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Reconciliation of incommensurable differences implied by the mysterious valley spirit


Exploring Representation of the Tao in 3D (Part #7)

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Valley spirit of Taoism: There is a curious sense in which further insight may be enabled through what amounts to a topographical metaphor, as previously argued (Naturomimicry: sourcing nature for strategic metaphors, 2012). Represented in 3D and viewed from one side, the Tao symbol suggests two archetypal mountains:

Curiously, and appropriate to this argument, an aesthetic transformation between these interpretations has been studied (Marjorie Hope Nicolson, Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory: the development of the aesthetics of the infinite, 1997).

As is especially evident in the 3D rendering of the Tao symbol, separating these mountains is a form of abyss, variously evident as a form of valley. In topographical terms it is this feature which reconciles the contrasting mountains. Typically water from neighbouring mountains gathers in such a valley via streams, and flows along it in the form of a meandering river. Symbolically the sense of "abyss" and "water" is conflated in one of the symbols of the 8-fold Taoist BaGua configuration (Kan, denoted by the character Shui). The sense of "mountain", and the portentous "thunder" with which it is associated, are represented by two of the other symbols (Gen and Zhen).

Whilst a form of "valley" is obvious in the 3D rendering, it is only implied by the meandering line which divides the Tao symbol in 2D.

It is however the references to a mysterious "valley spirit" in the Tao Te Ching which are suggestive of an elusive potential reconciliation between the mountains. The view from any mountain peak -- an experientially awesome dominating overview -- is readily associated with that from any preferred strategic perspective, whereas that potentially experienced within a valley is far more subtle and elusive. The former offers a particularly static sense of order, whereas the latter implies a process of containment which does not lend itself to simple description. In metaphorical terms this contrast readily lends itself to comparison with the strange dynamic between male and female which is so fundamental in every culture.

Alternative articulations of the "Valley Spirit" from the Tao Te Ching (chapter 6)
The valley spirit not dying
is called the mysterious female.
The opening of the mysterious female
is called the root of heaven and earth.
Continuous, on the brink of existence,
to put it into practice, don't try to force it.
 The valley spirit never dies
Call it the mystery, the woman.
The mystery,
the Door of the Woman,
is the root
of earth and heaven.
Forever this endures, forever.
And all its uses are easy.
 The life-force of the valley never dies--
This is called the dark female.
The gateway of the dark female--
This is called the root of the world.
Wispy and delicate, it only seems to be there,
Yet its productivity is bottomless.
  Thomas Cleary Ursula K. Le Guin, Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall

The strangeness is usefully emphasized by that of the Taoist alchemical symbol (xuanpin) for the so-called valley spirit, or mysterious feminine, as widely discussed (Embodying topological succinctness beyond questions, 2014; Shuren Wang, Returning to Primordially Creative Thinking: Chinese wisdom on the horizon of "Xiang thinking", 2018; Evgueni A. Tortchinov, The Doctrine of the "Mysterious Female" in Taoism, 1997; Ellen M. Chen, In Praise of Nothing: an exploration of Daoist fundamental ontology, 2010).

Dynamic engendered by the missing: In contrast with the explicit form of the mountains by which it is seemingly framed, the valley is characterized by its emptiness -- by seemingly "missing something". Taoism places great emphasis on that emptiness in cognitive terms.

It is appropriate to note that the role of the missing is the focus of the argument of Terrence Deacon (What's Missing from Theories of Information? 2010). Together these elements emphasize through their animation that the elusive requisite comprehension of challenging systems is dynamic rather than the dangerously simplistic conventional implication that it is static, as emphasized separately (Engaging with Elusive Connectivity and Coherence: global comprehension as a mistaken quest for closure, 2018).

As discussed separately (Necessary incompleteness, 2014; Cognitive mystery of holes, lacunae and incompleteness, 2014), for Deacon:

The problem is this: Such concepts as information, function, purpose, meaning, intention, significance, consciousness, and value are intrinsically defined by their fundamental incompleteness. They exist only in relation to something they are not.... The "something" that each of these is not is precisely what matters most. But notice the paradox in this English turn of phrase. To "matter" is to be substantial, to resist modification, to be beyond creation or destruction -- and yet what maters about an idea or purpose is dependent on something that is not substantial in any obvious sense. So what is shared in common between all these phenomena? In a word, nothing -- or rather, something not present. (Incomplete Nature: how mind emerged from matter, 2011p. 23, emphasis in original)

