Tribute to Tao: William Blake

"Without Contraries is no progression.
Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.
From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil.
Good is the passive that obeys Reason.
Evil is the active springing from Energy.
Good is Heaven.
Evil is Hell." 

red Tao dragon

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun

William Blake

waretcolor 54.6 by 43.2, c. 1805

Brooklyn Museum

 

“	And behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.	”
	— (Rev. 12:3-4)

 

Metalogue: why do Tao have outlines?

Daughter: Daddy, why do things have outlines?
Father: Do they? I don't know. What sort of things do you mean?
D: I mean when I draw things, why do they have outlines?
F: Well, what about other sorts of things—a flock of sheep? or a conversation? Do they have outlines?
D: Don't be silly. I can't draw a conversation. I mean things.
F: Yes—I was trying to find out just what you meant. Do you mean "Why do we give things outlines when we draw them?" or do you mean that the things have out-lines whether we draw them or not?
D: I don't know, Daddy. You tell me. Which do I mean?
F: I don't know, my dear. There was a very angry artist once who scribbled all sorts of things down, and after he was dead they looked in his books and in one place they found he'd written "Wise men see outlines and therefore they draw them" but in another place he'd written "Mad men see outlines and therefore they draw them."
D: But which does he mean? I don't understand.
F: Well, William Blake—that was his name—was a great artist and a very angry man. And sometimes he rolled up his ideas into little spitballs so that he could throw them at people.
D: But what was he mad about, Daddy?
F: But what was he mad about? Oh, I see—you mean "angry." We have to keep those two meanings of "mad" clear if we are going to talk about Blake. Because a lot of people thought he was mad—really mad—crazy. And that was one of the things he was mad-angry about. And then he was mad-angry, too, about some artists who painted pictures as though things didn't have out-lines. He called them "the slobbering school."
D: He wasn't very tolerant, was he, Daddy?
F: Tolerant? Oh, God. Yes, I know—that's what they drum into you at school. No, Blake was not very tolerant. He didn't even think tolerance was a good thing. It was just more slobbering. He thought it blurred all the outlines and muddled everything—that it made all cats gray. So that nobody would be able to see anything clearly and sharply.
D: Yes, Daddy.
F: No, that's not the answer. I mean "Yes, Daddy" is not the answer. All that says is that you don't know what your opinion is—and you don't give a damn what I say or what Blake says and that the school has so befuddled you with talk about tolerance that you can-not tell the difference between anything and anything else.
D: (Weeps.)
F: Oh, God. I'm sorry, but I was angry. But not really an¬gry with you. Just angry at the general mushiness of how people act and think—and how they preach muddle and call it tolerance.
D: But, Daddy
F: Yes?
D: I don't know. I don't seem able to think very well. It's all in a muddle.
F: I'm sorry. I suppose I muddled you by starting to let off steam.

D: Daddy? F: Yes?
D: Why is that something to get angry about?
F: Is what something to get angry about?
D: I mean—about whether things have outlines. You said William Blake got angry about it. And then you get angry about it. Why is that, Daddy?
F: Yes, in a way I think it is. I think it matters. Perhaps in a way, is the thing that matters. And other things only matter because they are part of this.
D: What do you mean, Daddy?
F: I mean, well, let's talk about tolerance. When Gentiles want to bully Jews because they killed Christ, I get intolerant. I think the Gentiles are being muddle-headed and are blurring all the outlines. Because the Jews didn't kill Christ, the Italians did it.
D: Did they, Daddy?
F: Yes, only the ones who did are called Romans today, and we have another word for their descendants. We call them Italians. You see there are two muddles and I was making the second muddle on purpose so we could catch it. First there's the muddle of getting the history wrong and saying the Jews did it, and then there's the muddle of saying that the descendants should be responsible for what their ancestors didn't do. It's all slovenly.
D: Yes, Daddy.
F: All right, I'll try not to get angry again. All I'm trying to say is that muddle is something to get angry about. D: Daddy?
F: Yes?
D: We were talking about muddle the other day. Are we really talking about the same thing now?
F: Yes. Of course we are. That's why it's important—what we said the other day.
D: And you said that getting things clear was what Science was about.
F: Yes, that's the same thing again.

