Re: MD The Individual Level

From: Valuemetaphysics@aol.com
Date: Tue Apr 20 2004 - 01:14:41 BST

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    On 14 April 2004 6:10 AM Mark writes in essay to Sam:

    Mark:
    So, when Sam glibly trots out, "it is the wise person that is most free and
    in touch with Quality, not the intellectual" what is he saying?
    Well, even by Aristotle's lights, both his wise men, the man of affairs and
    the philosopher use intellect to do what they do. But here we have to bring
    in Aristotle's notion of potential and actuality. Both men actuate their
    potential intellects, but the man of affairs integrates his to living a full
    man of affairs life, to the neglect of specialisation, (jack of all trades,
    master of none)! while the philosopher fully actuates his intellect! Which
    one is better? That is a debate that is going on and on. But the thing is,
    the MoQ and my, The edge of chaos would agree with Sam and suggest that
    Coherence is best. The problem is, Sam says the essence of autonomy is the
    individual, whereas i would say it is Coherence of patterns in and across
    levels. It is the intellectual patterns in tension with all other patterns
    which generates Dynamic coherence which is then attributed to the
    individual, and NOT the individual as a 'level' of the MoQ. The difference
    is subtle, but absolutely important: Sam does not understand that what he is
    saying is not a minor change to the MoQ, his changes are founded on a
    complete misunderstanding of what the MoQ is saying.

    Hi Mark, Sam, and all:

    joe: i am excited about your description of an individual. I reread TEOC.
    I mused that maybe everything is a vibration. Sound is known in note
    relations (the octave). I wonder if note relations apply in other mediums?
    If there are other mediums? Is harmony a way to see coherence?

    Mark 19-4-04: Hi Joe, I don't know? A well respected physicist, who's name
    escapes me at this moment, gave up a conventional career because he felt music
    was so important to a theory of everything? I must remind myself of his name
    and look his work up again. I shall get back to you on that, unless someone else
    helps us out first?
    Harmony and coherence?
    An excellent question, in my view. All physics, theoretical and practical,
    utilise mathematical modelling. The 'shape' of models display vibratory
    structures, and it is very often a wonder to me 'what' medium these vibrations may be
    said to inhere?
    Of course, we are dealing with intellectual patterns here, and Intellectual
    patterns emerge from the event stream - DQ, and are evolving towards DQ - that
    is, patterns are in a coherent state. Coherence is high aesthetic - the more
    beautiful the theory, the better it 'fits' experimental data - but the
    aesthetic comes first. Always.

    Joe:
    I quote from you, Mark, I hope it is alright:
    "Complexity theory is one of the most controversial areas of current
    scientific research. Developing out of chaos theory, complexity suggests
    that there are hidden tendencies in nature to select ordered states, even
    when statistically they are vastly outnumbered by chaotic possibilities:
    that there is a deep natural impulse towards order, counteracting the
    degenerative tendencies of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Like chaos,
    complexity is a multidisciplinary area of research and those involved
    include physicists, economists and biologists. This is a study of
    complexity.

    Mark 17-4-04: Up to this point, the quote is a blurb for Stuart Kauffman
    book, At Home in the Universe, published by Oxford University press. A good book!

    Sweet spots may indicate that Quality is not merely a human invention. Sweet
    spots are to be found everywhere and provide supporting evidence for the
    cosmological evolution postulated in the MOQ. Examples of sweet spots in
    nature may be readily seen in the phenomena of phase transitions. These
    appear to be sweet spots where the freedom of possibility merges with the
    security of the actual:
    The deep natural impulse towards order' that complexity indicates may be
    better restated as a balance between SQ patterns. The impulse is DQ and the
    order is SQ." The Edge of Chaos by Mark Maxwell p 5.

    joe: IMO there is something about self-awareness that is elusive. Can I
    conclude that each level has tendencies which would look like awareness to
    another level? Is self awareness, the awareness of one level experiencing
    the changes in another level?

    Mark 17-4-04: To restate your first question, may we say, 'Do the Inorganic,
    Organic and Social levels display awareness - like tendencies to the
    Intellectual level?
    In that patterns of value display preferences it would appear that preference
    is becoming more and more open to DQ as evolution progresses?
    Paul Turner asked about this many months ago, and he got be thinking. Now
    that you ask a similar question, i am thinking about it again, and a thought has
    just popped into my head:
    What is self? Self is coherent tension between patterns of value. (e.g. Rock,
    Cat, Village, Symbolic repertoire).
    What is awareness of 'other than' self? 'Other than self is tension between
    coherences. (e.g. between Rock and the Earth, Cat and pride, Village and
    Country, Symbolic repertoire and Encyclopaedia).
    The important thing to note is these value differentials are preferences, and
    may shift in and out of coherence. If coherence is the best state between
    SQ-SQ tension, sharp divisions between differential coherence must themselves
    seek higher coherence?
    To answer your question, self awareness as coherence may be displayed as the
    ability to move towards and maintain coherence. Thus, the Earth is roughly
    spherical, Prides have a coherence providing pecking order, Villages have an
    optimum size where Human social cohesion works best, ("Nice place!") and Theories
    are beautiful displaying no contradictions.
    This is all conjecture Joe.

    Joe:
    An individual sentient is four levels. I have a layered self-awareness. I
    experience the awareness of action, if I am not asleep. Morality in a
    sentient individual seems to require an awareness in each level. An
    awareness united across different levels seems to be able to be
    indiscriminate. Something blocks discrete awareness in immoral actions.
    Patterns between different levels can find an immoral coherence. Perhaps I
    am getting lost trying to picture it. Get the coherence right between dq
    sq, before picturing coherence between sq sq on different levels.

    Mark 17-4-04: You have a dim apprehension of what you are feeling yourself
    towards? Keep going...

    Mark:
    "patterns in tension with other patterns which generates Dynamic coherence
    which is then attributed to an individual, and NOT the individual as a
    'level' of the MOQ"

    joe: IMO the awareness of an individual can be more or less. When I
    experience 'beauty' something changes my awareness. My awareness of the
    cohesion is striking. When I create 'beauty' it seems something has changed
    in me which expands beyond me. I accept something mechanically as a member
    of an audience at a concert. I sing my own song and the coherence of
    patterns finds a different place in me. Is there a difference between
    accepted and created awareness. Is the accepted awareness of
    Jack-of-all-trades, the same as the created awareness of the philosopher?
    IMO the philosopher is more moral than the jack-of-all-trades.

    Mark 17-4-04: Maybe the jack of all trades must be a good actor? How many
    characters may an actor accommodate in his repertoire of characters in order to
    make each one convincing and authentic? Not easy to be sure? "Is there a
    difference between accepted and created awareness." Am i catching your drift?
    The philosopher doesn't have to act? He/she doesn't have to?

    Joe:
    Why do I experience patterns in coherence as having a life of its own? Is
    this a mystical experience? I anthropomorphize DQ and the levels are not
    useful. DQ is not God. I can't anthropomorphize 'evolution'. IMO The
    evolving sentient is one that is more in touch with the awareness of the
    different levels?

    Joe

    Mark 17-4-04: Quality, Tao, pre-established Harmony. The Intellectual level
    may not only be organised in accordance with pre-established harmony, but it
    must evolve towards it?
    joe: "IMO The evolving sentient is one that is more in touch with the
    awareness of the
    different levels?"
    The different levels, as existing along the continuum of value evolution are
    treading the same path? Intellect resonates with these earlier structures? Am
    i catching your drift?

    All the best,
    Mark

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