16th May 2007 | Draft

Emergence of a Union of Imaginable Associations

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

- / -

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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

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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:

• symposia, especially of academic form (as idealized by Plato)
• the archetypal Arthurian roundtable (cf Interrelating Cognitive Catastrophes in a Grail-chalice Proto-model implications of WH-questions for self-reflexivity and dialogue, 2006)
• working and residential environments: artists colonies, intentional communities (cf Transnational Network of Research and Service Communities, 1974; University of Earth: Meta-organization for post-crisis action, 1980)
• encounters of special people, whether cultural creatives or the wise (Council of the Whys: emergent wisdom through configuration of why-question dynamics, 2006; The Isdom of the Wisdom Society Embodying time as the heartland of humanity, 2003)

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:

• neither imaginary nor imaginative, typical of conventional "business as usual"
• imaginary, but not imaginative, typical of conventional fantasies, possibly embodied in tales or virtual environments. This category may include imaginary journeys, imaginary lands and fauna (notably in virtual environments), and imaginary friends (Ursula Le Guin, Imaginary Friends New Statesman, 18 December 2006). It may also include role-playing simulations (Model Roni Linser and Albert Ip, Imagining the World: the case for non-rendered virtuality - the role play simulation, 2005)
• imaginative, but not imaginary, typical of the best in material design, art and other forms of creative innovation (cf Imaginative Minds: An Interdisciplinary Symposium, 2004)
• imaginary and imaginative, typical of unconventional explorations of the boundary between reality and hyperreality, the "real" and the "virtual", and future potentials (cf Michael Beaney, Imagination and Creativity. Open University, Thought and Experience: Themes in the Philosophy of Mind, 2005; Hyperaction through Hypercomprehension and Hyperdrive: necessary complement to proliferation of hypermedia in hypersociety, 2006)

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:

• a concern with frameworks appropriate to interrelating perspectives of those who seemingly disagree (Functional Synthesis of Viewpoints: a conceptual model based on purpose, 1968)
• a concern with the variety of potentially significant "integrative concepts" (Integrative Knowledge and Transdisciplinarity Project, 1975; Documents relating to Synthesis, Transdisciplinarity and Integration)
• procedures towards establishing a "concept inventory" (Toward a Concept Inventory: suggestions for a computerised procedure, 1973)
• the need to move beyond the constraints of the UDC and other such systems in order to present a more integrative insight into the relationships between areas of activity of international organizations (Functional Classification in an Integrative Matrix of Human Preoccupations, 1982)
• a concern for the implication of the variety of ways of knowing (Encyclopedia of Conceptual Insights from the World's Cultures, 1988)

Other approaches to a more generic understanding of "union", as explored through UIA², under the notional auspices of UIA¹, have included:

• configuration: Configuring Conceptual Polarities in Questing: metaphoric pointers to self-reflexive coherence, 2004; Evoking Authenticity: through polyhedral global configuration of local paradoxes, 2003; Spherical configuration of interlocking roundtables: Internet enhancement of global self-organization through patterns of dialogue, 1998
• tensegrity: Documents relating to Networking, Tensegrity, Virtual Organization
• sacralization: Sacralization of Hyperlink Geometry, 1997
• complexity: Psycho-social Significance of the Mandelbrot Set: a sustainable boundary between chaos and order, 2005
• cognitive fusion: as assembled and focused cognitive resources (Enactivating a Cognitive Fusion Reactor, 2006)
• questions: action characterized by engendering questions rather than answers: Documents relating to Quests, Questions and Answers
• "trans-" and "beyond": the premature closure implied by some understandings of "union" is usefully (and imaginatively) challenged by the possible significance of the following:
  • hyperspace and "trans-spatial", notably as characteristics of hyperreality (Hyperaction through Hypercomprehension and Hyperdrive: necessary complement to proliferation of hypermedia in hypersociety, 2006)
  • "trans-temporal": (Engaging Macrohistory through the Present Moment, 2004; Documents relating to Time: Futures, Present, History)
  • transdisciplinary: (Documents relating to Synthesis, Transdisciplinarity and Integration)
  • transcultural: (Systems of Categories Distinguishing Cultural Biases, 1993)
  • "trans-methodology": as advocated by Paul Feyerabend (Against Method, 1975) and discussed elsewhere (Beyond Method: engaging opposition in psycho-social organization, 1981)
  • potential understandings and challenges associated with any encounter with the coherence or organizing principles of extraterrestrial societies (Communicating with Aliens: the psychological dimension of dialogue, 2000)

Such "union" necessarily evokes, or is dependent upon, other attributes:

• dynamics: as valued in patterns where associations are essentially dynamic rather than static, notably in music, song, dance and drama -- or other forms of beauty only exemplified in movement. The dynamics may emphasize transformative moments, as in drama or challenging encounters through which insight emerges. Spontaneity may be a valued focus of such associations. To the extent that it is more than of a static nature (characteristic of UIA¹ and UIA²), "union" may also be more meaningfully characterized dynamically as:
  • an evolving all-encompassing pattern of integrative understanding and communication, as associations are recognized or made
  • essentially incomplete and emergent -- as a "work in progress" -- with "union" recognized as a verb significant to understanding of process reality (beyond the closure associated with "unionise")
  • intimately associated with the ongoing process of imagination, not simply a post facto recognition of what is creative
  • identity in dynamic rather than static terms -- emergent behaviour providing a framework for a higher sense of identity (Dynamically Gated Conceptual Communities emergent patterns of isolation within knowledge society, 2004)
  • the "cognitive catastrophes" of surprise (Cognitive Feel for Cognitive Catastrophes: Question Conformality, 2006)
• intimacy: in that it evokes cognitive engagement fundamental to enactivating the "pattern that connects" and as evoked in descriptions of:
  • peak experiences (whether mystical or catalyzed by drugs)
  • flow experience (cf Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, 1990) as it might apply to organizational or community processes
  • grokking (cf Authentic Grokking: emergence of Homo conjugens, 2003)
  • enactivating the pattern that connects (Walking Elven Pathways: enactivating the pattern that connects, 2006)
• existential challenge: with qualities challenging assumptions, such as explored with respect to:
  • embracing error (Donald Michael, On the requirement for embracing error. In: On Learning to Plan and Planning to Learn, 1973; John O'Brien, Embracing Ignorance, Error, & Fallibility: competencies for leadership of effective services, 1987)
  • tendency to dilemma (Donald Michael's paper, Leadership's shadow: the dilemma of denial. In: Futures 26, 10, Dec 1994)
  • encountering the "shadow" (The "Dark Riders" of Social Change, 2002)
• synchronicity and serendipity: as acknowledged in some collective creative endeavours -- where an unforeseen sense of emergent "togetherness" may be a factor
• confluence of externalities: as an interweaving of encompassing contexts for understanding and endeavour (possibly described as nature, community, the world, or the universe) and a degree of resonance with a sense of of personal and collective identity (a coherence possibly echoed in the significance of mythological cycles), namely a correspondence between:
  • external, objective, organizational union and
• internal, subjective integration

