On Counterpoint and Fugue

Meaning is at the cusp of Figure and Ground.   It is the tension between Sanity and Madness.  Order and Chaos.    Being and Nothingness. 

Often we talk past each other.  Or worse try to talk over each other.  When really we are looking for a dialogue.  For Harmony. 

There is so much to lose in Competition, and so much to gain through Complementarity.  Evolution is Co-evolution.  Point and Counterpoint. 

In the Synthesis between Thesis and Antithesis, each extreme is re-interpreted as the limit of the other.  From the limits of the poles of one axis emerges a new independent and complementary axis.  Thus in the Synthesis, Either-Or becomes BothandNeither.  Opposition is transcended through the limits of its immanence.   

This Negotiation – the creation of a shared perspective -  requires common reference points and a common system of representation.  It requires an Origin and Orthogonality. 

For a student to truly make new knowledge her own, she must restate it in her own words.  This is not Recitation, but Reinterpretation – Redefinition of Self and Other. 

For in order to learn we must first Know: to be aware and to understand.  This is Mind. 

For when we Know, then we can Believe: to relate our knowledge to our own experiences and Core Values.  This is Heart. 

And finally, when we Believe then we can Be: to practice and live our known beliefs as Truth Procedure.  This is both Body and Spirit. 

And when we are Being in the World we can Encounter: to discover the limits of our own true knowledge, values, and actions.  The limits of our Consistence and Completeness.  the Limits of Self and Other. 

And when we Encounter we can Transcend: to Interpret the Ambiguity of the Text. To reevaluate all values.  To see that Faces and Vase, Point and Counterpoint, Thesis and Antithesis, Figure and Ground -  are both Affirmed, are both Denied.  To see both coexist in complementary Truth and Harmony. 

And when we Transcend, then we can Know anew.... 

All Life is a Remix – but this is not to say life is plagiarism.  Quite the opposite.  Meaning is created in the reweaving and interweaving of Self and Other.  And in Good Faith is Attribution -  not for Ego, but for both Respect and Perspect.  It is to anchor our respective maps in a common Territory.  It defines Objectivity as what joins our Subjectivity. 

For we are  the Intersection – the Nexus – of our Relations.  We are the limit of that which Binds and Separates. 

Is it a first salvo or the first olive branch?   What does this even mean? 

What is offered is the opportunity for mutual growth. Not competition but cooperation – co-evolution. 

A Gift of Mutuality.   

A Return of Favour. 

Could it be that in saying that an unexamined life is not worth living we are acknowledging the necessity of a mind for reading? 

Yes, I agree completely - we need a dialogue. 

For we are all texts.  And each student is her own essay. 

This essay is incomplete.  It is still being writt