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Union of Imaginable Associations
      

Union of Imaginable Associations (Complementary initiatives and historical context) University of Earth Union of the Whys Cognitive Fusion Reactor (ITER-8) 16th May 2007 | Draft

Emergence of a Union of Imaginable Associations

engendered by a Union of Intelligible Associations
from a Union of International Associations

- / -

Introduction
Contrasting organizing principles: international, intelligible, imaginative (Table 0)
Strategic context
Evolution of knowledge management
Nature of an emergent Union of Imaginable Associations? Associations | Imaginative | Union
Historical origins: Stage 0?
Three-stage emergence? (Table 1) (Annex 1)

Progressive dematerialization and virtualization of vehicle identity (Table 2)
Associated disintegrative processes (Table 3)
Reclaiming the heritage of misappropriated collective endeavour (Table 4)
Comprehending the transformative challenge of "stages" and their relationship
Metaphors of stage separation and emergence
Distinguishing stages in the light of potential (mis)understanding (Table 5)
Conclusion (Table 6)

Detailed description of stages (exemplifying challenges in other organizations) (Annex 2)

Stage 1: Union of International Associations (UIA1): Contextual challenges | Internal challenges
Stage 2: Union of Intelligible Associations (UIA2): Contextual challenges | Internal challenges
Stage 3: Union of Imaginable Associations (UIA3): Contextual challenges | Internal challenges
Comprehension of stage separation (decoupling / detachment) in transformation processes

Psychosocial energy from polarization within a cyclic pattern of enantiodromia (Annex 3)

Implications of the cybernetics of cybernetics
Psychosocial energy through a metaphorical technology
Schematic Denkmodel (Table 1)
Epistemological domains
Global vs Local (in Table 1) | Positive vs Negative (in Table 1) | Relationships (within Table 1)
Beyond the plane of Möbius: form and medium in terms of the calculus of indications
Visualization: quadrant systems / Möbius strips / Klein bottles
"Sphering the Circle" (from 2D to 3D): a Klein-bottle relationship "belt drive"?
Enantiodromia: cycling through the "cognitive twist"
Psychosocial work cycle / heat engine
Psychosocial power and its generation

Emergent higher-order symbol as a cognitive/existential "keystone"
Operational implications
Indicative examples of 2nd and 3rd order environments
Conclusion
References

Introduction

This "story" explores the underlying inspiration of the century-old Union of International Associations (UIA) in its currently challenged effort to continue to function as a clearinghouse for information on the diversity of bodies responding to social challenges of every conceivable variety -- including major institutional systems such as the United Nations and regional bodies such as the European Commission.

The process of creation of the Union of International Associations from 1907 can be understood as an audaciously imaginative act -- at the origins of international society as it is now known and prior to any form of international legal framework through which the existence of any such body could be recognized. Although it may subsequently be said to have acted -- despite the severe disruption of two world wars -- in the name of international bodies present at its creation, it cannot be said to have been representative of them in any conventional democratic sense. This is especially the case following its reconstition in 1951 as an institute based on individual membership. To a significant degree it has remained an act of the collective imagination of those directly involved who have sustained a highly productive pattern of self-funded activity over past decades. This has also, to a certain degree, sustained the illusion of the existence of a "Union of International Associations" as originally intended -- an illusion that has contributed to the success of the initiative.

Efforts to reform and transform the UIA ("UIA1") are here framed as having effectively engendered a distinct "transitional" vehicle, usefully named here as the Union of Intelligible Associations ("UIA2"). This has emphasized a strategic knowledge management function beyond the conventional information gathering and classifying preoccupations of UIA1. The fundamental challenge to UIA2, as presented here, usefully models similar inadequacies in many institutions variously seeking to enhance collective intelligence in response to information overload in the face of social and strategic complexity.

Confronted by its own inadequacies, UIA2 is however understood here as having itself created a context for the emergence of a Union of Imaginable Associations ("UIA3"). This could be understood as more relevant to the integrative possibilities and culture of the times -- and to the strategic flexibility and forms of cognitive engagement for which they call. These three different "stages" are first described before subsequently exploring the necessarily unusual, counter-intuitive challenges to how they may be fruitfully understood as interrelated -- if UIA3 is to be of any significance.