Historical origins: Stage 0?

Potentially relevant to this exploration, but only considered in passing here, is the emergence of the Union of International Associations (UIA¹) in association with the highly ambitious Mundaneum, founded in the same period on the initiative of Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Henri La Fontaine (1854-1943) -- and within which the documentary activities of UIA¹ were set (despite the termination of its support by the Belgian government in 1934). The final separation only occurred when UIA¹ was reconstituted by Georges Patrick Speeckaert after 1948, following the chaos of World War II during which efforts were made by the Nazi regime to take it over (W. Boyd Rayward, The Universe of Information: the work of Paul Otlet for documentation and international organization, 1975).

The reconstituted Mundaneum now describes itself as the "paper internet", notably in the light of recognition by historians of the role of Otlet as a precursor visionary of hypertext and the internet (W. Boyd Rayward, Visions of Xanadu: Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Hypertext, 1994; Anticipating the Digital World: Paul Otlet and his paper internet, 2002).

For the purpose of this exploration, given the predominant ("parental") role of the Mundaneum, the period up to 1948 is considered a process of gestation and incubation for UIA¹ -- perhaps to be distinguished as UIA⁰.

Also potentially relevant to a story of larger scope is an "elder sister" organization, previously created in Brussels in 1895 as the International Institute of Bibliography (IIB) by those responsible for UIA¹. This body went through a number of changes of name that reflect changes of conceptualisation both of the field in which it operates and the way in which it should operate in this field. In 1931 it became the International Institute for Documentation (IID); in 1937 it became the International Federation for Documentation (FID); and in 1988 it became the International Federation for Information and Documentation (cf W. Boyd Rayward, International Federation for Information and Documentation, 1994). It declined into dormancy in 1998, just after its centenary -- for reasons, and through a process, which are poorly understood. Although it currently exists legally, metaphorically it might be described as being in a catatonic vegetable state. As a close "relative", and given its preoccupations, this is a striking lesson for UIA¹ -- especially as it might be said to have ceased any operational relations with FID from the inception of UIA² (1972) and with the abandonment of the UDC as a classification system by UIA¹.

Three-stage emergence? (Annex 1)

In Annex 1, Table 1 endeavours to portray the relationship between the various stages. It presents each subsequent phase as being conceived and effectively initiated during the course of the previous stage that thus provides a supportive framework within which it was configured. Typically there is a degree of rupture on the actual emergence of the new stage. It is in this sense that an initial Stage 0 (UIA⁰) is presented in the table, since until 1948 UIA¹ was effectively embedded within the Mundaneum, possibly to be understood metaphorically as a "womb". The files of UIA¹ were literally then extracted from the archives of the Mundaneum (to the latter's considerable dismay) in what might, in that metaphor, be termed a caesarean birth. As discussed below, it is a matter of reflection as to whether the emergent Stage 3 form, painfully "birthed" from Stage 2, will represent the mature form of a "UIA" that will in its turn "plant an egg", be the "womb" for such an "egg", or be an "egg" itself.

Thereafter the focus in Annex 1 is on the following themes:

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)

Of particular interest is how, from within the processes of any stage, the relationship to any previous or subsequent stage may be framed or reframed -- "negatively" or "positively" (as discussed in Annex 3). The situation might even be compared to the psychosocial processes of the colonised, or the enslaved, seeking to "reclaim their heritage". This is an issue for many nonprofit organizations where the altruistic aims by which employees are attracted to work enthusiastically are exploited by their executive bodies, notably through sub-economic salaries justified by various forms of moral blackmail -- potentially comparable to the traditional practices of absentee landlords. As retirees on generous pensions, the latter may typically be seen as memorials to problems and inspirations of the past -- frequently ethically "challenged", to say the least -- whose prime expertise lies in bringing a great deal of goodwill to the daily challenge of avoiding any meaningful strategic decisions (The Art of Non-Decision-Making, 1997).

Reframing the institutional past, and revisioning its future, is therefore tantamount to a "political act" by former "wage slaves" -- to be justified in ways comparable to those of various movements of conscientization and liberation. It could thus be argued that within every strategically inadequate organization there is a more adequate one "trying to get out" -- whether in the case of a "UIA" or a "United Nations" (with its decades of vain efforts at "reform"). The "violent" post-war separation of UIA¹ from an ailing Mundaneum-UIA⁰ could be seen in such terms.

As with the challenge of indigenous peoples, subject to the appropriation of the land with which their identity has long been associated, the "legal" claim by distant "statutory authorities" to the exploitation and disposal of such "valuable" "property" (in the name of "values" upheld only in name) merits careful examination. Such inherently divisive and simplistic understanding of "property" reflects a mindset and language that is not "fit for purpose" in the turbulent environment of the 21st century. People have a right to reclaim their heritage in its rich diversity -- which they were persuaded by specious argument to give up for "glass beads" or a "mess of potage". How do they reclaim the form with which their values, identity and inspiration are associated? (cf In Quest of Radical Coherence, 1994)

It is appropriate to recognize the statutory facade that is maintained by bodies like UIA¹ in order to sustain and justify the pattern of exploitation and the strategic inadequacy to the challenges of the times. Metaphorically changes to the facade, in the name of "reform", may be interpreted in the light of the classic tale of the Emperor's New Clothes. More intriguing, in seeking to understand the relationship between transformative stages, is the philosophical concept of the "ghost in the machine" as developed by Arthur Koestler (The Ghost in the Machine, 1967) -- whereby later developments to the human brain build upon more primitive forms which can overpower higher logical functions. However in the case of organizations:

• is it the case that an institutional "ghost of times past", of a former stage, inhibits emergence of the new? ...or
• is it rather that the emerging new form is better considered as a "ghost in the machine" of the older statutorily evident form -- a "ghost of times to come"?