The fundamental value of focusing on what is "absent" from conventional explanation is introduced by Deacon by comparing it to the vital role of zero in the number system -- itself a great discovery (cf. Charles Seife, Zero: the biography of a dangerous idea, 2000; Robert Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan, The Nothing that Is: a natural history of zero, 2000). For Deacon:

Basically, it means that our best science -- that collection of theories that presumably comes closest to explaining everything -- does not include this one most defining characteristic of being you and me. In effect, our current "Theory of Everything" implies that we don't exist, except as collections of atoms. So what's missing? Ironically and enigmatically, something missing is missing. (p. 1, emphasis added)

Deacon uses this analogy to zero to demonstrate how a form of causality dependent on specifically absent features and unrealized potentials can be compatible with the best of science. Deacon sees this approach as offering a glimpse of the qualitative outlines of a future science that is subtle enough to include us and our enigmatically incomplete nature, as legitimate forms of knotting in the fabric of the universe (p. 17)

Encompassing differences: The engagement with the difference, experienced as so divisive in society at the present time, features notably in the arguments of Longxi Zhang (The Tao and the Logos: Literary Hermeneutics, East and West. 2012):

For many scholars, whether they accept or reject the Hegelian view, incommensurability or fundamental difference between cultural systems is still very much the accepted working assumption. Of course, difference is what makes things identifiable, interesting, even aesthetically appealing, and hermeneutic difference is where understanding begins, but total difference without any common ground would make hermeneutics utterly impossible. We may recall Dilthey's remarks on the realm of hermeneutics as a locale between the two extremes of total difference and total identity. The object of all hermeneutic activities, a speech or a text that calls for interpretation, is always some kind of expression of life (Lebensäusserung). "Interpretation would be impossible", says Dilthey, "if the expressions of life were totally foreign. It would be unnecessary if there were nothing foreign in them. Interpretation therefore resides between the two opposed extremes. It is needed wherever there is something foreign, which the art of understanding should make one's own." [p. 22, emphasis added]

Intimations of the "valley spirit": Given its nature, that spirit necessarily eludes definitions and is therefore best suggested by a complex of metaphorical associations, especially those with an aesthetic emphasis. These might include the following, although each necessarily has its limitations in the spirit of Neti Neti:

Cleavage: Other understandings of the valley spirit are suggested by the ambiguous connotations of cleavage, whether as epitomizing the problematic divisiveness of society or as perhaps the most fundamental attractor. This is explored separately more extensively (Golden Globes Confusing Cleavage, Hype and Hypocrisy, 2018), under the following headings: Unacknowledged symbolism in relation to cleavage; Cleavage: metaphorical nexus of complexity and ambiguity; Cleavage as a global psychosocial metaphor.

There it is noted that the use of cleavage as a metaphor is alleged to derive from the physical world rather than human biology where it is notable feature of the division of cells in the early embryo. The case for the physical derivation is made by Zsolt Enyedi and Kevin Deegan-Krause (Cleavages and Their Discontents, 2007):

"Cleavage" is one of any number of starting points for understanding social and political phenomena. In the social and political realm, "cleavage" is a metaphor, an image borrowed from geology: the crack in the rock that is the first to emerge under pressure. As such, the metaphor of cleavage organizes social and political phenomena around "sides" and (because unlike rocks, people often fear, desire, abhor what is on the other side) around competition and conflict between sides.

Insights into the nature of the valley spirit are variously implied by potentially problematic examples elaborated in that earlier discussion, including:

Human psychodynamics associated with anatomical cleavages: Curiously, given the leading role played by the French fashion industry in defining cleavage, in French the emphasis in relation to breasts is on euphemistic use of dÉcolletage. The term clivage is however used to distinguish many of the cleavages indicated above. This preference could be explored with regard to the sense in which dÉcolletage offers an emphasis on what is covered or uncovered when cleavage is used in a psychosocial context where "cover-up" may be especially relevant, as discussed separately. Cleavage in such a context triggers responses familiar to entrepreneurs in quest of a market niche and the possibility of imagining a creative means of exploiting it.

Ironically the "cleavage" between the physical and biological derivations is "bridged" in psychological terms in one of the most popular Christian hymns Rock of Ages -- itself an inspiration for many musical renderings. The first stanza of the hymn is: Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee. This use of cleft is curiously consistent with a common male breast fantasy cultivated to their advantage by women. Ironically another is evident in the anatomical distinction of the pudendal cleft. This vaginal cleavage features extensively in literature and art as a focus of attraction (A Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in Shakespearean and Stuart Literature, 2001, p. 249; Vagina and Vulva in Art, Revolvy).