A vital thread implicit in this story lies in the various understandings of the "existence" of collective "international" bodies, the ownership of their (intellectual) "property" in an increasingly open information society, and the claims that may "legitimately" be made on both by those who actively sustain them over decades. Such considerations are especially relevant in the transition over a century through the colonial era to one in which post-colonialist, participative values are upheld. The emergence of a Union of Imaginable Associations is therefore presented (in Annex 1) as a progressive reclaiming of a heritage of misappropriated collective endeavour.

Fundamentally, however, this exploration is not so much about a "UIA" but rather about how comprehension is organized integratively in response to collective challenges in the world -- and what can be learnt to that end from the challenges and evolution of a "UIA". In this sense the emergence of a Union of Imaginable Associations offers a template for a radical reconfiguration of how these opportunities may be dynamically encountered -- whether for the individual or for any collective initiative.

The intent here is not to explore any 3-fold ontology (or theology) of organizational "body", "soul" and "spirit" -- as distinguished in some management literature. Rather the focus here is on the nature of distinct vehicles for collective intent -- and of how a vehicle of one form may effectively be necessary in order to engender another of subtler form and of greater integrity and efficacy, better adapted to the challenges of the 21st century. Nor is the intent thereby to frame a potentially discriminatory scale of excellence through privileging a particular form. As is shown (in Annex 3), distinct stages may well be more fruitfully understood as interrelated as a cycle through which psychosocial engergy is generated -- such that the seemingly subtlest necessarily engages in the process of engendering the most concrete. Each stage may then be understood as a transitional vehicle through which insight and action are expressed in response to challenges and opportunity.

The exploration raises the question whether the stages of evolution of "UIA" over a century reflect the evolution of collective emphasis in the shift:

  • from: information space as fundamental to an information society (assumed to be adequate to knowledge needs for strategy making)?
  • through: knowledge space as fundamental to a knowledge society (assumed to be adequate to strategic insight)?
  • to: an "imagination space" fundamental to an "imagination society" (assumed to be adequate for imaginative strategic response capable of engaging support) ?
In this context, it is therefore appropriate to celebrate the centennial of the imaginative act, through which the Union of International Associations was first created, by another imaginative initiative appropriate to the 21st century and consistent with the original inspiration -- namely the instigation of a Union of Imaginable Associations.

Contrasting organizing principles: international, intelligible, imaginative

Table 0: Transition from international to imaginative
notions of
"global" and "order" 		International
(multi-, transnational
via interrelationships across geo-political boundaries) 		Intelligible
(intelligence, knowledge
via interdisciplinarity and multi-culturalism) 		Imaginative
(creativity, innovation
via intuition and inspiration )
existence legally-defined bounded domains (sovereign nation states) cognitively-defined domains (accepted / authorized / approved / proven / traditional) potential / possibility of enactable domains (unproven and unauthorized)
significance pattern of agreed stable bonding across boundaries (international cross-boundary organization): charters, constitutions, edicts, directives, constraints cognitive coherence in terms of acceptable relationships between known patterns and accepted "ways of knowing" (interdisciplinarity) surprise / challenge of emergent patterns ( paradigm shift, innovation, "neologism")
geometry transnational organization / gated access procedures [centric] networks of relationship between disparate entities / dynamically-gated conceptual communities [poly-centric] recognition of (paradoxical) complementarity (it "fits", it "works") [a-centric]
communication static agreement between incommensurate dynamic method: compatibility ensured by protocols of continuous conversion (translation) transdisciplinary metaphors enabling communication through reframing ("transreference")
uniqueness unique message, doctrine, propaganda diversity, choice, alternatives ("zapping" ) happening, news, discovery
insight imposed interpretation of "pattern of dots" constrained emergent interpretation of "pattern of dots" (groupthink) innovative interpretation of "pattern of dots" (the "pattern that connects")
participation imposed submission acceptance (through persuasion and conversion) creative reassociation
conflict territorial conflict conflict ("clash") between disciplines, faiths, or cultures conflict between contrasting aesthetic styles and preferences ("hearts and minds")
operating style campaign, crusade, jihad, programme, project networking, network of excellence, think tank, incubator, media lab, research lab chaordic organization, open organizations, cultural creative communities, flocking/swarming dynamics
community style conventional community (rule-governed) intentional community (democratically governed) community of embodiment
cybernetic order first-order cybernetics second-order cybernetics third-order cybernetics (complex adaptive systems)
image? "bottin" (reductionist image of UIA) network-embedded person (cover of 1976 Encyclopedia) Mandelbrot set (cover of knowledge management presentation of UIA)
metaphors? solid liquid gas
"caterpillar", "millipede" "cocoon" "butterfly"

