Ironic Space
The gap between contradictions—such as the contradiction between what you think about something and the evidence about it, of which you may only recently have become aware. It is a paradox which, if recognised, demands a resolution, but may never get one. It is the obscurity that comes in inherited myth or sacred language, bringing the plain delight and enigma of incomprehension. Or it is a clash between ideas which are consistent within themselves, but not with each other. A momentary loss of bearings gives us the disorientation enjoyed in humour, quickly resolved. But, if the contradiction cannot be resolved except with long reflection—if at all—this is ironic space, a main source for, and a necessary condition of, culture and judgment.I87
Ironic space is the habitat of questions from which there are insights to be derived, but no definitive answers. There is an illustration of this in Titian’s painting Noli Me Tangere, which has Jesus shrinking from Mary Magdalene as she reaches towards him in a tension between closeness and separateness which invites reflection, never quite resolved. Reason is not enough: the certainty it achieves is at the cost of simply ignoring the difficulties. Deep reflection in ironic space may not discover a solution, but may make a person. “What is at stake” comments Charles Taylor, “is the definition of those inchoate evaluations [i.e., not yet mature, but establishing and testing the most basic assumptions] which are sensed as being essential to our identity.”I88
Lean thinking demands thought. Ironic space consists of questions and meanings which demand thought to be sustained for a long time. It is created by a society’s culture. The most fertile form of culture in this context is religion.
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