Being a particle versus Being a wave -- and the alternation between

Constrained, Unconstrained and Surprised in a Global Context (Part #6)

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As explored by Tao Jiang in his comments on the Zhuangzi, the perspectives of the frog and the turtle are presented as distinct -- if not incompatible, incommensurable, and mutually challenging. From the perspective of liminality and the "space between", there is an emphasis in the Zhuangzi on an intermediary space of "thicklessness". As suggested above, a more fruitful perspective might focus on a continuing process of alternation between the extremes of the frog and the turtle. However, rather than a smooth process, this would be one associated with a paradoxical cognitive twist of some kind -- as suggested by the Möbius strip (Psychosocial Work Cycle: beyond the plane of Möbius, 2007; Twistedness in Psycho-social Systems: challenge to logic, morality, leadership and personal development, 2004).

Any such alternation could then be experienced and understood as reframed by that between wave and particle -- and its associated indeterminacy, as a characteristic of the aesthetic experience of a liminal reality, being neither one nor the other.

The experience of the frog is of the concrete reality of the particular and the individual. That of the turtle is of the limitless enabled by dreaming -- usefully associated with the generic. The contrast could be seen as characterizing that between the individualism cultivated in the West and the communal focus of cultures of the East. The arguments of Alfred Korzybski regarding general semantics highlight the problematic nature of "is", which could then be interpreted as any focus on the particular as distinct from the general. The contrast could also be related to the considerations of Alfred North Whitehead (Process and Reality, 1929), now regarded as a foundational text of process philosophy.

Whilst the emphasis of the text and the commentary is on the merits of limitlessness (potentially as with an unconstrained "dreaming" modality), and deprecates the constraints of the framework of the frog, there is a case for recognizing the aesthetic arguments of György Doczi (The Power of Limits: proportional harmonies in nature, art, and architecture, 1981)

The butterfly dream then offers a paradoxical means of relating the two extremes -- being neither one nor the other, neither external nor internal, and potentially both.

Curiously the alternation between the two extremes might be fruitfully related to the process of respiration -- especially given the cognitive emphasis placed on the breathing cycle in a number of meditation disciplines. Most notably this is a feature of the inner alchemy of Neidan. It could be understood as encoded in the dynamics between yin and yang. The origins of that encoding, described as the patterning of a tortoise shell (as perceived by Fu Hsi), suggest that there may be confusion, conflation or allusion between tortoise and turtle -- suggestive of the limitlessness upheld as implied by the cognitive dimensions of the Yi Jing (Archetypal Otherness -- "DNA vs. I Ching", 2007).

Given the seeming incommensurability of wave and particle, it is intriguing to explore pointers to the experience of the transition between them in practice, even if they are only indicative or symbolic. Aspects of the transition can be explored as a form of osmosis (Cognitive Osmosis in a Knowledge-based Civilization: interface challenge of inside-outside, insight-outsight, information-outformation, 2017). Another such indication is the transition between the forms of stasis of conventional posture (characteristic of officialdom, for example) and cognitive embodiment in the dynamics of dance (Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, The Primacy of Movement, 1999).

The metaphor of dance has been developed by Rosabeth Moss Kanter as the definitive guide to corporate America's changing strategies for success (When Giants Learn to Dance, 1990). This is now articulated through terms such as resilience. Far more provocative is the relation between the conventions of interpersonal relations and the rhythmic dynamics of intercourse. Ironically the latter if successful -- beyond dance -- as a form of wave process, can be understood as engendering a particle.

Another suggestive provocation is potentially offered by the Zhuangzi reference to the fable of the ox and the butcher, given the later tale of the 10 Ox-herding pictures of Zen Buddhism. The provocation lies in any implication that those oxen need to be "butchered" -- in some cognitive sense (Zen of Facticity: Bull, Ox or Otherwise? Herding facts and their alternatives in a post-truth-era, 2017). Explored otherwise, given the contrast with the "struggles" noted for conventional butchers, is a distinctive use of the bull metaphor in the light of the skills of a matador (Viable Global Governance through Bullfighting: challenge of transcendence, 2009).

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