Thought of the month: May 2009
Meaning is dependent on context
From Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology:
Not only is meaning in many important ways dependent upon the context in which it finds itself, these contexts are in principle endless or boundless. Thus there is no way finally to master and control meaning once and for all (because I can always imagine a further context that would alter the present meaning). Jonathan Culler has, in fact, summarized all of deconstruction (one of the most influential of the postmodern movements) in this way: “One could therefore identify deconstruction with the twin principles of the contextual determining of meaning and the infinite extendability of context.”
As I would put it, contexts are indeed endless precisely because reality is composed of holons [see “Comment” below] within holons within holons indefinitely, with no discernible bottom or top. Even the entire universe right now is simply a part of the next moment’s universe. Every whole is always a part, endlessly. And therefore every conceivable context is boundless. To say that the Kosmos is holonic is to say it is contextual, all the way up, all the way down.
Wilber, K. 2000. Integral psychology: consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston: Shambala. pp. 166-167. (You might also be interested in Wilber’s comments on boundaries.)
Comment:
The Whole is a Part of the Whole…
Holons and the Journey
by Reg Harris
Copyright © 2009 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. Apart from properly cited quotes and short excerpts, no part of this article can be copied or used in any form without written permission from the author. For permission to use, please contact me.
| |
|
|
Follow the fox to
The Hero’s Journey:
A Guide to Literature and Life
|
|
|
A holon is a whole that is a part of other wholes. For example, a student is a whole, but he or she is also part of a class. The class is a whole, but it is also part of the school. In the same way, a word is an individual entity, with a set of meanings, but it is also part of a sentence. The word adds to the meaning of the sentence and the sentence delineates the meaning of the word. The word and the sentence are holons that compliment and describe each other.
As humans, we are also holons. While we are individuals, with our own personalities and points of view, we are also parts of families, communities, cultures, the world and the universe. We have our own identity, but that identity is delineated and complimented by the group we are in, just as a word is individual but it has a specific role and meaning within a sentence.
The holon concept gives us insight into what I believe is a key role of the hero’s journey process: mediating our relationships within our groups. We exist as individuals, with needs, goals and views, but we also fit a role, a niche in our group. When either of those positions change, the relationship and harmony between the two is disturbed, and we are called to a journey to return harmony. For example, we may outgrow the our role in the group and need to forge a new role that is more in line with the person we have become. Or, the group may change, which changes our role, and our journey is to restore harmony. In either case, if harmony cannot be restored, we may be called on another journey to find a new group and a new role that fits who we are.
In The Odyssey, for example, Telemachus is a child, even as he reaches adulthood. Without a father to show the way, he has not been mentored through the change he needs to make. (The same could be said of the suitors.) As a result, he cannot manage the suitors; he cannot move into new role required of him by his family and culture. Athena (wisdom) approaches him in the guise of Mentes and encourages to go on a journey to visit Menelaus and Nestor. There he can search for news of his father, but he can also search for a father-figure who can show him how to be a man.
Describing his situation in terms of holons, Telemachus’ child roles in the family and Ithica are no longer viable. Both Telemachus and Ithica have changed, so the relationship between his “holonic roles” has changed. He quest is to grow to fit his new role in a new culture. In a sense, Telemachus is a “word” in the “sentence” of his world. His meaning is defined by his role and his role adds to the meaning of his world. When the world/sentence changes, Telemachus’ individual definition also changes, and he must change with it. That is his hero’s journey, his Odyssey.
Wilber also writes, “Even the entire universe right now is simply a part of the next moment’s universe. Every whole is always a part, endlessly. And therefore every conceivable context is boundless.” In the same way, our lives right now are simply parts of our lives in the next moment. Paradoxically, then, our lives are both wholes and parts simultaneously, the one becoming the other without end.
While this paradox may seem frightening in its instability, it really gives us great freedom. Because our life at any moment is also our life “up to now,” we are free in each moment to determine the role that our-life-up-to-now plays in our-life-in-this-moment. When we realize that our life up to now is only a holon in our life in the moment, we must also realize that we are not condemned to play out the roles of the past. What we have been is only the overture to the symphony of what we are becoming.
This is perhaps our greatest journey: to understand the past as the prelude to the present, not the determiner of the present. Our journey is to become conscious of the boundlessness of the context of our lives and to embrace the potentials offered by that terrifying and exciting openness, to give fresh meaning to our being as it is in this moment.
Article posted: May 12, 2009
Harris, R. (2009). Holons and the Journey. Harris Communications: Educational home of the hero’s journey. Retrieved (insert date), from http://www.yourheroicjourney.com/news/news.htm.
