Some thoughts after glancing through some of the latest @TheSideViewCo pieces:

I can’t help but see the themes of navigation, wayfinding/wayfaring, sense-making, meaning “crisis” mitigation, memetic mediation, game B, & metamodern orientations as variations of a democratic theme

At the core of all these themes seems, at least to me, the promotion and protection of the “rights” to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.

Such a project requires “training,” and this is where the notion of askesis, as “spiritual” practice, holds promise.

To me, democracy requires (& is) practice, and the point of public school should be:

the practice/praxis of democracy...

(collective governance for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all)

...THROUGH modes of Askesis (math, PE, Art, science are modes of Askesis)

And since “spiritual” (to me) represents “connection” and “circulation” of life, the practice of “education” through collective exercise & development is a “spiritual” practice.

Anyhow, the idea of democracy and the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness seems like a possible “sea anchor” that may work to facilitate more coherence in our wayfaring and wayfinding, which would also help to alleviate the purpose or “meaning” crisis.

I could be mistaken, but that “sea anchor” seems to be what’s behind all the wonderful pieces in the latest volume.

1 more thing: in The Stoa launch party for this latest Side View, the notion of beauty & its role in transformation was brought up, which I think was perfect...

Beauty, I mentioned, is emotional coherence, & Adam responded with “a harmony of contrasts” (nice hat-tip to Whitehead there)...

I think beauty does have a large role to play. Perhaps it’s both the goal & the way? And perhaps coherence & harmony are what we are seeking?

It should be noted that coherence & harmony do not require the erasure of difference. They actually involve the maximum expression of difference while also maximizing coordination & cohesion.

Another word that all this brings to mind: Emancipation.

Latour says that emancipation “does not mean freed from bonds, but well-attached.”

It is this project of “attaching well” that democracy & askesis hold at their core.

And so it is that Emancipation, & its image of “well-attached,” is at the core of the latest Side View.