Note to the reader: This document is relatively long and complex, with many links -- all of which may be unwelcome. It is a metaphor of the theme it explores. In part it fulfils the function of a set of detailed notes to a longer study. As such it is designed as a set of headings and bullet points that may be quickly scanned to locate items of interest. An alternative is to skip directly to the concluding sections or to the conclusion itself.

Strategic context and organizing themes

This is an effort to weave together the implications of a variety of seemingly quite distinct themes and associated processes into a coherent transformative "story". The themes are:

  • Urgency: In decades past, isolated concerns were considered the appropriate long-term preoccupation of relatively isolated organizations (exemplified by the Special Agencies notionally coordinated within the United Nations). The situation has progressed through a condition in which many concerns (and their advocated remedies) aggravated each other in complex ways -- suggesting major crises in the medium-term future (cf the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth, 1972). Now there is widespread recognition of the imminence of global crisis (a "crisis of crises") however it is triggered through a domino-effect by such crises as global warming, exhaustion of non-renewable resources, erosion of human rights, social unrest, use of weapons of mass destruction, etc. For example, The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change (2006) indicates that humanity has "ten years to save the planet" [more]. This was confirmed in the report in 2007 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

  • Institutional incapacity: There is increasing recognition of institutional incapacity to deliver complex solutions in a timely manner within budget (eg wishful thinking and broken promises by UN agencies: "food for all", "education for all", "jobs for all", "literacy for all", "health for all", "water for all", "justice for all", "peace for all") -- even when the challenge is narrowly defined (Airbus 380, HIV/AIDs, Olympic Games, or virtual "wars", etc). This in no way inhibits hope-mongers from recommending investment in new initiatives based on the methods and mindsets that have significantly failed in the past -- "business as usual" and "more of the same".

  • Dysfunctional knowledge systems: The complexity sciences have significantly failed in their ambition to respond to this challenge in a credible manner -- as with other interdisciplinary assemblies of excellence. Each discipline designs out "externalities" as irrelevant to the viability of the closed system on which it optimistically (and opportunistically) focuses. The major switch to a faith-based framing of the challenge and the opportunity -- positively welcoming global disaster as a precursor of divine intervention -- has reinforced extreme polarization based on binary thinking ("us" and "them").

  • Erosion of human rights: Widespread concern that in addition to the erosion of human rights preceding 9/11, they are further undermined through legislative responses to "terrorism" in the name of "national security" (although few initiatives are forcefully taken in the name of "planetary security"). Torture is increasingly framed as a legitimate tool. Disproportionate responses and high levels of collateral damage are considered acceptable by the highest authorities. It is increasingly accepted that "bad things happen" in any situation that can be framed as " war".

  • Information glut: The proliferation of information of every kind, on the varied issues and possible responses, has resulted in an increasing degree of information overload and information underuse -- reinforcing tendencies to tunnel vision, negligence of critical information, and complacent groupthink within self-selected communities of excellence. This situation is exacerbated by fundamental challenges to comprehension of complexity, especially where counter-intuitive strategic thinking is essential and notably when potentially dependent on alternative ways of knowing characteristic of underappreciated cultures. The situation is further exacerbated by the explosion of popular preference for cybermediated information with little ambition to articulate any integrative response to the challenges of the planet.