D: I don't seem to understand it all very well. Everything seems to be everything else, and I get lost in it.
F: Yes, I know it's difficult. The point is that our conversa¬tions do have an outline, somehow—if only one could see it clearly.

F: Let's think about a real concrete out-and-out muddle, for a change, and see if that will help. Do you remember the game of croquet in Alice in Wonderland?
D: Yes—with flamingos?
F: That's right.
D: And porcupines for balls?
F: No, hedgehogs. They were hedgehogs. They don't have porcupines in England.
D: Oh. Was it in England, Daddy? I didn't know.
F: Of course it was in England. You don't have duchesses in America either.
D: But there's the Duchess of Windsor, Daddy.
F: Yes, but she doesn't have quills, not like a real porcupine.
D: Go on about Alice and don't be silly, Daddy.
F: Yes, we were talking about flamingos. The point is that the man who wrote Alice was thinking about the same things that we are. And he amused himself with little Alice by imagining a game of croquet that would be all muddle, just absolute muddle. So he said they should use flamingos as mallets because the flamingos would bend their necks so the player wouldn't know even whether his mallet would hit the ball or how it would hit the ball.
D: Anyhow the ball might walk away of its own accord because it was a hedgehog.
F: That's right. So that it's all so muddled that nobody can tell at all what's going to happen.
D: And the hoops walked around, too, because they were soldiers.
F: That's right—everything could move and nobody could tell how it would move.
D: Did everything have to be alive so as to make a complete muddle?
F: No—he could have made it a muddle by . . . no, I suppose you're right. That's interesting. Yes, it had to be that way. Wait a minute. It's curious but you're right. Because if he'd muddled things any other way, the players could have learned how to deal with the muddling details. I mean, suppose the croquet lawn was bumpy, or the balls were a funny shape, or the heads of the mallets just wobbly instead of being alive, then the people could still learn and the game would only be more difficult—it wouldn't be impossible. But once you bring live things into it, it becomes impossible. I wouldn't have expected that.
D: Wouldn't you, Daddy? I would have. That seems natural to me.
F: Natural? Sure—natural enough. But I would not have expected it to work that way.
D: Why not? That's what I would have expected.
F: Yes. But this is the thing that I would not have ex¬pected. That animals, which are themselves able to see things ahead and act on what they think is going to happen—a cat can catch a mouse by jumping to land where the mouse will probably be when she has com¬pleted her jump—but it's just the fact that animals are capable of seeing ahead and learning that makes them the only really unpredictable things in the world. To think that we try to make laws as though people were quite regular and predictable.
D: Or do they make the laws just because people are not predictable, and the people who make the laws wish the other people were predictable?
F: Yes, I suppose so.

1953

Tribute to Tao: Raymond Carver

copyright Kevin Scanlon

« "And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth." »

--> -->

“. . . The places where water comes together

with other water. Those places stand out
in my mind like holy places..."

(from “Where Water Comes Together With Other Water” by Raymond Carver)

what we talk about when we talk about Tao

Little Things 

Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water.

Streaks of it ran down from the little shoulder-high window that faced the backyard. Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too.

He was in the bedroom pushing clothes into a suitcase when she came to the door.

I'm glad you're leaving! I'm glad you're leaving! she said. Do you hear?

He kept on putting his things into the suitcase.

Son of a bitch! I'm so glad you're leaving! She began to cry. You can't even look me in the face, can you?

Then she noticed the baby's picture on the bed and picked it up.

He looked at her and she wiped her eyes and stared at him before turning and going back to the living room.

Bring that back, he said.

Just get your things and get out, she said.

He did not answer. He fastened the suitcase, put on his coat, looked around the bedroom before turning off the light. Then he went out to the living room.

She stood in the doorway of the little kitchen, holding the baby.

I want the baby, he said.

Are you crazy?

No, but I want the baby. I'll get someone to come by for his things.

You're not touching this baby, she said.

The baby had begun to cry and she uncovered the blanket from around his head.

Oh, oh, she said, looking at the baby.

He moved toward her.

For God's sake! she said. She took a step back into the kitchen.

I want the baby.

Get out of here!

She turned and tried to hold the baby over in a corner behind the stove.

But he came up. He reached across the stove and tightened his hands on the baby.

Let go of him, he said.

Get away, get away! she cried.

The baby was red-faced and screaming. In the scuffle they knocked down a flowerpot that hung behind the stove.

