Charles Baudelaire poem Correspondances
Baudelaire was a French poet who wrote the poem Correspondances.
According to the poem, the natural world is a living temple of interconnected symbols – perfumes, colours , sounds echoing each other in profound unity , revealing hidden spiritual truths through synaesthesia and analgoy.
This poetic insight finds striking analogy in the way the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, , letter Aleph can act as blueprint for creative problem solving and navigating life’s challenges with grace
Let’s explore this fascinating world, first describing the letter, associating it with problem solving in general and studying the ‘relationships’ case study in particular.
Letter Aleph (א)
Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is made up of a higher and a lower Yod and there is a diagonal letter Vav connecting them.
The upper Yod tilts or opens slightly upwards , visually suggesting emanation and potential , while the lower one is more grounded , more inward as it suggests containment .
The higher one implies the before form principle, while the lower the after form one.
From another standpoint, in many calligraphic traditions the upper yod is lighter in shape while the lower one slightly heavier.
Creative problem solving
1 Start with the upper Yod the silent point of pure potential the divine spark
This is a pre idea phase the undifferentiated field of possibility
- Begin in humility and emptiness
- Drop the pressure to be original
Paradoxically this is the most active inaction possible
2
The lower Yod is the moment the spark lands in the world
The creative energy starts to descent , the moment the infinite contracts into the finite
What is worth noticing is that the the lower Yod is not loud nor complete it is whispered a sudden association, an image , a colour, a phrase, a symbol, an actual dream.
Most people kill it at this phase judging it against existing standards, or trying to explain it but there are those who don’t…..
They are the ones who often carry a notebook capturing the sensations, the questions that arrive uninvited
3 Activate a new Aleph within the lower Yod ( & t diagonal connection)
Once you receive the insight , you start turning the silent potential into actual expression and flow
It is at this stage that ideas start talking to each other, contradictions become tensions( diagonal Vav) that generate new forms . In relation the diagonal form of Aleph the descent from the upper Yod is not literal it is indirect, the same way that the associations between disparate elements at the lower Yod are not straightforward.
In this sense it is not a vertical drop ( rigid dogma nor is it horizontal ( diffuse barnstorming)
it is oblique, dynamic, connective. Creations hardly happen in straight lines
Examples
Dream imagery > Chemistry ( Benzene ring)
Friedrich August Kekulé struggled for years to understand benzene’s structure . In a day dream he envisioned a snake biting its own tail ( it is a symbol from alchemy. mythology) The archetypal almost mystical image from mythology/symbolism suddenly mapped into organic chemistry revealing benzene’s cyclic hexagonal form.
The oblique link ( infinite loop/ dream myth) contracting into finite molecular reality. Most would dismiss the vision. Kekulé welcomed the whisper.
Iannis Xenakis was a groundbreaking Greek French composer, architect, engineer and mathematician whose music echoes the diagonal Aleph archetype we have been talking about.
His work synthesizes mathematics ( probability ) , architecture ( spatial forms) physics (Brownian motion ) and raw sonic phenomena into elemental sound masses that evokes nature forces , storms, nabulae in motion.
He rejected rigid determinism and intuitive randomness alike.
I don’t understand much of his music but I will tell you the result of my research …
The upper yod embodies abstract infinite potential ( mathematical laws of probability, Brownian motion or chaotic attractors ) This is the silent pre formed filed of possibility, unlimited , open###
The descent ( diagonal Vav) contracts this infinity into granular assemblages The infinite becomes finite but contains chaotic irregularity
The lower Yod is where these chaotic finite forms land and take shape of massive swirling sound masses that feel like storms, nabulae, fire work explosions or murmuring forests.
They are bounded ( finite duration) but they are wildly unpredictable at the micro level.
It would be very interesting for someone to explain his music but this is not the aim of my post. The aim is to give a broad open ended idea of the creative problem solving Aleph concept:
And this is what I have tried to do….
Coming next is the relationship between letter Aleph and relationship navigation. To examine it I will use the metaphor or arabesque motion in ballet When a partner desires more freedom should the other partner withhold or increase presence? This is not exhaustive nor is there a one size fits all approach but Aleph does offer fertile area for reflection.
