Pattern, Meaning and Integration with author Jeremy Lent
Jan 8, 2024
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Author Jeremy Lent discusses the importance of recognizing patterns between things, the false distinction between science and spirituality, and defining spirituality as seeking meaning in connections. He also emphasizes dynamic patterns, natural attractors, and interconnectedness for personal growth and creating a life-affirming civilization.
Recognizing the importance of dynamic patterns over tangible objects in understanding interconnectedness.
Challenging the false distinction between science and spirituality by emphasizing seeking meaning in connections.
Promoting a holistic approach by viewing polarity as complementary rather than conflicting, shifting towards harmonizing opposition for a whole.
Deep dives
Jeremy Lent's Quest for Meaningful Narratives
Jeremy Lent embarked on a personal quest for authentic meaning after facing life's challenges that urged him to seek deeper narratives. His exploration led him to integrate diverse traditions into his books, offering an inclusive cognitive history. Emphasizing the importance of finding genuine beliefs beyond handed-down truths, Lent's journey showcases the significance of seeking resonance and finding connections among various traditions.
A Shift from Dualism to Polarity in Understanding the Universe
Jeremy Lent's insights highlight the distinction between polarity and dualism, where recognizing the complementary nature of opposites offers a new lens to view conflicts. Drawing from Taoist principles, Lent emphasizes how polarities necessitate each other to form a whole, unlike dualistic perspectives that breed conflict. By shifting focus towards harmonizing opposites, Lent challenges traditional Western divisions and encourages a more holistic comprehension of the world.
Meaning as an Emergent Phenomenon and the Spectrum of Consciousness
Exploring the concept of meaning as an emergent phenomenon arising from interconnectedness, Jeremy Lent delves into the spectrum of consciousness. By defining meaning as a function of connectedness, Lent underscores the interplay between subjective and objective realities. Refuting the dichotomy of objective and subjective, Lent advocates for viewing consciousness as an enactive process, emphasizing the dynamic evolution of meaning in a continuum of animate and conceptual intelligences.
Neo-Confucian Integration of Traditions
Neo-Confucianism emerged in the Song Dynasty, integrating Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism to form a comprehensive ontology. Rejecting a dualistic view of life, they emphasized the integrated experience of humans through mind and body. Their concept of 'tiren' exemplified this holistic approach, emphasizing understanding through the entirety of one's being.
Embracing Interconnectedness and Shifting Worldviews
The discussion delves into the need for a new worldview amidst societal crises, advocating for the integration of insights from diverse traditions. By reevaluating concepts like Li from Neo-Confucianism in the context of modern systems thinking, a shift towards a more interconnected and holistic understanding emerges. This perspective challenges conventional dualisms, encouraging a deeper exploration of patterns and the interconnected nature of existence.
Pattern, Meaning, & Integration with Jeremy Lent: Happy New Year !
A discussion with the author of The Patterning Instinct and Web of Meaning. Podcast posting soon on all platforms. This is a mostly uncut video without introduction. Wishing you all the very best of patterns, meanings, integrations and regenerations for 2024.
Towards way-making research in philosophy (as this is a research channel towards that philosophy), this conversation is especially helpful regarding the following:
The notion of polarity as not being dualistic. Jeremy's comments are very helpful here as a way to understand how the parts of a whole come to recognize one another, doing so as though they were not part of the same whole even while always being so.
“the patterns between things are often more important than the things themselves”
“the distinction we make between science and spirituality is a false distinction”
"I come up with a way of we can use language to define spirituality from the perspective of system science. And we can look at spirituality itself as really being like, an approach of seeking meaning in the connections between things rather than the things themselves."
Also especially helpful is the talk about dynamic patterns and strange attractors (what Jeremy calls natural attractors).
“Anytime we make sense of something, the best thing we can do is then having made sense of it to let that go and accept the next experience that might slightly shift the way of making sense of it.”
"It is not that the self is a delusion, it is that the fixed self is a delusion."