Adam Blatner

Explaining Explaining

There are times my meandering thoughts seem inexplicable, I have been told. Alas. I mark this up to the possibility of there being ambiguous alternative interpretations I didn’t think of. If one considers the sheer depth of meaning inherent in whatever, and / or further meanings, not to speak of analogies and reflections of similar processes in other realms, well, it’s understandable. Or, having been nudged to contemplate this dismal alternative, could it be that some folks just can’t follow it, don’t ‘get’ it?  Nah. So I try to offer illustrations as an aid. I’m aware that certain diagrams may only add to the confusion, but I believe that one should attempt to be as clear as possible.

Struggling Against the Ineffable

I’ve been told that the whole point of ineffability is that its object cannot be put in terms of ordinary language. It’s sort of un-express-able. Maybe so, but as a wordsmith with occasional flashes of megalomania, I seek to if not bridge the gap, then at least to make some headway, nibble at the giant virtual block of cheese—if that metaphor holds at all. I seek to redeem from the Infinite just a nubbin more of meaning, a flash if not of full understanding, then perhaps a hint of vague comprehension.  I’d be satisfied with the blank gaze of numb confusion being illuminated with a flicker of recognition: “Oh, I get it…. I think.”  I seek the transformation that characterizes students can raise their grade from F to C–.

It has been ever thus. My great times innumerable granpappy similarly strained against his own ignorance and incomprehension and perhaps dared to think something a little new. Well, actually, he did this on multiple occasions, but 3/4 of those notions turned out to be follies, mistakes, blind alleys. A few though, fertilized the meme field and thus in the aggregate, humanity inched forward.

Consciousness has a difficult time imagining what even higher, broader, more integrated, more complex, more something-or-other—we hardly have words for what—“more” will have to do—more consciousness would be like. The more I read about history, the more I realize how many things have to converge and get coordinated for things to really work, the more I realize the corollary: Many times have one or two ideas arisen and died a-borning because the other ideas weren’t in place. Getting all one’s ducks lined up is a pretty trick, not easily achieved for an evolving species. Thousands of experiments and false starts come to naught. But we keep trying.

Pulse 1	Pulse 2
Elaboration 1	Elaboration 2
Matrix 1	Matrix 2

  

 

 

We’ll end with a contemplation about how such a development may blossom (looking for the right words to use here)  And finally come to harmony in what I call the “star of the heart,” a sub-type of what in geometry and electronics is a “lissajou curve”

In summary, I have been informed by my higher ups that many may not understand the aforementioned, but some will allow it to play in their minds as does an oracle. What matters is not so much a “correct” understanding as the evocation of deeper currents of imagination, activation of the muses, giving juice to the axis of inspiration.

Tags: Confabulations