Hi Keith, Rosan, Johann, Dick & all

Thanks Rosan for these excellent questions 

I am sure that dualities can exist in our perceptions, ideas, and in the
manner in which we structure and communicate our thoughts in regard to
meaning in the world, this does not necessarily mean that they exist in the
world. 

We have a means of thinking that allows us to focus on a few objects in
opposition to make a point,  experience a sensation, make a meaning or have
an idea, however, i believe that duality does not lead us much deeper than
this. 

Greek Rationality (GR) presupposes that meaning & value in the world is
ordered through its own measure in a sense (it is based on a dualist
premise)...and that chaos and darkness surround this light (and await man,
the meaning maker). The 'I' and the object as separate yet remotely
interacting… with the 'I' active and the object passive. But the the object
is not passive and the other is not other (the object & the other generate
the place/space in which we live), except within the abstract value system
of this rationality... driven by a passion for truth that sublates the
truth of passion (as Sini states and I believe that you agree). We can
romanticise at a distance but we have to love up close. I believe that we
differ only in the means by which we can come close to meaning/creativity.

To me this GR is a bit like a mining for truth operation...the ore of high
value is discovered retrieved and the overburden is discarded (if we act
thus we get rich ideas and then we must move on). Therefore in creating we
must pay/destroy part of this stuff that surrounds our abstract
pre-conception of the object (through its value attribute). We lure, hunt,
pay the price, carry the burden, appease the muse...suffer...(for true
creativity) all a very gothic pathway that is necessary and effective
nevertheless. 

I belive that i am stating that truth (true creativity) lies in the
emotional relation not in the abstact distancing. 

Rather than a duality (a very useful tool) i believe that emergence theory
proposes a symmetry (a re-cognition of being). Inherent in what GR
rationalists perceive as disorder, duality and/or delusion (in the
overburden, the concept of overburden and a lack of value attributes) there
is a dynamic chaos that provides the means for authentic rationality to
emerge (we get rich ideas in this place of interaction). In creating we
must wait here. By this I do not intend to imply a shallow reverence for
disorder or that this creativity just comes, I propose an intense &
rigorous self-evaluation of where we stand (place) to be creative.

Light dances in the body surrounds all living things-
even the stones sing
although their songs are infinitely slower than the ones we learn
from trees
No human voice lasts long enough to make such music sound (Gail Trembaly 1997)

By authentic rationality i mean a value in the world that emerges from the
world.ie if you have a value for man that differs from your value for air
or water you eventually get big problems. The problems arise from a lack of
symmetry (context relevance) in the values...this is irrationality. This
lines up with many environmental philosophers (who i don't have time to
read to establish a sound philosophical grounding yet)

Emergence theory would have been condemned as mysticism in the past but now
it is verifiable on many theoretical levels, (and proposes that GR is a
form of mysticism)it relates directly to many instances of high level
creativity and can form the basis of an effective model for creative design
and cognition that is situation relevant. We must look to the context of
creativity not the process (because that is an individual's pathway to be
respected). 

If a PhD Design is to have a value system it should perhaps value the
cultivation and preservation of diversity for a
cultural/social/intellectual diversity is a cognitive diversity-a
generative disorder- 

Norm


[log in to unmask]
Norman Sheehan
Senior Research Officer
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit
University of Queensland
Brisbane Old 4072 Australia


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