This "ghost of times to come" then corresponds to an understanding of entelechy -- the possibilities encoded within (cf Entelechy: actuality vs future potential, 2001). As with the strategic intentionality of those associated with UIA², this is an inherent regulating and directing force in the development and functioning of an organism, the actualization of form-giving cause as contrasted with potential existence (with which future orientation is strongly associated). For Deirdre Lovecky (Warts and Rainbows: issues in the psychotherapy of the gifted, Advanced Development: a journal on adult giftedness, Jan., 1990):

Derived from the Greek word for having a goal, entelechy is a particular type of motivation, need for self-determination, and an inner strength and vital force directing life and growth to become all one is capable of being. Gifted people with entelechy are often attractive to others who feel drawn to their openness and to their dreams and visions. Being near someone with this trait gives others hope and determination to achieve their own self-actualization.

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

Detailed description of stages (exemplifying challenges in other organizations)
   -- 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)

In seeking ways to sustain UIA³, and to ensure that it thrives, Annex 3 is an exploration of the possibility of designing (or recognizing) new types of psychosocial energy system dependent on the skillful interweaving of "positive" and "negative" energy. This would reflect the pattern of development of energy systems exploited by the industrial revolution -- offering the possibility of "generating" psychosocial energy. The exploration is based on interrelating metaphorically the patterns associated with the Van der Graaf generator, the Möbius strip, the thermodynamic work cycle, the process of enantiodromia, and the dynamics implicit in the BaGua symbol. The design process here involves the juxtaposition or superposition of patterns variously indicated through metaphor -- thereby used as design elements to explicate the whole.

This clarifies how successive stages in the evolution of an organization involve the framing of previous stages as "negative" and future stages as "positive" in order to ensure appropriate separation and emergence of the subsequent stage -- as with the distinction between the century-old Union of International Associations (UIA¹), an implicit Union of Intelligible Associations (UIA²) and an emergent Union of Imaginable Associations (UIA³).

The argument within Annex 3 is ordered as follows:

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"

Integrative tools: As noted earlier, it has become relatively clear that the disciplines individually, or variously clustered and integrated according to currently favoured interdisciplinary methodologies (including the systems sciences and complexity sciences), have not proven capable of furnishing integrative approaches of requisite power and credibility for the challenges of the times. This is apparent both with regard to mega-problems (eg environmental degradation, regional conflict) and to seemingly simple problems (eg marginalized social groups, delivery of health care).

Such failure opens the door to the dubious abuses of faith-based reality and justifies the ambiguously quixotic title of the dropping knowledge initiative (cf Enabling a Living Library: reconciling "free voices" and "intellectual propriety", 2006). The capacity to get collective intelligence to work, to manage knowledge intelligently and fruitfully, to augment intellect and to elicit wisdom, is unfortunately inadequate to the challenges in the daily news headlines.

Those reflecting on the significance of the World Wide Web, and its possible future variants (Web 2.0, Semantic Web, etc), have waxed enthusiastic regarding its significance for humanity -- even associating it closely with the emergence of "planetary consciousness" (cf Ervin Laszlo, Planetary Consciousness: our next evolutionary step, Cybernetics and Human Knowing, 1997; The Imaginal within the Cosmos: the noosphere and cyberspace). This echoes Paul Otlet's reflections on such potential, although he saw a degree of integration of knowledge being achieved through use of the Universal Decimal Classification.

Missing from reflections on the future of the web is any sense of how knowledge is fruitfully to be integrated and how it is to facilitate integrative reflection -- rather than reinforce tendencies to tunnel vision (facilitated by "drill down" search engines) and groupthink as a characteristic consequence of fragmented disciplines and information overload. The challenge can only increase through current initiatives to digitise all books. With regard to cognitive engagement with integrative knowledge -- recognizing that the web as currently envisaged may not be the nec plus ultra of knowledge management achievements for all time -- there is a case for reflecting on what might prove to be a central feature of an emergent UIA³. In addition to those discussed in Annex 3, some reflections to that end include:

• From Information Highways to Songlines of the Noosphere: global configuration of hypertext pathways as a prerequisite for meaningful collective transformation (1996)
• Sacralization of Hyperlink Geometry (1997)
• Council of the Whys: emergent wisdom through configuration of why-question dynamics, 2006
• Enactivating a Cognitive Fusion Reactor, 2006

In the current situation the following integrative tools might be said to be of relevance beyond the framework of particular disciplines and ways of knowing:

• Models: typically those aspiring to integrate a range of variables, dimensions, or ways of knowing. Frequently such models are considered intellectual property, subject to copyright restrictions -- and are often closely associated with the identity and ambitions of those responsible and their antagonism to other competing models (Future Coping Strategies: beyond the constraints of proprietary metaphors, 2001). Unfortunately, irrespective of their structure, they seldom take account of the cognitive challenge of engaging and identifying with them
• Symbols: of which there are many compilations, including that initiated within UIA² (Integrative Symbols Project), but notably of the following kinds:
  • advertising: typically elaborated with the most competent design and market research to ensure that they evoke a pattern of culturally-charged associations fruitful to the promotion of commercial and political agendas
  • belief: such symbols are central to each religion as well as being currently a source of provocation in some secular societies for that reason
  • identity: typically a focal point of social groups, such as sporting teams or military regiments, in some cases to the point of being prepared to "die for" what they represent. Distinctive identity is notably important to international bodies (cf World Guide to Logotypes, Emblems and Trademarks of International Organizations, 1997; Experimental Articulation of Collective Identity -- through a dynamic system of metaphors, 1991)
• Visualizations: notably as insightfully interrelated in a periodic table by Ralph Lengler and Martin Eppler (Towards A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for Management, 2007). Also insightful is the collection of cyberspace representations by Martin Dodge (An Atlas of Cyberspaces, 2007)

