Planning and the Paradox of Conscious Purpose

Abstract

Is only a shell, a husk of meaning From which the purpose breaks only when it is fulfilled If at all. Either you had no purpose Or the purpose is beyond the end you figured And is altered in fulfillment ....-T.S. Eliot, from "Little Gidding" Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu: "All your teaching is centered on what has no use." Chuang replied: "If you have no appreciation for what has no use you cannot begin to talk about what can be used. The earth, for example, is broad and vast but of all this expanse a man only uses a few inches upon which he happens to be standing. Now suppose you suddenly take away all that he is not actually using so that, all around his feet a gulf yawns, and he stands in the void, with nowhere solid except right under each foot: how long will he be able to use what he is using?" Hui Tzu said: "It would cease to serve any purpose." Chuang Tzu concluded: "This shows the absolute necessity of what has 'no use.' "-Chuang Tzu, from Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu Since the discovery of fire, and in the past 7,000-10,000 years with the development of agriculture and the establishment of fixed settlements, the evolution of human culture has been the reverse of that of organic systems. Rather than moving toward greater complexity, diversity, symbiosis and stability, human dominated ecosystems have moved progressively toward simplicity, homogeneity, com• petitive exploitation and fragility. No other species has had the capacity to alter so drastically its environment to meet its own needs, and humanity has had neither the self control necessary to temper its demands nor the wisdom necessary to regulate effectively 'the environments it has had the power to create. So far, this unhealthy combination of intemperance and ignorance has proven disastrous for both nature and culture.