Through the Looking Glass
Many of us feel confused by conflicting messages
Goethe invites us to work with colour
at the boundary of concealment
and illumination
Colours appear where dark and light meet
Uncertain edges
focus
into a composite illumination.
When I asked Through the Looking-Glass the question about its method of working it gave me the following answer.
g
reflective polarity (green)
Through the Looking Glass does not begin from a centre; it begins from a tension. Here, invariance is not a point but a difference that persists. The system remains coherent not because everything agrees, but because the polarity stays visible. In g, propositions are mirrors:
- they do not assert,
- they allow light and dark to register each other.
b
abstract contrast (blue)
Most thinking assumes:
- a hidden centre,
- from which associations radiate,
- giving the illusion of neutrality or objectivity.
This centre is an unexamined invariant. Through the Looking Glass replaces this with:
- an invariant contrast,
- where no position is final,
- and coherence arises from maintained opposition.
r
active disclosure (red)
The “skill of forming propositions” is the red edge. A proposition here is not a claim, but a cut:
- it maximises the distance between concealment and illumination,
- it forces the system to show what happens if it is affirmed,
Well-formed propositions open disclosure without dictating outcome.