Psychoactive integration: Such cognitive tools raise the question of how they are interrelated (cf Patterns of Conceptual Integration, 1984). Additionally there is the key question of how identification with them is "activated" -- how they become "psychoactive" and to what degree. James Lawley (When Where Matters: How psychoactive space is created and utilised, The Model Magazine, January 2006) clarifies this non-drug use of the term as follows:

Once a space becomes psychoactive for a person they are effectively 'living in their metaphor'. Then, when something changes in that perceptual space (often spontaneously), more of their mind-body is involved. This usually produces a more embodied and systemic change than just 'talking about' changing.... Psychoactivity is a particular kind of relationship between a person, their body, what they perceive and the context of that perception. Psychoactivity occurs when a person's thoughts, emotions and body sensations take on symbolic significance in response to what they are perceiving....Space becomes psychoactive once a person's mind-body starts to react symbolically to their physical surroundings and/or to their imaginative mind-space.

Often activation may be achieved through traumatic events with which they are associated -- as with regimental flags stained with blood from "battlefields of honour". The current significance of such intangibles is evident in the recognition of the critical importance of the "battle for hearts and minds" where previously it had been assumed that hardware and "spin" were sufficient (cf Missiles, Missives, Missions and Memetic Warfare: navigation of strategic interfaces in multidimensional knowledge space, 2001)

There is however another process which has become more accessible (and credible) to conventional thinking. That is the cognitive fusion through which complex sets of information -- presented through symbols -- are integrated in operational conditions (cf G. Jakobson, L. Lewis and J. Buford, An Approach to Integrated Cognitive Fusion, 2004). Studies of this phenomenon focus on the challenge for fighter pilots in navigating in three-dimensional space -- recalling the helicopter inspiration of Arthur Young (Geometry of Meaning, 1978) discussed in Annex 3.

The question is where one might look for a fruitful interplay of psychoactive symbols with cognitive fusion. One possible response is in the mandalas carefully elaborated for meditation purposes in (Tibetan) Buddhism -- and the subject of extensive study by Carl Gustav Jung (Mandala Symbolism, 1973). The possibility has been explored in relation to a new kind of "reactor" (cf Enactivating a Cognitive Fusion Reactor: imaginal transformation of energy resourcing and notably an annex: Cognitive Fusion through Myth and Symbol Making). A western variant is the Basque lauburu. That these matters are non-trivial is indicated by the past challenge of the swastika and the possibility of future collective challenges of that kind in an age of "spin".

Knowledge organization: Given the concerns and processes of UIA³, what might they encompass (and how) in relating such symbolic foci to other potentially significant organizations of knowledge? Useful possibilities for consideration include:

• Knowledge classification: There are of course a multitude of approaches to ordering knowledge (E I Samurin, Geschichte der bibliothekarisch-bibliographischen Klassifikation, Verlag Dokumentation, 1977) of which the UDC was but one. There are a multitude of thesauri and ontologies of varying degrees of bias (Anti-Developmental Biases in Thesaurus Design, 1981). Typically such external ("pigeon-holing") schemes have no internal subjective referents -- a very particular epistemological bias, surprisingly comparable to the classificatory approach of Ken Wilber (as discussed in Annex 3). One response to a more integrative approach to this challenge is that developed by UIA² for the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential, under the notional auspices of UIA¹ -- and currently used online (Functional Classification in an Integrative Matrix of Human Preoccupations, 1982). Although this points to the challenge of identification, it is definitely not psychoactive or fully sensitive to the variety of organizations of knowledge (Systems of Categories Distinguishing Cultural Biases, 1993) of which the mandala is but one.
• Rosetta stone of meaning: The work of Arthur Young sought to elaborate a "Rosetta stone of meaning", as discussed in Annex 1 (of which Table 3 is but one possible representation), as with those in the references cited above it. An effort has been made by John Raithel [more] to relate it to the "Standard Model" of modern physics
• Systematics and syntegrity : R Buckminster Fuller (Synergetics; explorations in the geometry of thinking. 1975-9) also sought a geometric representation of forces significant to an integrative pattern, most notably through centro-symmetric tensegrity structures (see Documents Relating to Networking, Tensegrity, Virtual Organization; Examples of Integrated, Multi-set Concept Schemes, 1984). Elsewhere this approach was adapted to ordering the strategic dilemmas of the 1992 UN Earth Summit (Configuring Globally and Contending Locally: shaping the global network of local bargains, 1992 ). Stafford Beer (Beyond Dispute: the invention of team syntegrity, 1994) developed a formal model, built on Fuller's polyhedra idea of systems, and applied to non-hierarchical problem solving.
• Dodecameral mind: In a separate study, Fuller's work was related to the challenge of "re-membering" a dodecameral mind (Union of Intelligible Associations remembering dynamic identity through a dodecameral mind, 2005)
• Comprehensive patterns of wisdom: The most striking and comprehensive are those elaborated within traditional Chinese culture, and continuing to give rise to reflection and commentary, namely the Tao Te Ching (Hyperspace Clues to the Psychology of the Pattern that Connects in the light of 81 Tao Te Ching insights, 2003), the I Ching (Transformation Metaphors derived experimentally from the Chinese Book of Changes, 1997) and the T'ai Hsüan Ching (9-fold Magic Square Pattern of Tao Te Ching Insights: experimentally associated with the 81 insights of the T'ai Hsüan Ching, 2006). Of particular interest is the patterning of these insights, potentially indicative of a more comprehensive perspective than that of Arthur Young (Mapping Songlines of the Noosphere: use of hypergraphs in presentation of the I Ching and the Tao te Ching, 2006)
• Cyclic patterns: As discussed in Annex 3, the Möbius strip and the torus both offer means of holding richer patterns of potentially intuitive significance. The torus notably enables reframing less cognitively engaging representations such as the matrix-style tables (as in the annexes). (Comprehension of Requisite Variety for Sustainable Psychosocial Dynamics: transforming a matrix classification onto intertwined tori, 2006). The fundamental distinction from conventional "linear" thinking is exemplified by the contrast between the "Gulf Stream" (readily described and understood as a two-dimensional "one-way" process) and the complex three-dimensional thermohaline circulation (otherwise described in terms of the great ocean conveyor belt, the global conveyor belt, or, most commonly, the meridional overturning circulation) -- complete with complex three-dimensional "twist". As noted in Annex 3, the danger of "linearity" is an unfortunate characteristic of Ken Wilber's presentation of a "one-way" spiritual "conveyor belt" (Integral Spirituality: a startling new role for religion in the modern and postmodern world, 2006). The global oceanic conveyor belt in fact offers a remarkable model (and a symbol of requisite complexity) of what Wilber's spiritual conveyor ought to be. Ironically, whilst Wilber stresses the vital significance of enabling the spiritual conveyor, considerable concern is expressed in parallel at the possibility of an abrupt stopping of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation as a consequence of climate change (Bill McGuire, Will global warming trigger a new ice age? The Guardian, 13 November 2003). As cycles both are however a challenge to comprehension. Especially intriguing as a complex model, the ocean conveyor belt reconciles several transformations between different forms of "positive" and "negative" (temperature, density, salinity). It is therefore not inappropriate to associate the foreseen sudden disruption to that global conveyor to intuitions of a spiritual Armageddon (Spontaneous Initiation of Armageddon a heartfelt response to systemic negligence, 2004)
• Integrative symbolism: One indication of the relevance of such explorations is the challenge of eliciting a psychoactive "surface" (as mentioned above) onto which the complexities of the world's cultures can be meaningfully projected to hold the identity of the whole (The Territory Construed as the Map: in search of radical design innovations in the representation of human activities and their relationships, 1979). One challenge is the possibility of higher degrees of self-reflexiveness (Hyperaction through Hypercomprehension and Hyperdrive: necessary complement to proliferation of hypermedia in hypersociety, 2006) notably as this relates to arguments articulated by Michael Schiltz (Form and Medium: a mathematical reconstruction, Image [&] Narrative, 6, 2003) and by Steven M. Rosen (What is Radical Recursion? S.E.E.D. Journal: Semiotics, Evolution, Energy, and Development, 2004).