Potentially of particular relevance to this argument is the nature of the cleft that is most "hidden", namely that separating the two cerebral hemispheres -- and the linking function of the corpus callosum. With the right and left hemispheres so readily recognized as "mountains" having complementary functions, insights into the nature of what separates and links them so evidently merits reflection in terms of the function of the valley spirit and the possibility for its comprehension. That reflection merits extension to any understanding of the global brain, as variously presented (Corpus Callosum of the Global Brain? Locating the integrative function within the world wide web, 2014). There is a case for exploring the manner in which the cleavages in society echo or mirror those in the human anatomy, much as is recognized in the function of mirror neurons.

Subliminal function of the valley spirit? As noted in the earlier argument, the manner in which symbolism functions may well elude recognition in conventional terms.

The point is usefully made by reference to perhaps the most prominent symbol worldwide -- beyond any associated with the United Nations or religions -- namely that of the hamburger chain McDonald's. As noted by Carly Ledbetter (There's A Subliminal Message Behind McDonald's Golden Arches Can you see it? The Huffington Post, 14 February 2017):

When McDonald's was thinking about doing away with the arches in the 1960s, they hired design consultant and psychologist Louis Cheskin. Cheskin wisely instructed the chain to keep the arches, for a very interesting reason:

He argued against completely eliminating the golden arches, claiming they had a great Freudian importance in the subconscious mind of consumers. According to Cheskin, the golden arches resembled a pair of large breasts: "mother McDonald's breasts". It made little sense to lose the appeal of that universal, and yet somehow all-American, symbolism. The company followed Cheskin's advice and retained the golden arches, using them to form the M in McDonald's.

The design has stayed relatively the same ever since. McDonald' didn't respond to our request for confirmation on this tale, but one thing is for sure -- you'll never look at those golden arches the same way ever again!

As The Golden Arches Are Boobs, this example is cited by Scott Hillard (10 Logos That Mean Way More Than You Think, ListVerse, 4 July 2013), and by others (George Harrison, Still Lovin' It? There's something strange -- and a bit rude -- about the McDonald's logo which you've probably never noticed, The Sun, 5 February 2017; Emily Hodgkin (Did you know? Fast food chain McDonald's logo has a hidden sexual meaning... planted there by the man who designed it in the 1960s, Express, 6 March 2017).

Association of liquidity and fluidity with the valley: The dynamic adaptation of the recycling symbol, as presented above, offers a reminder that metaphorical "mountains" are especially significant for the manner in which water flows down from them via streams into a valley where they typically form a river. Hence the association of "abyss" with "water".

This transition can be usefully understood in terms of the language of keynote presentation by Maurice Yolles to a symposium, themed around Borders Without Borders: Systemic frameworks and their applications for sustainable well-being in the global era, focused on the the distinction between solid and liquid development (The Socio-Cultural Dynamics of Development, 6th Business Systems Laboratory International Symposium, University of Pavia, January 2019). Yolles notes that:

[Modernism] was replaced by post-modernism after WWII, in which relativism rose to smite positivist views of reality, becoming a period that saw in the onset of socio-cultural uncertainty. This has transformed into Bauman's... notions of liquidity, in which uncertainty is a dominant feature [Z. Bauman, Liquid fear, World Social Summit, 2008]. So, the shift from modernity to post-modernity is an entry into a period of cultural instability. It has since then developed into the social liquidity of complexity and uncertainty. Here then we see movement from the solid certainties of modernity to the full-blown uncertainties of liquidity through the transition of post-modernism....

Liquid society... is defined by extended social dynamics, high levels of mobility and perpetual social change for interactions and relationships, and in the configuration of structures and social systems [E. Palese, Bauman: Individual and society in the liquid modernity, SpringerPlus, 2013]. It is a mobile, changing and precarious society in which values are transient, as are human relationships that are constantly in danger of disintegration... the liquid perspective on society helps explain instabilities in the practice of public relations because the crisis has fuelled additional uncertainty to the state of liquid fear in a liquid society of liquid consumption.

Essential ambiguity: The various possible connotations of the "valley spirit" are appropriately called into question in the spirit of Neti Neti, as noted above. The ambiguity is usefully framed by the complex of understandings of liminality, as argued separately (Living as an Imaginal Bridge between Worlds: global implications of "betwixt and between" and liminality, 2011).

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