Resonance as freedom in connectedness

Resonance, in the context of our action, refers to the fact that every action interacts with other forces in the context of action. When we act, we are not isolated, but connected to other forces that feedback with each other and with the action. Therefore, it is helpful to think of this context as a field of forces and their interaction as resonance. The scientific basis for this is elaborated in detail in the standard work of the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, "Resonance - A Sociology of World Relations."

Peculiarly, we usually find it difficult to think in terms of resonance, but are used to viewing the world in linear-causal terms, especially since the conclusive rationality of modernity replaced the religious patterns of interpretation of the Middle Ages. Resonance, however, is not a way back to magic, but - as Rosa points out - the completion of the promise of the Enlightenment by leading out of the linear-causal narrow view into a full consideration of real complexity, such as of a knowledge economy and a VUCA world.

We refer to the structural order in resonant fields - physically as well as socially - as harmony, regardless of whether the relationship between the interacting forces is relatively tense (dissonant) or relaxed (consonant). For physical harmony, by the way, we possess a much more exact sense with our sense of hearing already from birth than our sense of sight can ever achieve. And in social life, too, it is much easier for us to know whether something is harmonious for us or right (by whatever standards).

The concern (Anliegen) is the basic force to which the resonance field is aligned. Therefore it can serve as a force and orientation at the same time. Thereby the concern itself is the result of an interaction. For the concern is not something that the agent simply sets willfully or even normatively. It is something that he gains from the perception of the field (the concern in phase 1 of the WisdomThinking^® process) and then grasps willingly (in phase 2) as his concern. This act of will is again not derived from any norms, but is the result of his perception of harmony (Stimmigkeit). Only if it is harmonious for the agent, he will raise a concern to his concern.

Resonance, however, can only occur when the forces in the field are both free and connected. Without connectedness, the forces are not in one field, but in separate spheres. And without freedom, a force cannot have a field effect (momentum) to which the other field forces could respond. There can be no interaction in either case.

Philosophically spoken resonance is therefore the condition of a freedom in connectedness. I.e. a freedom of every acting person to act considering the interactions of his action with its resonance field (and its equally free-connected forces). As far as one wants to derive an ethics from it, it is just not the reconnection of a (negative) freedom by a responsibility or the contentwise-normative arrangement of a (positive) freedom, but the process-like determination of a (harmonious) freedom in the way of resonance.