Symbolic form: As a potentially ideal symbol, large-scale static depictions of the spherical Earth fail however to honour adequately the cognitive challenge of the many belief systems and ways of knowing. It is, for example, an irony that the necessarily simple, static logo of the United Nations features the laurel crown of leaves given dubious prominence by Imperial Rome. More tragic is the inability to elicit a cognitive "surface" to hold together the mindsets and identities of the conflicting parties in the Middle East -- of which the ridiculous Christian territoriality in the Holy Sepulchre, with its Islamic guardian in a Jewish context, is perhaps the most tragic (cf And When the Bombing Stops? Territorial conflict as a challenge to mathematicians, 2000; Reframing Relationships as a Mathematical Challenge: Jerusalem a Parody of Current Inter-Faith Dialogue, 1997). By comparison, as noted above, the global ocean conveyor is effectively a richer dynamic symbol, central to an endangered planetary dynamic, but indicative of the requisite degree of complexity to reconcile contrasting worldviews and belief systems -- currently endangering the coherence of planetary psychodynamics.

Despite their current importance to faith-based governance and their etymological association with the dynamic process of linking and connecting, it is curious that religions are indeed framed as "worldviews" and "perspectives" (Guidelines for Critical Dialogue between Worldviews , 2006). This implies an essentially static function -- perhaps as a viewing lens on divinity. As such they effectively exclude the dynamics of dialogue with any Other, notably other religions. They can only "clash". As belief "systems", they are closed to each other -- being asystemic in any larger sense. As currently understood, they have no effective commitment to the "pattern that connects" in Bateson's terms. Water, however, and notably the sea, is indeed a valued traditional spiritual symbol worldwide. In the light of the dynamic of the global ocean conveyor as a model, with its many phases and three-dimensional "twists" around the globe (consequent upon positive and negative changes in temperature, density or salinity), a "fluid" understanding of religion could only be articulated in terms of the continuous dynamic between the various modes of engaging in spirituality. This is the qualitative essence of the "pattern that connects". (cf Edward de Bono, I Am Right-You Are Wrong: from Rock Logic to Water Logic, 1992)

The symbolic form able to constitute a "union" of "imaginable associations" would presumably have characteristics such as:

• requisite complexity to integrate a variety of disciplines, ways of knowing and their interrelationships
• a dynamic, necessary for that complexity, that can be comprehended through its formation of seemingly static standing waves as suggested by Chladni patterns or the Mandelbrot set (Psycho-social Significance of the Mandelbrot Set: a sustainable boundary between chaos and order; 2005)
• aesthetic qualities that focus attention both as an attractor and as a mnemonic aid to "re-member" the "pattern that connects" -- potentially enhanced by music (A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? 2006)
• an action-enabling, or catalytic, capacity of relevance to strategic initiatives
• psychoactive in the sense of enhancing identity within a larger whole

The discussion of the BaGua in Annex 3 is significant as an example of a psychoactive integrative symbol functioning as a form of Rosetta Stone and providing an interface between "external" and "internal" environments. Should its elaboration in the set of hexagrams of the I Ching be understood as a schematic of the dynamics of a Union of Imaginable Associations (Relationship between Hexagrams of the Chinese I Ching, 1983) ? Could "infinite games" be understood in this light (James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games: a vision of life as play and possibility, 1986) ?