He crowded her into the wall then, trying to break her grip. He held on to the baby and pushed with all his weight.

Let go of him, he said.

Don't, she said. You're hurting the baby, she said.

I'm not hurting the baby, he said.

The kitchen window gave no light. In the near-dark he worked on her fisted fingers with one hand and with the other hand he gripped the screaming baby up under an arm near the shoulder.

She felt her fingers being forced open. She felt the baby going from her.

No! she screamed just as her hands came loose.

She would have it, this baby. She grabbed for the baby's other arm. She caught the baby around the wrist and leaned back.

But he would not let go. He felt the baby slipping out of his hands and he pulled back very hard.

In this manner, the issue was decided.

carversite: raymond carver

the Teh of Tao

- 15 -

The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.
Their wisdom was unfathomable.
There is no way to describe it;
all we can describe is their appearance.

They were careful
as someone crossing an iced-over stream.
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.
Courteous as a guest.
Fluid as melting ice.
Shapable as a block of wood.
Receptive as a valley.
Clear as a glass of water.

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?

The Master doesn't seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present, and can welcome all things.

moving up and down the Tao: emergentism, reductionism, holism

In the description levels hierarchical structure:

there are two possibilities to move from one description level to another:

the way in which one moves starting from physical level 0 and proceeds toward higher levels till ecosystem 5 is the one of emergentism and of complexity, where moving from a level to the higher emphasis is placed on the emergence of new properties and phenomena not present at the lower level, consideration already present in the Anderson work of 1972.

If one proceeds in the reverse way from the higher level to the lowest the way is the one of reductionism, or of simplicity, where moving from a level to the lower all the properties of the higher level are "canceled", and one focuses only on the description specifical at that level.

Then there is a third possibility, typically philosophical and not methodological, generically called holism (from greck όλος, or "total), where the description levels are taken all together,  and is based partly on basic system theory and emergentism concepts, that is the properties of a system cannot be explained uniquely through its components and that the functional sum of all the parts is always greater/different than the sum of the parts functions taken individually, and partly is based on the conception that every level is intrinsically interconnected with all the others, and it is just for ease of description that are separeted, while in reality are indivisible. This latter concept is explicited for example in the Duhem-Quine thesis, according to which it is not possible to compare by experience  individual scientific theories, one by one,  but only sets of theories, holistically. The holism has some examples in physics in the entanglement concept and in the one of hologramatic system/universe, used for example in the so-called holographic principle, proposed by Nobel prize for physics 1999 Gerardus 't Hooft  to attempt to model quantum gravity. At higher levels, such those of ecosystem and interaction/communication/social, the holistic vision may coincide with the systemic one; it is instead in general very difficult, if not impossible, to connect in an holistic way levels which are very far apart.

Then we analyze an example of "reality" or "piece of world" describing it level by level in the reductionism mode from top to bottom and in that emergentist from bottom to top, for the following image of reality:

The card players - Les joueurs de cartes

Paul Cézanne

oil on canvas 47 x 56 cm 1890-1892

Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Reductionist level 5: ecosystem

Two men play card, and probably sometimes talk, making use of a table presumably by wood, in a place one may speculate as a tavern, probably of a village or in the countryside from the enviromental context marker which is possible to note from the mirror upon them which reflects outside, revealing as a countryside landscape. From the image there are no information on where and when this scene takes place, but we can certainly say that  occurs about 13 billions of years after the birth of the universe in a emergerged continent on the third planet of a solar system of a G2V star of yellow dwarf type, placed rather toward the external edges of a barred spiral galaxy.

Reduzionist level 4: interaction/social

Two men are performing an interactive activity very special called play. The scopes and methods of such an activity vary depending of the type of game and of the age of the players. In this case, since they are two adults who use a tool called "cards" - composed of dozens of different figures printed, in fact, on paper - the business is to get to the end of the game for both players through a set of specific rules game. The end of the game, which was also codified into rules, is generally opposite between the two players and called "victory " for one and  "loss" for the other. The goal for both players is to reach the end of the game called "victory".
The social level can be estimeted primarily by the marker on clothing and the supposed context of the province: both could be worth an indication of a middle class in the usual fashion, or a lower middle class with one of their best clothes. It has to be noted the use of hats with a of social function rather than functional to protect themselves from the weather conditions. The shaving of facial hair present in these two males can be considered of social use. From the type of clothing is possible here to estimate that the scene can takes place about the beginning of the 800s up to the present day in a western-style society.

