CF = 11 – The beginning of the Third Quadrant
The last station in the Second Quadrant and the first in the Third Quadrant is an important boundary. The CF-value is, back again, at the visibility boundary CF = 11 and marks the end of a period of ‘insight’ (values below 11), without proper means to express it. It is, to a certain extend, the end of the ‘Age of Innocence’. The beginning of the Third Quadrant (III, 1) opens up a part of the communication cycle in which the physical-visible facts play a conscious and important role. The Third Quadrant, as a whole, is the realm of the material and the empirical. It is the home ground of facts and figures.
It is therefore somewhat surprising, that the first movement between the communication partners in the Third Quadrant is one of remissio or separation, losing the actual physical visibility (with values higher than CF = 11). This state of affairs has a strong philosophical and psychological impact, because it means, that the very moment, we comprehend that our visibility is objectively true (because it is physically measurable), we lose contact with the material. An effort to see properly results in losing sight.
CF = 13 – The First Visibility Crisis (FVC)
The process of abstract detachment of the material by way of a physical approach finds a climax in the First Visibility Crisis (FVC). This point lies at the end of the first quarter of the Third Quadrant (III,1). The CF-values reach a (relative) maximum of thirteen (13), which is the highest value of remissio within the (visible) visibility area X. The real understanding (in terms of an empirical truth) of the material presence is lacking, while the active contributors are aware of it. They experience the impossibility to reach further in the material reality. Or worse, are beaten back by it. Every push or deeper approach means a further moving away. A merciless duality rules the exchange of information. This inability to mark the ultimate boundaries in a dualistic environment often leads to an identity crisis.
The First Visibility Crisis (FVC) is first and for all a mental affair, resulting from the limited view which had prevailed up to that moment. The crisis can be seen as a moment of gnostic awareness. Unfortunately, the conclusions do not always have a pleasant character. The innocence is lost, and a human being becomes aware of its shortcomings. Every choice – even the most basic one – leads in an oppositional environment invariably to a symbolic struggle between victory and defeat. And in the realm of the conscious visibility is much to lose. If it is not our personal integrity, then it is certainly the fulfillment of our ideals, which can get severely beaten in this phase of the communication.
Disappointment is a genuine psychological setting at this point. Suddenly, the visible world is filled with obstacles, which are hard to overcome. Trees do not grow into heaven. Reality can be hard and failure is just around the corner. The feeling of happiness, which can be expressed, according to the American psychologist and philosopher William James (1842 – 1910), as a fraction of accomplishments and expectations, can become unstable (JAMES, 1890/1981). Either the achievements or the expectations reach short of their goal and feelings of unhappiness are able to develop.
The balance can be restored by a move towards greater visibility (or lower CF-values). The psychological crisis, due to a lost equilibrium between the visible and invisible visibility, is counteracted by a return to the situation as at the beginning of the Third Quadrant (CF =11).
CF = 10 – The Pivotal Point (PP)
The middle of the visible visibility area X is called the Pivotal Point. The CF-value is 10 and therefore within the range of visible visibility. In fact, it is part of only a short stretch in the Third Quadrant, in which the CF-values fall within the visible visibility range. It is here, around the Pivotal Point (PP), that the two- and four-division are able to interact to its full capacity. The middle of the visibility area provides a rare moment in which the position of a dualist comes close to that of a quadralist, because both find themselves in similar situations. The world of polarity is both felt and understood here by the two- and the fourfold thinker. The former might not grasp the full viewpoint of the latter, because of the lack of conceptual space, but at least an understanding in the hic et nunc is possible.
The pivotal point (PP) is often seen, by all parties, as a halfway point, conveniently situated between the beginning and the end. The moment of reflection on duality can lead to such fashionable notions as a ‘midlife crisis’ and/or a ‘point of no return’. The psychology, which finds its moments of glory in the description of basic instincts, shows a great deal of interest in the area around the pivotal point. It is here that imperceptible observations of the mind can reach a degree of respectability and even apply for a scientific status.
CF = 13 – The Second Visibility Crisis (SVC)
The Second Visibility Crisis (SVC) is a repeat of the First Visibility Crisis (FVC), but in a more ‘material’ setting. The CF-values reach, for the second time, a relative peak with a CF-value of 13 at the end of the third part of the Third Quadrant (III, 3). This means, that a complete empirical visibility cannot be achieved, but this short-coming is less felt at this stage. Instead, it is disguised behind a rampant materialism and the enjoyment of a vibrant Golden Age. Trees seem to grow into heaven and it ‘never was so good’.
However, with the material concern comes the impossibility to control the full scale of its presence. The more physical (or monetary) wealth one gathers, being it either as a state, institution or person, the more likely is the chance that others try to share in its use. Some do it peacefully, as hangers-on, but more often the greed (or need of survival) is less hindered by scruples. Wars, uprisings, struggles, quarrels and disputes are characteristic of the Second Visibility Crisis. The contrast between a good time on one side and crisis on another is the stuff of which history is made. Often, it is not even the hardship, which causes to remember, but the notion that nothing good will ever hold. That life is just a moment in time.
Visions of Four Notions 