Dependence on metaphor: The "imaginable associations" of such conceptual tools provide a sense of the "union" constituting the vehicle that is the "Union of Imaginable Associations" (UIA³). It is through an appropriately comprehensible configuration that the potential of collective cognitive fusion then becomes apparent -- beyond the preoccupation with "augmenting human intellect", whether individually or collectively. The imaginative nature of this fusion process is significantly dependent on metaphor (cf Metaphors as Transdisciplinary Vehicles of the Future, 1991) especially within any strategic governance processes (cf Documents relating to Metaphor for Governance)

As stressed by Gregory Bateson in concluding a conference on the effects of conscious purpose on human adaptation: "We are our own metaphor"  (Mary Catherine Bateson, Our Own Metaphor, 1972). In this respect the insight of Kenneth Boulding (The Image: knowledge in life and society, 1956), as an early contributor to general systems thinking, is relevant:

"Our consciousness of the unity of the self in the middle of a vast complexity of images or material structures is at least a suitable metaphor for the unity of a group, organization, department, discipline, or science. If personification is only a metaphor, let us not despise metaphors  - we might be one ourselves." (Ecodynamics: a new theory of societal evolution, 1978 p. 345)

How might this be understood with respect to the identity of a "Union of Imaginable Associations"? Possibilities are intimated in:

• Comprehension of Appropriateness, 1986
• Metaphoric Revolution: in quest of a manifesto for governance through metaphor, 1988
• Walking Elven Pathways: enactivating the pattern that connects, 2006

But the challenge is how and why any "union" is dynamically understood as a process that activates insights -- as indicated by authors such as George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (Philosophy in the Flesh : the embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought, 1999 ) or Francisco Varela (Laying Down a Path in Walking: cognition from an enactive viewpoint).

Operational implications

Enactive embodiment: Significantly consistent with the intimations of Paul Otlet (Monde: essai d’universalisme: connaissance du monde, sentiment du monde, action organisée et plan du monde, 1935), UIA³ may be understood as subsuming the category focus of UIA² and UIA¹. It is consistent with the implied sentiments of the title of the widely appreciated song We are the World (1985), possibly to be articulated as:

• Being the Universe : a metaphoric frontier, 1999
• Personal Globalization, 2001
• Embodying the Sphere of Change, 2001
• My Reflecting Mirror World: making Joburg worthwhile, 2002
• Psychology of Sustainability: embodying cyclic environmental processes, 2002
• En-minding the Extended Body: enactive engagement in conceptual shapeshifting and deep ecology, 2003

Such insights may prove to be a key to the mindset required to engender remedial transformation of the world. The conventional attitude reinforces an instrumental approach to the exploitation of a separate world -- a form of institutionalized non-responsibility for a world that is somebody else's property -- "not mine". This is to be contrasted with an attitude through which the experienced phenomena of the "external" world are significantly to be understood as a "magical" mirror of the processes through which one "imagines" one's own identity and integrity -- with a degree of responsibility for actively seeing things whole.

Classic Zen tale illustrative of the challenge of engaging with the environment through oneself in order to remedy imbalance

A rainmaker is invited to come to a rural village, to bring rain -- for the village is experiencing drought. The rainmaker requests a cottage far from the village, and asks not to be disturbed. Three days later, rain and snow fall on the village. The rainmaker explains that he did not bring the rain. As he had felt immediately infected by the imbalance of the village people upon arrival, he took refuge to balance himself -- naturally balancing the outside world through that process -- and it rained.

Such considerations reconnect with the traditional insights of indigenous communities through which the surrounding world is the encoding or embedding of a knowledge map (cf Darrell A. Posey, Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity, 1999; David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous: perception and language in a more-than-human world, 1997; Jeremy Narby, The Cosmic Serpent : DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, 1999). This is associated with a process of land nám, coined by Ananda Coomaraswamy (The Rg Veda as Land-Nama Book, 1935), to refer the Icelandic tradition of claiming ownership of uninhabited spaces through weaving together a metaphor of geography of place into a unique mythic story. This territorial appropriation process, notably practiced by the Navaho and the Vedic Aryans was further described by Joseph Campbell (The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: metaphor as myth and religion, 1986):

Land nám ("land claiming or taking") was [the Norse] technical term for this way of sanctifying a region, converting it thereby into an at once psychologically and metaphysical Holy Land.... Land nám, mythologization, has been the universally practiced method to bring this intelligible kingdom to view in the mind's eye. The Promised Land, therefore, is any landscape recognized as mythologically transparent, and the method of acquisition of such territory is not by prosaic physical action, but poetically, by intelligence and the method of art; so that the human being should be dwelling in the two worlds simultaneously of the illuminated moon and the illuminating sun. (p. 34)

As Campbell notes, this is a variant of the archetype of a "promised land", namely "a spiritual region, or condition of mind, wherein phenomenal forms are recognized as revelatory of transcendence". Such a worldview justifies recognition of "songlines" and associated processes of "singing the land" in order to sustain it, as with Australian Aborigines. Curiously geographical renaming by colonial and post-colonial regimes may be understood as "appropriative naming" towards such an end -- for the colonizers. Similarly, however inadvertently, scientific naming may seek to appropriate, in support of a particular worldview, the phenomena characterizing a coherent indigenous knowledge system. The most dubious abuse of such appropriative naming is highlighted by the case of the indigenous tribes of North America (Cornel Pewewardy, Renaming Ourselves On Our Own Terms: race, tribal nations, and representation in education, Indigenous Nations Studies Journal, 1, 1, Spring 2000) or, more generally, by prohibition of indigenous languages as psychoactive templates of cultural identity.

Especially intriguing at this time is the possibility that virtual environments, whether imaginable "vehicles" like UIA³, or "real estate" in Second Life (Virtually Real Estate, Financial Times, 3 March 2007) may be susceptible to being rendered psychoactive in a similar manner (Sacralization of Hyperlink Geometry, 1997). How then might it be appropriate -- if it is -- to distinguish between engaging in such a process "seriously and for real" as opposed to "playfully"? (Humour and Play-Fullness: essential integrative processes in governance, religion and transdisciplinarity, 2005; Playfully Changing the Prevailing Climate of Opinion Climate change as focal metaphor of effective global governance, 2005).