Reduzionist level 3: organism/biological

The individual of male sex has self-named himself man (Homo sapiens sapiens, Linnaeus, 1758), also called uman being, a subspecies of Homo sapiens, a bipedal primate  memeber of the family of hominids which includes many extinct genera and seven different living species of big monkeys. The species H. sapiens - of african origin such the same genus Homo - is a primate with short  hair, adapted to terrestrial life, omnivore e and the eating habits of the original hunter-gatherer. The species, as all primates, has sexual reproduction. Its current distribution is almost cosmopolitan, and is by far the dominant species on the planet.

Both men and women have a brain very structured and developed, in proportion to the size of the individual, and able to abstract reasoning, language and introspection. This mental capacity, combined with the upright posture that frees the upper limbs, left grasping for the arboreal origin common to the whole species, allowed to manipulate the objects and allowed humanity to create a wide variety of tools.

From the african origin, about 200 000 y.a. from Homo erectus to date, the species has spread over almost the entire surface of the land with a total population that has passed, in March 2011, 6.9 billion people.

Similar to most primates, humans are social animals. They are also particularly successful in using systems of communication for the expression, the exchange of ideas and for organization. Men create complex social structures composed by cooperating and competing groups, which vary from small families and associations to large political, scientific and economical unions. The social interaction has introduced a very large variety of traditions, rituals, behavioral and moral rules, social norms and laws which form the basis of the human society. Men also have a marked appreciation for beauty and aesthetics which, combined with the human desire of self-expression, have led to cultural innovations such art, literature and music.

The men seem to express a wish to understand and influence the world around them, trying to understand, explain and manipulate natural phenomena through science, philosophy, mythology and religion. This natural curiosity has led to the development of technological tools and advanced skill;, the men are the only species still alive that uses fire, cook their own foods, dresses, and use many other technologies.

Reduzionist level 2: biological/cellular

As an animal, the human is an eukaryotic species. Every diploid cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, received from both parents. Of these, 22 pairs are autosomes and a pair are sexual chromosomes. It is estimated that humans have about 20000 or 25 000 genes. As with other mammals, females have identical sex chromosomes (XX) and males have different sex chromosomes (XY). The X chromosome is larger and carries more genes than the Y chromosome: that means that any disease of the X chromosome occurs more easily in men, because any errors in genes on the X chromosome which are not present at the  same time in the Y should causing damage to the human phenotype; however, since in the Y chromosome there are many genes that are not also present in the X, among all SRY which is present in many other animals, the male genetic heritage is overall larger than the female and allows the formation of more tissue in males, which implies a strong contribution to sexual dimorphism.

The genome is composed by 46 separate chromosomes (22 pairs of autosomes + X + Y) with a total of con un totale di approximately 3,2 billions of base pair of DNA conteining about 20,000–25,000 genes.

Before the human being reaches adulthood, the body consists of 100.000 billions of cells, grouped in tissues and parts of systems or organs  whose purpose is to enable essential vital functions. The organ systems of the human body include: circulatory system, immune system, respiratory system, digestive system, urinary system, muscular system, skeletal system, nervous system, endocrine system and the male and female reproductive system.

Reduzionist level 1: chemical/molecular

It is necessary to distinguish between the biological individual and the other elements of the scene.

The first is basically composed by water and characterized by the presence of macromolecules and molecules of organic type based on carbon and its bonding, such proteins, nucleic acids and lipids. Among the inorganic elements should be noted the presence of a macromolecule in the cellulose contained in the central element, associated with lignin. In the upper element with reflective characteristics should be noted the presence mainly of  silicon dioxide with other oxides. Then there is the widespread presence of a gas, transparent in the figure, composed mainly by nitrogen and oxigen, singular characteristic typical of the higher levels, with remaining minor portions of other gases such and carbon dioxide. In a small spot of the image it is noted a exothermic reaction, probably due to the combustion of some kind of compounds.

