Another book for the reading queue, Herbert Guenther’s Matrix of Mystery: Scientific and Humanistic Aspects of Dzogs-chen Thought: Whether or not the so-called “insights” of any tradition are essential, will be determined by the extent to which they are, firstly, comprehensible to whomsoever chances to focus on them and, implementable, that is experientially accessible, so … Continue reading Instaurated instaurateurs
One face of all is material. This material is not a materialistic material of science, politics or society. This material is the stubborn resistance and graceful pliability of the world around us. It is the world we inhabit, in and among whom we live, in and with whom we participate as part, and to whom … Continue reading Instauratio
When I first learned the word “instauration” from Latour’s magnum opus, An Inquiry Into Modes of Existence, I was thunderstruck. Latour described precisely how it is to find the kinds of truth we discover-create in design research. But now, I am thunderstruck all over again, recognizing that the creation and revelation essential to Beriah is … Continue reading Instauratio ex nihilo
The distinction between discovering what is, versus creating what yet isn’t covers over a region of action that is far more important and common than either — a region Bruno Latour (after Étienne Souriau) called instauration, the act of discovering-creating in collaboration with the thing being brought into existence. Anyone who actually crafts real things, … Continue reading Instaurationalism
Once we finally recognize the degree to which truth is instaurated through our own participation in our own local and contingent patch of reality, we are faced with a decision, which is an ultimate matter of faith: We can take this recognition of truth’s being as somehow absolute, or We can take this recognition of … Continue reading Instaurationalism’s fork
Most “truth is a construct” type constructivists appear to have retained a vestigial correspondence theory of truth; that is, they take truth to be a little mental duplicate of, or model of or, in extreme cases, a substitute for, reality. Truth is true to the degree that it corresponds to reality. According to a correspondence-constructivist … Continue reading Instrumental-instaurationism?
From Latour’s Inquiry into Modes of Existence, a discussion on the concept of instauration (underlines added by me): To say that something — a scientific fact, a house, a play, an idol, a group — is “constructed,” is to say at least three different things that we must manage to get across simultaneously — and … Continue reading Instauration
For the last 25 years I have been iteratively refining a set of technical distinctions. These are the heart of my philosophy and design practice. Kabbalah accommodate these distinctions and gives them language. Are these understandings already there in Kabbalah, waiting to be recognized? Or are the latent possibilities, realized by configuative instauration? I am … Continue reading Philosophical-Kabbalistic mapping
Apparently the word “craft” is trending in the design world right now. I’ve been hearing it said around my own organization with suspicious frequency, always connected with building things that are well-built. But when I hear how most designers — or at design consultants — talk about craft, what I hear is craftsmanship, which has … Continue reading Craft vs craftmanship
Regarding religion, here is what I know, limits and all: Our finite minds are inadequate to the relative infinitude of reality. Whatever objective truth we craft from the raw givenness of reality, it is irremediably selective and approximate. Our focus of attention and involvement determines our subjective being, and this, in turn, determines the objects … Continue reading Truth of religion
Within the actual world are myriad objects of myriad materials which can be combined or taken apart, in myriad ways. Within the formational world are myriad subjects to whom reality is given and withheld, each in its own way, according to receptive capacities and responsive capabilities. Within the revelatory world is being beyond subjectivity and … Continue reading Quadrephania
From Scholem’s Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism: …the Zohar’s sexual symbolism reflects the influence of two different tendencies. Insofar as it shows a positive attitude towards the function of sexual life, within the limits ordained by divine law, it may be said to represent a genuinely Jewish outlook. Chastity is indeed one of the highest … Continue reading Intercursive knowing
I’ve had many names for this book brewing in my head, each with its own thematic emphasis. The book always concerns the relationship between design practice, our own personal and collective psychic-orders (faith) and our experience of the world. The core claim is always the same: our conceptions of design, of philosophy and of religion … Continue reading Volume titles
For the last several years, Susan and I have been collaborating on a philosophy of parenting. It is an application of a more general philosophy, and that philosophy is the instauration of an intuitive faith which is the substance of our marriage — the heart of our shared enworldment. (For background see the autobiographical endnote.) … Continue reading The uncanny craft of parenting
Well, I took the slack bait and responded to one of those inane “watercooler topics”. I’m posting it only because the term social metaphysics emerged in my response, I think it’s a good coinage. “Social metaphysics” has a nice ambiguity to it, too. It implies a socially shared metaphysics as well as a metaphysics of … Continue reading Social metaphysics
As a designer I care about three things. I care about making things people care about for many different but interconnected reason. An example, might be a pen with an appearance and tactility that resonates with the role of writing in their life. Or a bicycle that rides beautifully, but also reinforces the rider’s sense … Continue reading Recovering design
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a “single-question magic interview“. Placing this question between two genuine interlocutors really does something astonishing, important, rare and rarer by the day. It made me want to letterpress print this question. I love words that act directly on a souls. Whenever I find such words, I want … Continue reading Single-prompt interview research
When explorers discovered the New World and began mapping it and sending back to Europe sketches of the people, animals, plants and landscapes they saw there, the images were strange and divergent. If one had never seen in-person the realities depicted in these images it would take significant imagination to constitute a common source. Imagine … Continue reading Maps and travelogues
An appendix Thomas Kuhn added to later editions The Structure of Scientific Revolutions has had a continuing influence on my understanding of design. In this appendix Kuhn explained that scientific paradigms should not be viewed exclusively in terms of thought. A paradigm is not just theoretical, or theoretically guided practice or practice informed theory (praxis … Continue reading The most interesting, important thing in the entire universe
An enception is a conceptual capacity, the ability to “get” a concept. Once an enception is established (by our enworlding neshamah to our conceiving ruach), its conceptual form can be received (whether intuitively perceived or intellectually conceived) as given wherever its corresponding form occurs in reality, both by our conceiving ruach in Yetzirah, and our … Continue reading Mapping olamot