MLA Citation:
Harris, Reg. “Holons and the Journey”. Harris Communications: Educational Home of the Hero’s Journey. May 12, 2009
The Hero’s Journey: Holon theory and the journey
Thought of the month: May 2009
Meaning is dependent on context
From Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology:
Not only is meaning in many important ways dependent upon the context in which it finds itself, these contexts are in principle endless or boundless. Thus there is no way finally to master and control meaning once and for all (because I can always imagine a further context that would alter the present meaning). Jonathan Culler has, in fact, summarized all of deconstruction (one of the most influential of the postmodern movements) in this way: “One could therefore identify deconstruction with the twin principles of the contextual determining of meaning and the infinite extendability of context.”
As I would put it, contexts are indeed endless precisely because reality is composed of holons [see “Comment” below] within holons within holons indefinitely, with no discernible bottom or top. Even the entire universe right now is simply a part of the next moment’s universe. Every whole is always a part, endlessly. And therefore every conceivable context is boundless. To say that the Kosmos is holonic is to say it is contextual, all the way up, all the way down.
Wilber, K. 2000. Integral psychology: consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Boston: Shambala. pp. 166-167. (You might also be interested in Wilber’s comments on boundaries.)
Comment:
The Whole is a Part of the Whole…
Holons and the Journey
by Reg Harris
Copyright © 2009 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. Apart from properly cited quotes and short excerpts, no part of this article can be copied or used in any form without written permission from the author. For permission to use, please contact me.
Follow the fox to
The Hero’s Journey:
A Guide to Literature and Life
A holon is a whole that is a part of other wholes. For example, a student is a whole, but he or she is also part of a class. The class is a whole, but it is also part of the school. In the same way, a word is an individual entity, with a set of meanings, but it is also part of a sentence. The word adds to the meaning of the sentence and the sentence delineates the meaning of the word. The word and the sentence are holons that compliment and describe each other.
As humans, we are also holons. While we are individuals, with our own personalities and points of view, we are also parts of families, communities, cultures, the world and the universe. We have our own identity, but that identity is delineated and complimented by the group we are in, just as a word is individual but it has a specific role and meaning within a sentence.
The holon concept gives us insight into what I believe is a key role of the hero’s journey process: mediating our relationships within our groups. We exist as individuals, with needs, goals and views, but we also fit a role, a niche in our group. When either of those positions change, the relationship and harmony between the two is disturbed, and we are called to a journey to return harmony. For example, we may outgrow the our role in the group and need to forge a new role that is more in line with the person we have become. Or, the group may change, which changes our role, and our journey is to restore harmony. In either case, if harmony cannot be restored, we may be called on another journey to find a new group and a new role that fits who we are.
In The Odyssey, for example, Telemachus is a child, even as he reaches adulthood. Without a father to show the way, he has not been mentored through the change he needs to make. (The same could be said of the suitors.) As a result, he cannot manage the suitors; he cannot move into new role required of him by his family and culture. Athena (wisdom) approaches him in the guise of Mentes and encourages to go on a journey to visit Menelaus and Nestor. There he can search for news of his father, but he can also search for a father-figure who can show him how to be a man.
Describing his situation in terms of holons, Telemachus’ child roles in the family and Ithica are no longer viable. Both Telemachus and Ithica have changed, so the relationship between his “holonic roles” has changed. He quest is to grow to fit his new role in a new culture. In a sense, Telemachus is a “word” in the “sentence” of his world. His meaning is defined by his role and his role adds to the meaning of his world. When the world/sentence changes, Telemachus’ individual definition also changes, and he must change with it. That is his hero’s journey, his Odyssey.
Wilber also writes, “Even the entire universe right now is simply a part of the next moment’s universe. Every whole is always a part, endlessly. And therefore every conceivable context is boundless.” In the same way, our lives right now are simply parts of our lives in the next moment. Paradoxically, then, our lives are both wholes and parts simultaneously, the one becoming the other without end.
While this paradox may seem frightening in its instability, it really gives us great freedom. Because our life at any moment is also our life “up to now,” we are free in each moment to determine the role that our-life-up-to-now plays in our-life-in-this-moment. When we realize that our life up to now is only a holon in our life in the moment, we must also realize that we are not condemned to play out the roles of the past. What we have been is only the overture to the symphony of what we are becoming.
This is perhaps our greatest journey: to understand the past as the prelude to the present, not the determiner of the present. Our journey is to become conscious of the boundlessness of the context of our lives and to embrace the potentials offered by that terrifying and exciting openness, to give fresh meaning to our being as it is in this moment.
Article posted: May 12, 2009
Harris, R. (2009). Holons and the Journey. Harris Communications: Educational home of the hero’s journey. Retrieved (insert date), from http://www.yourheroicjourney.com/news/news.htm.
MLA Citation:
Harris, Reg. “Holons and the Journey”. Harris Communications: Educational Home of the Hero’s Journey. May 12, 2009