  • Hidden factors: Coherent action is increasingly undermined by lack of transparency. This is most evident in the quantity and scope of classified information and the rationalization of restricted access to it. This may extend to policies of systematic media censorship ensuring that particular questions go both unasked and unanswered. Issues contributing directly (as with overpopulation) to the exacerbation of a multitude of problems are systematically avoided. Elected representation in democratic process tends to be apathetic (if it is appropriate to grace the term with a prefix). The quality of leadership complicit in this process is increasingly problematic in the face of the challenge of the times, as is evident in the proportion of world leaders, and elected representatives at every level of society, who have been subject to criminal investigation or considered for impeachment or indictment. These conditions encourage a degree of systemic corruption which is necessarily poorly acknowledged by those complicit in the process [more]

  • UIA as model: These conditions and dilemmas are reflected in the strategic challenges of many organizations. There is therefore value in exploring their manifestation within the century-old Union of International Associations (UIA) and the efforts to respond to their emergence over that period. Given its multi-facetted relationship with wider society, the "UIA" is considered here as a convenient model through which to exemplify the wider challenge in major institutional systems (whether intergovernmental, civil society, or the business world of multinational corporations) that might be expected to articulate more viable integrative remedial strategies.

  • Strategic caricatures: The situation for the world may be caricatured by a series of metaphors (arguably also applicable to the UIA):
    • a rabbit on a highway at night, paralyzed by the lights of the onrushing future -- "future roadkill"
    • a headless chicken running frantically in every direction, exemplifying collective attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
    • absentee landlords, occasionally gathering to emit uninformed and ill-thought out directives to those they are effectively exploiting (as wage slaves) -- and for whom they have merely token consideration
    • drivers of a high-tech vehicle like the RMS Titanic, proud product of technical excellence, proceeding at speed, at night, into an area containing obstacles of unforeseen proportions -- arrogantly denying any significant degree of threat. The metaphor may be extended to include the post-disaster challenge of empowering the doomed to sing a poignantly dignified farewell, for the appreciation of those who have appropriated the lifeboats.

  • Self-reflexivity and self-reference: Any exploration should at least acknowledge the possibility of dysfunctional personal bias in understanding these challenges and rationalizing a coherent story. The author of this exploration has been personally involved in each of the different stages described here from the 1960s -- when he produced an MBA thesis on the "UIA" of that time (General analysis of the Union of International Associations in relation to the possibility of introducing more advanced data processing techniques, 1968). This experience includes the articulation of the transitions through the discontinuities from one stage to the next, whether the organization of the methodology for knowledge management or its supportive information systems.

    These challenges and opportunities, in the light of wider developments, are reflected in many unattributed links to articles in the following exploration (a systematic chronology of such learnings is available elsewhere; the self-reflexive sin of self-citation here is mitigated by the fact that the cited papers cite numerous external references and web resources). These learnings notably imply biases and illusions in assessment of the appropriateness of each stage, those resisting its emergence, and learnings consequent on over-identification therewith -- and embodiment of its contradictions. Clearly self-serving biases and illusions remain a feature of what follows in seeking closure on the author's retirement from the "UIA". It might however be said that knowing how one is part of the problem is helpful to understanding the nature of the solution required. These factors are consistent with a theme highlighted here that, for everyone in a special sense, the problems of the "world" -- "my world" -- are "my problems", affecting as they do my sense of identity and well-being

It is easily argued that what is required at this time is a simple global solution whose implementation everyone accepts -- even if fear-driven or threat-based (Promoting a Singular Global Threat -- Terrorism: strategy of choice for world governance, 2002). Unfortunately many have such solutions and are typically hostile to those proposed by others. There is therefore a need to accept the complexity of the situation and the challenge it poses to understanding. As is argued metaphorically below, it is a potentially fatal mistake to assume naively that piloting a helicopter involves knowledge of only a few variables and a few controls. The strategic challenge is presumably considerably more complex. The question here is what can be learnt from the evolution of a "UIA" that may point to the kinds of learnings that are required for the world at large?

