Wye Philosophy - Wandering between Bricks and Flow

So, why the ‘Wye’? First it was because of the River Wye. A beautiful river near my home who’s name inspires many clever titles for businesses and organisations that are set up along the valley. However, at the time of writing this another reason for the name has emerged, and that has to do with the type of philosophies I am interested in and the way in which I hope to explore them.

The name, like many river-names, is connected to some feature of its river-ness: those things of flowing and life-giving water that wind their ways through our natural landscapes. A little bit of googling suggested the word ‘wye’ means ‘to wander’, ‘to roam’, ‘flow’, or ‘wave’ (please see these links below). Since it is a particularly windy river, I like to imagine that ‘wye’ means something like ‘wanderer’. This along with other aspect of ‘river-ness’ provide the perfect image of a type of philosophy I wish to delve into and discover--something I have nicknamed 'flow philosophy'--but also how I would like to conduct myself in the world of philosophy. What do I mean by a ‘flow philosophy’? Well I think it helps to directly compare what I will nickname ‘Brick Philosophy’, the sort of philosophy that we are more used to in the modern west. This is way of thinking that is dominated by an obsession to name, claim, and explain anything and everything that we humans come by. Natural science, history, geography, political science, psychology, and sociology are all attempts to slice up and make sense of the world around us by categorising, theorising, and predicting what has, is, and will happen. In western academic philosophy René Descartes perhaps gives the best example of this ‘brick thinking’ . The well-known quote ‘I think therefore I am’ is the first and most foundational brick on which the rest of his philosophy is built. Descartes argues that it if there is something thinking, then there also must be something existing and this is something he cannot doubt. Therefore, this is something he knows for certain. From there on Descartes lays further bricks of certainty, cemented into place through logic and rationality until he builds a structurally sound edifice on which he can make further certain claims. These include knowing that 2+2 does indeed = 4, that his experience of the world is not false, that mind and body are different substances (‘dualism’), and that a benevolent God exists. Today, many will disagree with the nature of Descartes' bricks (particularly with his dualism and his logical theology), but we still abide by this style. Our bricks are now shaped by the scientific method and the search for empirical evidence. Scientists and philosophers attempt to break down the world into its most fundamental parts with the goal to describe, predict, and manipulate. If we are successful in doing this then we have made a scientific discovery and can add another brick to the wall. If a brick doesn’t fit, then we are forced to either throw it out or knock down the whole thing down to start again. This process has allowed to gain the reliable structures on which to base our understanding of the world around us. Our understanding of our bodies is based on biology, which is based on chemistry, which is based on physics. The mental grasp of these things then gives us the power to engineer: the ability to use natural laws and manipulate materials to our own needs and wants which has given us medicine, technology, and civilisation. Brick philosophy is powerful and it lies at the centre of many cultures and ways of thinking across the world. It also tends to be the type of philosophy that is taught at schools and universities, and certainly what I have studied for most of my philosophical career. However, there are other ways to do and think about things - and one of these ways is what I am calling ‘flow philosophy’. So what is it? For a start, it’s not brick philosophy because it not interested in trying to break things down into its basic parts. To do this is to fundamentally misunderstand what the world is like. In ‘flow philosophy’ the whole world is the most basic part and so it doesn’t make sense to try and divide it up in the first place. Further, this ‘whole’ does not stand still for a picture for us to observe (something of great inconvenience to brick thinkers), but is something that is constantly changing and constantly flowing. Flow philosophers argue that we know this because we ourselves are a non-separate part of this whole. My favourite example of a ‘flow philosophy’ is Taoism and the concept of ‘Tao’. The tao is pretty much what I described above, the constant change which we are all part of. Taoism is a philosophy and religion that asks us to embrace this flow and claims that resisting it is what causes imbalance and illness to our bodies and minds. Within taoism there is a concept called ‘ziran’ which I think helps to exemplify taoism as a flow philosophy. Ziran is the idea that everything, if left to its own powers, will grow and become the thing it needs to become (think about how a seed just naturally grows into a tree). In other words, as long as no thing or person imposes or tries to force it to grow against its ‘own flow’ its nature will guide it to find its own way. Thus everything is as it should be and there is no need to act or behave in some special way in order to bring about knowledge, understanding, or our greatest potential. Ziran flies in the face of usual ‘brick thinking’ because it suggests that we will come to know the world if we simply trust that things will come to us as they need to. This is precisely what brick philosophers do not do because they take our experiences and impose ways in which to chop them up and stick them back together and then argue who’s brick wall is makes the most sense. The Wye as the wanderer is a wonderful example of what ‘flow philosophy’ looks like. The water just follows the path of least effort that winds its way through the hills and valleys. Eventually it runs out into the ocean and there continues its journey onto where ever, ending up in the clouds where it rains itself back into a river again. In the end it has experienced the entirety of the water-cycle and seen much of the world. Flow philosophy asks us to see human experience, life, and knowledge in this way too. We do not need to impose anything, but simply wander through life without plans and expectations - to just ‘follow the flow’. I am certainly an advocate of ‘flow philosophy’, but I am also an overthinking and over-rational human who likes to think they are observing and analysing the world from the river’s bank rather than drifting aimlessly down it. ‘Brick philosophy’ is largely how I think about the world and even though it is rigid and argumentative it still filled with riches and curiosities. It allowed me to go to university (an institute that imposes an education), to rent a home (through currency that impose a value), to communicate these thoughts (through language that imposes meaning), and share them on a platform which anyone else in the world can access (technology that imposes this digital form). Thus, the Wye and wandering river that winds its way between hills and through valleys will continue to inspire me to think and learn about ‘flow philosophies’. However, as a human wanderer (and wonderer!), I will continue to wind my way between both brick and flow philosophy and through their benefits, limitations, similarities, and differences. I believe a Wandering Philosophy like this has something rich and important to offer us and if something I also hope to bring into my work in teaching and discussions. Links for the name of the River Wye https://canalrivertrustwaterfront.org.uk/culture/the-etymology-of-river-names/ https://sites.google.com/site/majorriversofthebritishisles/river-wye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Wye