Among other ways of saying it, the complementary nature is about grounding yin~yang relationships in a new principle of how the human brain works.
For example, on the one hand people think the brain works as an integrated organ where information from different parts of the brain is integrated to form a representation of an object or a plan of action.
On the other hand, people think of the brain as a group of segregated entities or modules specialized to handle different mental functions, a center for face recognition, a center for short term memory, a motor programming center and so on.
In the The Complementary Nature, convincing evidence from coordination dynamics, (the science of coordination and of the complementary nature )shows that the brain is both integrated and segregated: integrating tendencies coexist at the same time as segregating tendencies. Integration~segregation is just one example of yin~yang in the brain. But TCN is actually more ambitious:
It is about grounding all yin~yang relationships in the science of coordination dynamics. This is a funny twist, if you consider that historically, people ground all yin~yang relationships in … yin~yang. That is, our experience, our direct perception~actions of complementary pairs like body~mind, time~space, male~female, etc., are grounded in a concept, that concept being the principle of yin~yang.
Fair play. Yin~yang is a perfectly reasonable and valid desciption complementary pair. We would say that the ancient taoists demonstrated a keen and deep squiggle sense.
But a mystery enters in when one then inquires about where the yin~yang principle comes from. The answer is Tao, an invisible and ineffable all encompassing inexplicability that is taken to be the soul of Nature itself. If things are left this way, then one explains everyday physical phenomena with an incoporeal, untestable, ultimately unknowable factor like the Tao is written to be by its most devoted adherents, then the only way to reconcile is to believe and accept…making this ultimately a religious, or spiritual pursuit.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. It is very important for us to be mindful and respectful of a religious practice that has been followed by millions upon millions for at least 3000 years. We certainly resonate strongly with the beautiful Taoist poetry, not to mention with the principle of yin~yang itself. If we did not somehow believe and accept the principle of yin~yang, we would be hard pressed to consider ourselves heralds of the complementary nature!
But as Saint Thomas Aquinas-a deeply spiritual person- liked to remind his skeptical cohorts, faith and reason are not only equally valid, but inextricable and complementary. That is to say, there is no foul committed by inquiring into the principle of yin~yang scientifically speaking.
So the question is, can yin~yang, or some general dynamic principle of complementarity like ‘the complementary nature’, be grounded in science?
The reverse prospect has been explored in some length as it applies to quantum physics, namely Ironically, in quantum mechanics, the mathematically engendered principle of complementarity is used as an explanation for the strange wave~particle behavior of light. That is the reverse prospect again, using a principle of complementarity to explain the complementary phenomena, and hence, a connection is made between Tao and physics.
But the question of grounding of a general principle of complementarity in science remains.
This is a slippery subject to be sure. What we want to know is, supposing a general principle of complementarity (the complementarity of quantum mechanics is quite specific) exists, is there a way to study it scientifically?
The answer is yes!
The science of coordination dynamics and its power to anticipate and explain bistability and metastability, give us the ways~means to see how yin~yang arise in a system in the first place. The scientific theory or law that does a good job explaining is simply called ‘the Coordination Law,’ or ‘CD Law’ for short.
A main aim of The Squiggle Sense blog is to help you the reader to learn about this law of coordination, for many reasons, that are explained throughout the site. For this particular post, the CD Law is mentioned in the context of grounding yin~yang relationships in the science of coordination dynamics.
That is to say, not only specific yin~yang ‘mechanisms’, but a general complementarity principel are grounded in the CD Law, and elaborated and tested via the methods and paradigm of coordination dynamics.
So if your squiggle sense happens to be channeled through the ancient and profound yin~yang, the potential of its scientific grounding in coordination dynamics will hopefully inspire you to learn more about this ‘science of the complementary nature.’ It is there, waiting for you. ( Luckily, you are at the right blog for that kind of research! )
TCN is about grounding yin~yang relationships in a new principle of how the human brain works. For example, on the one hand people think the brain works as an integrated organ where information from different parts of the brain is integrated to form a representation of an object or a plan of action.
On the other hand, people think of the brain as a group of segregated entities or modules specialized to handle different mental functions, a center for face recognition, a center for short term memory, a motor programming center and so on.
In the The Complementary Nature, convincing evidence from coordination dynamics (the science of coordination) shows that the brain is both integrated and segregated: integrating tendencies coexist at the same time as segregating tendencies. Integration~segregation is just one example of yin~yang in the brain TCN is actually more ambitious.
It is about grounding all yin~yang relationships in the science of coordination dynamics.
As seems to happen at any level of deep scientific inquiry, like in cosmology of the very, very large and quantum mechanics of the very, very small, study of one main phenomenon seems to come to the forefront when a scientific law or theory is discovered that does a good job explaining it, and the phenomenon and law become famous together. For example, in cosmology it’s the phenomenon of gravity and theory of relativity. Likewise, in quantum mechanics it is the strange behavior of light and the theory of complementarity.
In the science of coordination dynamics, there happen to be two phenomena of this caliber that are inextricably linked in a yin~yang relationship: bistability~metastability. The scientific theory or law that does a good job explaining is simply called ‘the CD Law.’ Now, a main aim of this blog, a connecting thread, is to get you the reader to know about this law, for many reasons. For this particular post, it is mentioned in the context of grounding yin~yang relationships in the science of coordination dynamics.
That is to say, yin~yang relationships are grounded in the CD Law. Now this is quite a provocative claim, though similar claims have certainly been made at least in quantum physics, for example F. Capra’s “Tao of Physics and G. Zukov’s “The Dancing Wu Li Masters.” (to be continued)