Reduzionist level 0: physical - Emergentist levelo 0: physical

The reductionist and emergentist descriptions at level 0 coincide. What is present at the elementary level are protons, neutrons, electrons, at a less elementary level they are present in a bounded state called atom. According to the number of protons, equal to the number of electrons, in the various atoms there is the presence of different elements. The largest is nitrogen, in the trasparent gas diffused in the image, then there are relevant traces of hydrogen, oxigen and heavier elements such carbon, iron till about zinc. There is also the presence of photons in the solar light that illuminates the scene, some cosmic rays and (perhaps) some passing neutrinos and the omnipresent background cosmic microwave radiation.

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Emergentist levelo 1: chemical/molecular

The atoms of the different elements present at level 0 join by chemical bonding making a wide variety of compounds, molecules and macromolecules. Single or bonded atoms are present in the gas that fills the scene. Compounds with elements even heavy are present in the two objects in the middle and on top of the image. In particular the first has the property to reflect the incident photons on its surface, while all the others absorb it and reflect only a fraction with specific wavelenghts. The molecules and macromolecules far more complex are present in the object on the left of the image, mainly based on carbon bonded with other elements in various forms, making long chemival chains with multiple properties: replication, self-replication, energy sources, catalysts and reaction controllers etc.

Emergentist levelo 2: cellular/biological

The compounds, molecules and macromolecules present at level 1 group together in various ways and structures: in the non-organic objects they group in mixtures or alloys, in the amorphous solid state in the object placed on top of the scene, composed mainly by amorphous silica. In the object at the center of the scene are present polysaccharides and an heavy and complex organic polymer mainly made by phenolic compounds which suggest that it is of organic origin. In the item on the left of the scene the compunds, mainly of carbon, are  combined in long molecular sequences and form morphofunctional structures , that is of form and function, of very different types but with unique common characteristics od reproduction/self-replication, complex reactions for energy production, responses to external  stimuli, retention over time of their own structure even with a continuos replacement of components.

Emergentist level 3: biological/organism

The morphofunctional units of level 2 join together in assemblies at different levels which make several types of systems, at least four included the overall structure, structurally very different and associated by function. The general ensemble has the properties of multiple structural and functional units, system integration, internal transmission of information  and among different systems, growth, reproduction, evolution characteristics and interaction with the external environment.

Emergentist level 4: interaction/social

Two of the systems of level 3 use their property of interacting with the external. It is supposed that they are exchanging information by the use of the colored figures which are manipulating.

Emergentist level 5: ecosystem

From the reflecting structure present in the scene one can deduce the presence of an external environment extremely variegated and complex with many of the system properties present in the internal of the scene. This is also illuminated with a radiation with wavelength at least from 400 to 700 nm, since the color spectrum and the photons present at level 0, of unknown origin, coming from the external of the scene. It is noted the presence of morphogenetic structures both complex and with simple simmetries. The presence of elements and compounds at the gaseous state at level 1 indicates the presence of a compound gas in the environment.

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Context

The overall description should not be complete without specifying the context and, if any, the meta-context markers.

The context derives from the fact that we are not describing a scene while physically present in a bistrot of the french countryside at the end of the 800s observing two men playing card, but we are using a representation of that scene, specifically a painting of oil over canvas.

Also of the context we may have a description, and in this case it is in art criticism field, for example:

"Two men in a tavern in the country are playing cards in front of a mirror. The image shows a pattern strongly geometric, which gives dignity to the two classic characters. Twisting the perspective view, Cezanne is able to obtain the highest degree of centrality, that is credible in a scene from real life: this slight deviation from the center is a keen ploy to avoid the risk that the work is too contrived: the things we do not are never in a state of perfect balance. The whole painting is made ​​up of lowering the tone of the colors blue, yellow and red. The strokes are made with wooden blocks, and sometimes they are solitary and synthetic, as a reflection on the bottle or just the section that describes the sunken eye of the right player.

In Cézanne's painting, not only makes an impression, but also a description of the internal sense action, as if the summary is intended to remain in the mind, almost calcified and as a memory."

Meta-Context

The meta-context marker in this case is present, since we are not describing the scene observing the painting of Cézanne personally in a room of Musée d'Orsay of Parigi, but we are viewing a jpg image of 640x533 px displayed by a browser on a monitor, presumably allocated on a PC or mobile device, getting it through a fixed or mobile connection from one of the servers of blogger.com, where it resides, by internet.