Participant: Eric Graffman
Format: Workshop
Themes: paradigm, recursion, praxis

What is the pattern which connects Gregory Bateson’s large legacy, his “lonely skeleton of truth”, with the best of philosophy and poetic insight?
The Cartesian dualism, or so-called Mind-Body Problem, can seem unreal or overcome since long. But we are still plagued by it daily; whenever we read a new article on which gene determines obesity or autism, or just where consciousness may be located in the brain. When we strain to fathom the frontiers of quantum mechanics; or wonder whether an allergy is mental or physical; or are tempted to believe in ESP and out-of-body experiences.
We are well aware of environmental degradation, but what do we know about the “pollution” of our minds, of our habits of thought? In Hawaii, 1969, Gregory said: “There is an ecology of bad ideas, just as there is an ecology of weeds, and it is characteristic of the system that basic error propagates itself.” One such basic and central error is this persistent dualism; our difficulties to assume and keep hold of a primary unity of spirited matter, embodied mind, thoughtful passion, etc. So we need all the help we can get: from an eco-cybernetics with Bateson’s epistemological clarity, as in his six criteria of mental process or Mind; and from non-dualist phenomenology and existential thought, complementing the systemic view and offering a meta-guide to therapeutic praxis. Perhaps even from poetry?
This workshop will proceed from a detailed study of how Bateson’s definition of Mind, combined with other sources, offers an answer to “Descartes error”. With help from the group we can move on to examine and enact our epistemological premises; for instance with a so-called Family Constellation demonstration.