Evolution of knowledge management

There has recently been official recognition of the "failure of imagination" by the international community in relation both to "terrorism" (Failure of imagination to deal with an alternative logic, 2005) and to many other challenges calling for new thinking and a "paradigm shift" (cf Documents relating to Paradigm Change, Social Transformation). The question is whether there is a more fundamental failure of imagination in relation to the emergence of insight -- and its expression through forms appropriate to the challenges of the 21st century. The role of UIA1 has been widely acknowledged in articulating the organizational diversity of the emergent international system from 1907. But, given its own challenges and those of UIA2, these may perhaps now serve as a lens through which to look at the nature of the ills and inadequacies of international bodies in 2007.

What insights might this exploration offer into an emergent Union of Imaginable Associations ("UIA3") capable of embodying the essence of the emergent knowledge system required for the strategic challenges of the 21st century? In particular, how can the transformational challenge of a century-long investment in a "Union of International Associations" be used to explore the comparable challenges of other bodies?

What might then be signified by "union", "associations" and "imaginative" for the future? What is it that is progressively refined through such processes of staged organizational emergence as a result of collective learning? What insights or forms of understanding is society endeavouring to elicit as a basis for engendering structures and processes appropriate to the complex challenges it has evoked?

Do the stages of evolution of "UIA" over a century reflect the evolution of collective emphasis in the shift:

  • from: information space as fundamental to an information society (assumed to be adequate to knowledge needs for strategy making)?
  • through: knowledge space as fundamental to a knowledge society (assumed to be adequate to strategic insight)?
  • to: an "imagination space" fundamental to an "imagination society" (assumed to be adequate for imaginative strategic response) ?

Or should it be an "inspiration space" fundamental to an "inspiration society" -- depending on how "inspiration" and "imagination" are together understood and experienced?

As a century-old laboratory experiment that has been an early innovator in the application of technical mutations of increasing significance to the times, such questions highlight the merit of exploring the challenges and transformations of a "UIA" in relation to the management of collective knowledge and insight. Understanding these processes may offer insights into the challenges of other bodies faced with the need to transform their operating paradigms and modes of operation -- or disappear.

Gregory Bateson (Mind and Nature: a necessary unity, 1979) made the point that:

"The pattern which connects is a meta-pattern. It is a pattern of patterns. It is that meta-pattern which defines the vast generalization that, indeed, it is patterns which connect.".

And it is from this perspective that he warns in a much-cited phrase: "Break the pattern which connects the items of learning and you necessarily destroy all quality." The cover of The (Updated) Last Whole Earth Catalog (1974) carried the phrase: "We can't put it together; it is together". But, combining these understandings, it is not a question of whether the connectivity is "there". Rather it is a question of whether it can be given the meaning necessary for it to be sufficiently comprehensible to carry the quality and coherence with which we wish to be experientially associated.

What then are the "associations" that form that pattern and through what form of "union" is the degree of integration to be appropriately comprehended -- as a focus for collective action? Are "imaginative" associations the most generic form -- entraining the highest degree of comprehension and the most appropriate forms of action?

Nature of an emergent Union of Imaginable Associations (UIA3) ?

The following reframing is a generalization first suggested elsewhere (Significance in a Name: Union of International Associations) with respect to UIA1 and subsequently explored in the initial presentation of a UIA2 (Union of Intelligible Associations: remembering dynamic identity through a dodecameral mind, 2005) at the World Academy of Art and Science.

"ASSOCIATIONS": In "getting it together" the following "associations" might be fruitfully considered as potentially relevant to the requisite emergent "union":