"Craziness": In pointing towards the relevance of "wisdom" (Global Strategic Implications of the Unsaid: from myth-making towards a wisdom society, 2003; The Isdom of the Wisdom Society: embodying time as the heartland of humanity, 2003), UIA³ may for some be characterized by what has been termed "crazy wisdom" -- intentionally transgressive acts, in thought if not in actual practice. Humour may be used precisely for this reason to elicit new levels of insight -- exemplified by the tragi-comic Sufi tales of the Mullah Nasruddin [more], the "crazy wisdom" and "spiritual foolishness" promoted by Taoists such as Chuang Tzu as paradoxical "ways of knowing", or the deadly paradoxes and savage black humour of Tukaram (Recognized Role of Humour: in politics, leadership, religion and creativity, 2005).

In this light -- given the call for radically new approaches in response to the challenges of the times (and their urgency) -- there is every possibility that the imaginative craziness required is of a different order than that conventionally envisaged by international institutions and their supporting "think tanks" (Meta-challenges of the Future: for networking through think-tanks, 2005; "Tank-thoughts" from "Think-tanks" metaphors constraining development of global governance, 2003). Such a point was well made in the much-quoted statement by physicist Niels Bohr in response to Wolfgang Pauli:

"We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough." To that Freeman Dyson added: "When a great innovation appears, it will almost certainly be in a muddled, incomplete and confusing form. To the discoverer, himself, it will be only half understood; to everyone else, it will be a mystery. For any speculation which does not at first glance look crazy, there is no hope!" (Innovation in Physics, Scientific American, 199, 3, September 1958)

If the challenges of a world "gone crazy" are more complex than those faced by physicists, with what "craziness" is the "union" of what "associations" to be imagined -- and engaged in?

Indicative examples of 2nd and 3rd order environments

It would be useful to articulate the ways in which a range of existing psychosocial experiements reflect the contrasts made above between the mindsets (or mindscapes) of UIA¹, UIA² and UIA³ or in some way fail in their intentions. Approaches to detecting the exemplification of higher order, self-reflexive contexts -- "centres of embodiment" as opposed to "centres of excellence" -- might include:

• Renaissance zones (resources)
• Integral University
• Chaordic Alliance

In each case the challenge is to distinguish claims for those environments to a higher order condition from the actuality thereof. It is also the case that any such claims might well be an indication of the aspiration to some such condition when it has not indeed been successfully embodied in practice.

Of particular relevance for the immediate future is the facility with which such environments may be created virtually. Perhaps a Third Life rather than a Second Life (Bryan Alexander, Towards Third Life, 20 February 2007)?

Conclusion

This exploration highlights the emergence of a Union of Imaginable Associations (UIA³) engaged with the present and its future challenges -- rather than seeking to sustain a capacity to serve and reinforce the mindsets of the past and the problems they engender (as would seem to be the destiny of UIA¹ and UIA² if they survive) .

As noted, it is easily argued that what is required at this time is a simple global solution whose implementation everyone accepts and comprehends. Unfortunately many have such solutions and are typically indifferent or 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.

This challenge to governance was clarified in terms of a generalization by Arthur Young of the many variables to be taken into account in piloting a helicopter (as discussed in Annex 1). It is consistent with the explorations of other cultures (Navigating Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms through movement, 2002) and with challenges of knowledge organization (Envisaging the Art of Navigating Conceptual Complexity in search of software combining artistic and conceptual insights. Knowledge Organization, 1995).

In a further development of his thinking, Arthur Young speculated in 1947 on the possibility of a "psychopter... the winged self. It is that which the helicopter usurped -- and what the helicopter was finally revealed not to be." As a vehicle operating on the boundary between order and chaos, the helicopter prefigures the challenges of chaordic organization explored by the founder of VISA International (Dee Hock , Birth of the Chaordic Age, 1999) through the Chaordic Alliance. Within such a challenging design context, vehicles like UIA³ might be understood as examples of an "orgopter" -- responding to the self-reflexive dynamics of complex adaptive systems (or third order cybernetics).

The Union of Imaginable Associations provides a context for further investigation into the questions raised by the staged story above, notably:

• what emerges through the refinement process? This appears to involve a transition from different senses of "global", ranging from a documentation of everything, via a prioritization of this through the eyes of international constituencies of every persuasion, to a patterning or configuration of these understandings (especially their interrelationships), and finally to a more intimate sense of how any "union" is imaginatively constructed to provide a higher order of coherence, integrity and embodiment (Future Generation through Global Conversation, 1997). This evolution may be seen as a transformation through understandings of globalization of decreasing concreteness and greater intimacy (Personal Globalization, 2001) -- a process of dematerialization and virtualization following recognition of misplaced concreteness.
  
  
• what is the role of "transitional objects", with respect to the management of knowledge and creative imagination in the various preoccupations of UIA¹, UIA² and UIA³? What underlies any conventional preoccupation with "civil society" bodies and their "meetings", "knowledge organization", or the "issues", "strategies" or "values" that characterise collective endeavour? How do associations (social, conceptual, aesthetic, or mathematical) function together as vehicles of the collective imagination -- especially in the light of that being evoked and carried by virtual organizations on the web?
  
  
• to what degree does distinguishing distinct "stages", as in the evolution of a "UIA", merely constitute a cognitive convenience in comprehending a continuum of changes in collective action -- justified by an operational reality, as suggested by structured transformations through the insect lifecycle (discussed in Annex 2 ***)
  
  
• what is the counter-intuitive reorientation -- a form of "cognitive twist" (as discussed in Annex 3) -- necessarily associated with this transformation, especially with respect to the sustainability of any emergent Union of Imaginable Associations (UIA³)? How are these changes of orientation to be described in terms of patterns of communication within an organization -- by analogy (for example) with the necessary configurative transformations ("rewiring") in an insect nervous system through its lifecycle -- and how might these be enabled by new kinds of facilitative knowledge system -- perhaps a chaordic knowledge system (cf John Moravec, Chaordic Knowledge Production: a systems-based response to critical education, Theory of Science, 2006)?
  
  
• what is the nature of the challenge to comprehension for those embedded in a changing structure or embodying features of it (cf Union of International Associations -- Virtual Organization: Paul Otlet's 100-year hypertext conundrum?, 2001; Comprehension and communicability)?
  
