"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." Isaiah 35:5

Heinz von Foerster spoke mischievously with his good friend Humberto Maturana in a recorded conversation "Truth and Trust. He was associated with cybernetics, but preferred to call himself a "curiologist". In a mood or delightful rascality, Heinz said that science is just another modern day superstition, and that magic had been around from a much earlier time. He said that the word "science" derives from an ancient root "ski" which means "to separate" and with a twinkle in his voice says that "ski" is also the root of "shit" - something we all are happy to seperate from.

We human beings have a blind spot in our vision as a result of the anatomical structure of our eye, and yet, we don't see it, and cannot see it with both eyes open. We fill in the gap as if it doesn't exist.

Every perspective will allow us to see something, and at the same time inevitably hides something. Every perspective has its intrinsic blind spot, and also hides this as if it were not there. The gap is filled.

Mind the gap!

If we explore light with a spectrometer, we see waves. From another device we see photons - discrete particles. Which is it? Waves or particles?

We can never see the ground we are standing on, and the possibility of knowing about the ground only occurs when we stop jumping from one spot to another, and find some peace in accepting the illusion of seeing it as an illusion, and embrace the innate unknowingness of any attempt.

Computers are a wonderful servant but a terrible master. Science also.

Our eyes have been blinded by science, and our ears suffer from industrial deafness so only its sounds are audible.

Lao Tzu wrote "The ancient masters were subtle, mysterious, profound, responsive. The depth of their knowledge is unfathomable. Because it is unfathomable, all we can do is describe their appearance." Tao Te Ching #15.

Erickson hinted at this with his invitation "To observe, to observe, and to observe" and with his approach which actively avoided creating any fixed scientific explanatory theory.

Let the mystery continue ...

Rob