Thoughts On: ((SELF) + (organization))

Ultimately, SELF-Organization begins with the word SELF, an element part of a whole. In the process of self-organizing we must organize our own SELF to bring forward evidence of ourselves to participate in whole – in an organizational whole. In this manner it can defeat its oppositional character of being completely a paradoxal concept. How does one organize the self in a self-organisation? What is the necessity or how does a self-organization form? We have a natural affinity for certain things in which we do, we must ask ourSELVES why on a personal level, to create an intimacy with the subject. Furthermore, self-organizations are happening everywhere not just in underground art culture or renown academic establishments; self-organizations can be found in the busy urban landscapes of people and transportation or in ant colonies performing tasks, gathering materials or collecting food. There are multitudes of different organizations even in such chaos, they are often hidden to the naked eye this is the beauty of self-organization.

In the following, I present philosophical veiws of the self in which can be appropriated to the definition self-organization :

‘Immensity is within ourselves.’ (1)

The ROOTS of SELF-organization – bring the SELF closer to yourSELF by pinpointing your personal interest in your study, research or investigation. The most difficult aspect of self-organizing is realizing your potential and realizing your deepest desires and that there are others who actually exsist and wish to connect with you. Immensity lives in all of us and sometimes its difficult to find your way or you may get lost like being in a forest as Bachelard’s example of Pieyre de Mandiargues works – Le lis de mer, 1956 pg 57, “A characteristic of forests is to be closed and, at the same time, open on every side.” A forest is a profound allegory for how one explores, even in the thickness and darkness of a forest there is always a way through it as well as discovering what is in it on the way of your journey.

“However paradoxical this may seem, it is often this inner immensity that gives their real meaning to
certain expressions concerning the visible world.’ (2)

Self-organization the beautiful paradoxical word - Bachelard justifies the understanding of such a definition with the truth of inner immensity and outwardly to outer immensity. There is a process implied in this rhetoric, we should carefully study this inner to outer and where it can lead too. The self to the organization and the organization to the self, one can go from either way, there is a life movement and a flow, they exsist as one to assist each other.

Our own ‘intimate’ interests in correlation to the likewise interests of others – we organize ourselves because we have motivation for something that touches us deeply which relates to why people collectively organized because they believe in a common intimate interest or goal and within these structures begins the multilicity of another structure leading to an advent of a potential fluid working production. We must look inward or outward starting with ourselves, ask ourselves many questions, organize our personal thoughts in order to confront an ocean of possibilites and tap into a collective conciousnesses. For example we don’t usually have to tell ourselves what we are thinking, we know it by our mental concious or subconcious organization – this can happen as well in the natural formation of self organization, people become inwardly aware of what has to be done and begin to organize themselves accordingly free of an outside authority except for the authority in which
we give the power to. We are not lead but lead each other to what we care for.

(1) Page 184 - Gaston Bachelard, Poetics of Space
(2) Page 185 – Gaston Bachelard, Poetics of Space