  
• how is the interplay during stage decoupling (between "positive" and "negative" projections, hopes and fears, doom-mongering and hope-mongering, initiatives and negligence, appreciation and recrimination, subterfuge and transparency, or upholding and undermining rules) to be transformed into a new resource as a "difference engine"? How are the "fuels" for such an engine distinct at each stage -- corresponding to the distinct forms of "empowerment"? What can be learnt from the many other interplays between "positive" and "negative" that are a source of energy or motive power in society? How is the management of such an interplay distinct from the conventional focus on augmenting the positive and eliminating the negative? (cf Annex 3)
  
  
• how are the increasing degrees of cognitive engagement and self-reflexiveness to be embodied by groups and individuals in an imaginative society, especially when these are fundamental to processes in the transformation to more effective forms of collective intelligence? (as discussed in Annex 3)
  
  
• beyond echoing what is already in the literature on organizational transformation, how do insights from the management literature and from culture studies (cf Jared Diamond, Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed, 2005) relate to a cycle of organization transformations? (as discussed in Annex 3)

The much-quoted verse of T S Eliot gives a sense of the latter.

“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know it for the first time.” T S Eliot, Little Gidding, 1942

---

References

[NB Other references in Annex 3]

Joseph Campbell. The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: metaphor as myth and as religion. New World Library, 1986/2002 [review]

James P Carse. Finite and Infinite Games: a vision of life as play and possibility. Random House, 1986

Ananda Coomaraswamy. The Rg Veda as Land-Nama Book. London, Luzak, 1935

Edward de Bono, I Am Right-You Are Wrong: from Rock Logic to Water Logic. Penguin, 1992

K. Edwards. The Integral Cycle of Knowledge: Some Thoughts on Integrating Ken Wilber's Developmental and Epistemological Models, p 2. Frank Visser's Ken Wilber website: http://www.integralworld.net ***

R Buckminster Fuller. Synergetics; explorations in the geometry of thinking. New York, Macmillan, 1975 (vol. 1), 1979

Shirley Hazzard. Defeat of an Ideal: a study of the self-destruction of the United Nations, Macmillan, London, 1973

Francis Heylighen and C Joslyn. Cybernetics and Second Order Cybernetics. In: R.A. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Physical Science & Technology, Vol. 4, 2001, p. 155-170. [text]

Anthony Judge:

• Towards an Astrophysics of the Knowledge Universe: from astronautics to noonautics? 2006 [text]
• "Tank-thoughts" from "Think-tanks" metaphors constraining development of global governance, 2003 [text]
• Union of International Associations -- Virtual Organization: Paul Otlet's 100-year Hypertext Conundrum ? 2001 [text]
• Navigating Alternative Conceptual Realities: clues to the dynamics of enacting new paradigms through movement, 2002 [text]
• Simulating a Global Brain: using networks of international organizations, world problems, strategies, and values, 2001 [text]
• Sharing a Documentary Pilgrimage: UIA -- Saur Relations 1982-2000 [text]
• Coherent Policy-making Beyond the Information Barrier: circumventing dependence on access, classification, penetration, dissemination, property, surveillance, interpretation, disinformation, and credibility (Paper for the Workshop on Information in the Policy Process Project, organized by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development and the World Affairs Council, San Francisco, December 1999) [text]
• Envisaging the Art of Navigating Conceptual Complexity in search of software combining artistic and conceptual insights. Knowledge Organization (22), 1995, 1, pp 2-9. [text]
• General analysis of the Union of International Associations in relation to the possibility of introducing more advanced data processing techniques, 1968
• Functional Synthesis of Viewpoints: a conceptual model based on purpose, 1968 [text]
• computer supported knowledge represenation UIA2
• World Dynamics and Psychodynamics: a step towards making abstract "world system" dynamic limitations meaningful to the individual, 1971 [text]

Françoise Levie:

• L'homme qui voulait classer le monde. Paul Otlet et le Mundaneum, Bruxelles, Les Impressions Nouvelles, 2006 [text]
• The Man who wanted to classify the World, DVD, Memento Production, 2006. [DVD]

Jeremy Narby. The Cosmic Serpent : DNA and the Origins of Knowledge. New York, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1999

Paul Otlet:

• International Organisation and Dissemination of Knowledge: selected essays of Paul Otlet (translated and edited by W. Boyd Rayward). Amsterdam, Elsevier, 1990.
• Monde: essai d’universalisme: connaissance du monde, sentiment du monde, action organisée et plan du monde. Bruxelles, Editiones Mundaneum, 1935.

W Boyd Rayward:

• The Universe of Information: the Work of Paul Otlet for international organisation and documentation. Moscow, VINITI, 1976 (FID Publication 520). [text]
• The International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID). In: Encyclopedia of Library History, edited by Wayne A. Wiegand and Don G. Davis, Jr., New York: Garland Press, 1994, pp. 290-294. [text]
• The Origins of Information Science and the International Institute of Bibliography / International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID). International Forum on Information and Documentation, 1997, vol. 22, no 2, pp. 3-15 [text]
• Visions of Xanadu: Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Hypertext. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 45 (1994): pp 235-250 [text]
• Anticipating the Digital World: Paul Otlet and his Paper Internet. Bartels Lecture at the University of Leeds, 2002.
• H.G. Wells's Idea of a World Brain: a Critical Re-Assessment, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50, May 1999, pp 557-573 [text]

Manfred Saynisch. Beyond Frontiers of Traditional Project Management: the concept of “Project Management Second Order (PM-2)” as an approach of evolutionary management. World Futures: the journal of general evolution, 61, 8, December 2005, pp 555 - 590 [text]

Richard A. Slaughter. Knowledge Creation, Futures Methodologies and the Integral Agenda. Foresight, 3, 5, Oct 2001, pp 407-418 [text]

Union of International Associations:

• Yearbook of International Organizations, 43rd edition, 2006/2007, 5 vols [plus online]
• Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential, 4th edition, 3 vols, 1997 [plus online]
• International Congress Calendar, 47th edition, 2007 [plus online]
• Who's Who in International Organizations, 5th ediition, 2006 [plus online]

Paul Watzlawick (Ed). Invented Reality: How Do We Know What We Believe We Know? W W Norton & Co Inc, 1984