  • people: relationships associating individuals may be profoundly significant, as with those considered "sympathetic" (with good "vibrations"), including Goethe's "elective affinities", or those with whom one can, with confidence, work and "do business". Any such mutual recognition may be the basis for building more tangible relationships. Such associations can be extended to the deceased (remembered and commemorated as exemplars for their valuable contribution to present understanding) as well as to "future generations" in the light of the legacy to be left to them by the present.
  • aesthetic: as widely valued as the essence of cultures in the associations expressed in the arts (poetic associations, musical associations, dramatic associations, etc), in the elegance of design (interior decoration, clothing design, landscape design, building design, etc) and embodied in ritual. Such associations are based on principles of harmony, proportion and surprise that have long been studied. They may be a prime feature of mathematical endeavour, architecture and sacred geometry. Aesthetic associations may be significant in nostalgic memories of golden eras past -- and hopefully yet to come. For some they may be reinforced by the phenomenon of synaesthesia. Such associations enable understanding to travel pathways between seemingly unrelated contexts -- possibly set in opposition as complementaries. These aesthetic associations constitute pathways across the abyss of difference.
  • creative insight: whether associated with aesthetics, invention or strategic thinking, creativity depends on making probable and possible the improbable and the impossible -- through giving form to unforeseen patterns. It may be valued in interrelating seemingly disparate insights into patterns that offer new perspectives, typically as discoveries, inventions, and theoretical breakthroughs. Such creativity may involve extending and reconfiguring more restrictive understandings of the past. As lateral thinking these associations are now well-recognized as essential to breaking "out-of-the-box", to thinking creatively, notably in strategic situations to bring about a desired future.
  • intuition: however inexplicable, this is a well-recognized factor in creativity, invention and strategic thinking of all kinds. Through intuition unusual associations may be acknowledged as meaningful -- and emerging patterns may first be sensed
  • appropriateness: this may be understood as a design criterion, expressed as the "goodness of fit", but may possibly be as subtle as a particular well-timed gesture -- prompted by intuition
  • correspondences and complementarities: as valued in reframing challenging discordant, polarized relationships into larger patterns that honour a variety of perspectives -- then appropriately constrained by such patterns. This may include recognition of strangely powerful (counter-intuitive) symmetries exemplified in decoration, metaphor and symbolism. Such recognition may require a degree of insightful abstraction to detect significant isomorphism.
  • symbol and myth: the nature of several of the intangible associations above may be intimated in the patterns of associations in symbol or myth that may well be fundamental to the sense of identity of an individual or a group. Reference to such devices may reinforce the credibility of aesthetic associations and any sense of appropriateness.
  • fun: as valued in the unexpected associations of humour, often in a context of playfulness and game-playing. However understood, humorous associations tend to offer unforeseen (even mischievous) links between contrasting domains. Humour "works" through providing a degree of credibility to such surprising associations. Their subtlety for the humourless is recognized in the challenge of "getting the joke".
  • action: as valued in the association between team members or partners in coordinated action towards a common end, deemed appropriate. This may also be evident in the association of an array of skills and insights permitting a higher order of action or operacy -- capable of detecting strategic windows of opportunity. Such associations are characteristic of the lateral thinking required in response to intractable problems.
  • nature and wilderness: these of course exemplify subtle relationships and the varying extents to which they are recognized, whether by the most modest gardener or the deepest ecologist.
  • virtual: such associations are now exemplifed by the hyperlinks of cyberspace and the often extraordinary patterns of relationship they enable

What characterizes such "associations" that is so vital to insightful responses to the challenge of the times?

The focus here is shifted to "imaginative" relationships and to how the dynamics of their emergence are sustained -- however such understanding then interfaces with any form of focused action. This of course raises the particular (memetic) challenge of how appropriate patterns of association are wisely recognized and comprehended in order to inform such action.

"IMAGINATIVE": Given the above "associations", the "imaginative" processes (or "inspirational" processes) might include some of those characteristics implied by models and metaphors such as the following:

  • verbal interaction: inspirational dialogue, humour (notably as experienced with a jester or candid camera, and "getting a joke"), subterfuge (notably that of a confidence trickster),
  • interpersonal relationships: the cognitive engagement at the moment of: "tying a knot" (as in marriage), making a deal or a sale, sexual intercourse (notably the notion of petit mort), or any transformative psychodramatic moment
  • kinetic thrills: moments in experience on a roller coaster, scateboarding aerobatics, aikido, dance
  • creativity: the experience of intuition, a creative "spark", lateral thinking, puzzle or riddle solving
  • visual perception: the moment of distinguishing: figure-ground alternatives (vase, Neckar cube), images in a single-image (autostereogram) designed to trick the human brain into perceiving a three-dimensional (3D) scene in a two-dimensional image (notably marketed as Magic Eye posters)
  • narrative drama: the "twist" in a story plot that makes it meaningful and gives it depth, the turning point in a drama
  • multimedia experience: considerable effort may be invested in creating and enabling imaginative experience in such environments

The imaginative dimension may be illustrated by the real, idealized or romanticized processes in dialogue environments such as:

A particular challenge with what is labelled as "imaginative thinking" is that it is most readily recognized (and rewarded) in response to the more simplistic framings of a problem -- with no reference to constraints characteristic of a broader understanding, to more complex or intractable problems, or to their longer-term implications. What are the inspired imaginative processes appropriate to the challenge of the future?

