Creativity Within and Beyond Thought : Philosopher, Theologian and Economist Nimi Wariboko on his Thought, Vision and Creative Stratetegies in ''I Am Transdisciplinary''

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

                                                                                       

                                                                 

                                                        Creativity Within and Beyond Thought

         Philosopher, Theologian and Economist Nimi Wariboko on his Thought, Vision and Creative Strategies

                                                                                    in

                                                                   ''I Am Transdisciplinary''  

                                                                  Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
                                                                             Compcros

                                                   Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
                                     "Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge''

 

One of the best ways to gain entry into the work of a scholar, a person operating in terms of ideas of some depth and rigour, is through their informal expressions, such as letters, represented in the digital world by email and WhatsApp messages, in which the writer, directed by their grounding in styles of expression, energised by the power of ideas flowing within a relaxed context, is inspired to soar in a manner that enables access to their more complexly expressed, more studied projections in formal situations.

One correspondent of mine in such circumstances is the philosopher, theologian and economist Nimi Wariboko, who sent me on WhatsApp  the piece that appears below and which I then suggested should be shared with the public, as an inspiring entry to his thought, vision and creative strategies.

I provided the title and he edited the text to communicate more clearly to an audience beyond the one person it was  initially sent to.

The piece speaks deeply to me as a scholar trying to orient himself in multifarious universes of knowledge, resonates powerfully with central concepts and orientations in Wariboko's work and its intersections with various bodies of knowledge reaching across his grounding in Continental and Christian philosophies and theologies, as well as, incidentally, Buddhist thought, correspondences and illuminations I could respond to a later time.

                                                         I Am Transdisciplinary

                                                                 Nimi Wariboko

                                                               Boston University

Yesterday (April 13, 2023), a young, brilliant Nigerian female painter asked me “which of the disciplines your scholarship covers do you enjoy most?” “What is your preferred discipline?” “Economics, philosophy, religious studies, theology, social ethics, cultural studies, or history?” I could not immediately answer her questions. She looked at me as if I was holding something back from her. Frankly, I have no preference.

I finally said, “economics, because its way of thinking is neat, logical, and more precise than the other ones.” I quickly added, “philosophy is great because of its range, its power of thought or analysis, and its wide applications to lived experiences of persons and communities.”

The problem for my confusion is that I do not see myself as being in multiple disciplines or as one trying to compartmentalize his thought or scholarship to stay within the guardrails and guidelines of any discipline—or set of disciplines. I see all my disciplines as one—as coming from a man trying to think, working to grasp what is happening around him, and enjoying the process. I see all disciplines as rooted in one abyss of knowledge and wisdom. The abyss is the void within the order of knowledge where order itself (systems of knowledge) breaks down. 

Ideas come to me and I try to work them out with all the tools available to me. I do not work to create them; I only strive to discover them in the universe or receive them from All-that-is-beyond-us. I lavishingly entertain and play with them when they come to me as visitors. In my hospitality toward them I bring out all that I own to make them feel at home in my being and abode. This is why I do not describe myself or my scholarship as multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary. I say I am transdisciplinary.

Multidisciplinarity or interdisciplinarity attempts to cover the constitutive lack in the knowledge system in ways that do not threaten the system itself. Transdisciplinarity wants to get lost in the abyss of knowledge and wisdom. The goal of transdisciplinarity—as I use the term—is to circulate around the abyss without ever claiming certainty of knowledge or providing a contemplative sanctuary of a discipline (or disciplining) in the face of uncertainty or the Ungrund (the bottomless depth, the undifferentiated groundless ground of existence).

Transdisciplinarity’s true aim is endless, restless circulation. It only wants to (fire-) dance around the ungraspable abyss. Perhaps, the satisfaction of this creative-destructive dance is the repeated failure to pin down the incomprehensible abyss or the impossible possibility that eludes the human search for knowledge.

Transdisciplinarity is the poor term I have chosen to describe my repeated failures. It does not permit the luxury of preference or of naming one’s ownmost enjoyment. One only has to sincerely flow with the mystery of the quest for knowledge, forever seeking a voluptuous, rapturous embrace with the mystery (spirit) of wisdom that inhabits the street corners of the universe.