and by consideration thereof , 2014). As clarified by Felix Hong (Tesla and Creativity: Hidden Messages From His Life. 2010; Tesla Composed Like Mozart, 2006). He notes, citing Tesla:

Then I observed to my delight that I could visualize with the greatest facility. I needed no models, drawings or experiments. I could picture them all as real in my mind. Thus I have been led unconsciously to evolve what I consider a new method of materializing inventive concepts and ideas, which is radically opposite to the purely experimental and is in my opinion ever so much more expeditious and efficient.

and then Hong comments:

There is little doubt what Tesla practiced was an extreme form of visual thinking. Few of the rest of us could match him in terms of details, intensity and precision of visual imagery. His method of carrying out an experiment or manipulation mentally not only saved him time and expenses, but also enabled him to capture fleeting ideas, which would have been lost forever otherwise.

Hong continues with a comparison with Mozart and then Gauss:

Let us see whether visual thinking can also be applied to music creativity. In a letter written to an admirer, Baron von P, Mozart claimed to be able to hold an entire music score in his short-term memory so that [he could] survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue, at a glance. Mozart's picture metaphor implied that what he had practiced was similar to Tesla's visual thinking except what his mind saw (or, rather, hear) is the entire sound pattern instead of an entire diagram of one's invention. What Tesla and Mozart both practiced was known as parallel processing in artificial intelligence (AI) jargon. This is evident in the same letter: Nor do I hear in my imagination the parts successively, but I hear them, as it were, all at once (gleich alles zusammen). Here Mozart tried to contrast his thinking style to verbal thinkers' style of one word at a time or one sentence at a time, also known as sequential processing in AI jargon....

One of the mysteries of creativity was highlighted by a remark of mathematical genius, Carl Friedrich Gauss. In referring to a long-standing problem, which he had just solved, Gauss said, The riddle solved itself as lighting strikes, and I myself could not tell or show the connection between what I knew before, what I last used to experiment with, and what produced the final success. Tesla also used the metaphor of lightning to describe his sudden discovery, but he then went on to describe the visual image that he had seen in his "mental operations" (thinking). Piecing all these hints together, there is little doubt that Gauss solved his problem by visual thinking and his inspiration came from part of a picture like a lightning flash.

Daoist insight? A clue form Eastern traditions is that offered by a famous tale of the Zen butcher, variously translated (Chuang Tzu: "The Dexterous Butcher"), or otherwise told( Osho, A Zen Butcher: Buddhist Spiritual Story)

Prince Wen Hui's cook was cutting up an ox -- Out went a hand -- Down went a shoulder -- He planted a foot -- He pressed with a knee. The ox fell apart with a whisper. The bright cleaver murmured, like a gentle wind. Rhythm! Timing! Like a sacred dance. Like "The Mulberry Grove," Like ancient harmonies! Good work ! the Prince exclaimed, Your method is faultless! Method? said the cook, laying aside his cleaver. What I follow is Tao, Beyond all methods! (Cutting Up an Ox , The Way of Chuang Tzu. Translated by Thomas Merton. 1970)

Flow: The Zen tale could be said to take a modern form through flow psychology (Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, 1996). This is described as the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting transformation in one's sense of time.

Flow has been the focus of widespread study (S. A. Jackson and Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Flow in Sports: The Keys to Optimal Experiences and Performances, 1999; C. Mainemelis, When the Muse Takes It All: a model for the experience of timelessness in organizations, The Academy of Management Review, 26, 2001, 4).