More intriguing is the nature of the distinctions between conditions which are:

In a classic text, Henri Corbin (Mundus Imaginalis, or the Imaginary and the Imaginal, 1964) notably distinguishes the imaginal world where everything existing in the sensory world has its analogue, known in Sh'ite Islam as ‘alam a mithal, the "eighth climate", or in Persian as Na-kojd-Abad, the "land of No-where":

... if we usually speak of the imaginary as the unreal, the utopian, this must contain the symptom of something. In contrast to this something, we may examine briefly together the order of reality that I designate as mundus imaginalis, and what our theosophers in Islam designate as the "eighth climate"; we will then examine the organ that perceives this reality, namely, the imaginative consciousness, the cognitive Imagination.... What is the organ by means of which that migration occurs -- the migration that is the return ab extra ad intra (from the exterior to the interior), the topographical inversion (the intussusception)? It is neither the senses nor the faculties of the physical organism, nor is it the pure intellect, but it is that intermediate power whose function appears as the preeminent mediator: the active Imagination. Let us be very clear when we speak of this. It is the organ that permits the transmutation of internal spiritual states into external states, into vision-events symbolizing with those internal states. It is by means of this transmutation that all progression in spiritual space is accomplished, or, rather, this transmutation is itself what spatializes that space, what causes space, proximity, distance, and remoteness to be there. [comment]

These issues have been more recently explored by Ervin Laszlo (Stanislav Grof, Ervin Laszlo's Akashic Field and The Dilemmas of Modern Consciousness Research, World Futures: the journal of general evolution, 62, 1-2, 2006). Curiously these overlap with constructivist epistemology, notably as brought into focus by Paul Watzlawick (Invented Reality: How Do We Know What We Believe We Know? 1984) as fundamental to social constructivism.

That the imaginal dimension is dramatically relevant to contemporary preoccupations is variously illustrated by:

  • blockbuster fantasy movies (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc, notably The Neverending Story)
  • economic dependence on imaginative R & D to ensure competitive advantage
  • the imaginative selection and presentation of evidence of threat by faith-based governance that has been a determining factor in the intervention by the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the world-wide cultivation of the "threat of terrorism"
  • the imaginative worldview of Islamic "suicide bombers" that has so successfully undermined completion of the agenda of the Coalition of the Willing, notably with respect to winning "hearts and minds" (cf Ibn Warraq, Virgins? What virgins? Guardian, 12 January 2002)

As a "strange attractor", the imaginal is a core organizing focus in a complex world (Human Values as Strange Attractors: coevolution of classes of governance principles, 1993). Curiously, so-called imaginary numbers are vital to the exploration of the boundary between chaos and order by the complexity sciences (Psycho-social Significance of the Mandelbrot Set a sustainable boundary between chaos and order, 2005)

Imagination is a vital quality sought and cultivated, notably by politicians, in envisaging viable future possibilities -- beyond the tired formulas of "business as usual" and "more of the same".

"UNION": Initially this may be seen as having been characterized by the intimate early relations that "UIA1" (through a "UIA0"?) had to the origins of the international classification sciences, especially through its close association (through Paul Otlet) with the International Institute of Bibliography (cf W Boyd Rayward, The Origins of Information Science and the International Institute of Bibliography / International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID), 1997). In the development of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), it is understandable that the "universal classification" of knowledge was a fundamental dimension of the early understanding of "union" -- employed by UIA1 through to the 1960s. [NB: The argument which follows has been generalized in Dynamic Reframing of "Union": implications for the coherence of knowledge, social organization and personal identity (2007)].

Breaking away from the UDC, this understanding was further developed within UIA1 in the light of the following: