Any moment we are free to act towards a future we desire.

In other words, our future will be how we see it and what we strive for. This can only come as a shock to all those who let their thoughts be guided by the principle that only the rules obeyed in the past should be effective in the future. For these people, the idea of “change” is something beyond their imagination since change is a process that eliminates the rules of the past.

*****

What I believe came out of it is that ethics is linked to freedom. That means: There must exist a fundamental freedom for me to be able to act without having been forced. And there my invention of the in principle undecidable questions came in very handy; because from this position I can reach into the realm of freedom; because when faced with an in principle undecidable question, I can really do as I want; for nobody, no logic, no rule, no rule of the game, nothing forces me to now act thus and thus.

What comes about the invitation of freedom? What occurs through this invitation is that I will establish the framework, within I will make my decisions, only just now.

What does the invitation of freedom give rise to? This invitation gives rise to my establishing the framework, within which I will make my decisions, only just now. That is to say, I don’t come with a framework like mathematics; I don’t come with a framework like a moral code, a Decalogue; I don’t come with any of these frameworks, but say to myself: “Now Heinz, invent the framework, within which you now want to decide”, and for me this depth of a new framework is crucial for the problem of ethics. ¹

*****

“What I noticed most clearly, is the close proximity of the thoughts we are discussing here to the teachings of the Tao.

One of the great Tao masters to whom I have been close ever since I was a child, is Chuang-Tzu. Tzu means “Sir”, that is, “Sir Chuang”. He wrote a whole series of parables, similes and insinuations, which as a young man I gobbled up with great enthusiasm.

Again and again I found the point where he says: “We must understand that we are one with nature. It is not that there are various parts flying around in the universe. The essence of our idea is that we are a unity. One emerges from the other, and the other emerges from one.

And that is a starting point that I too try to express: I conceive myself to be part of the world.” ²

*****

I would like to continuously point out that everything that we concern ourselves with in daily life is unexplainable, is a miracle. If we only stopped for a moment and thought about: “How is that?” “Why does that happen?” “Why does a bird fly?” – It is simply amazing! I sit here and wondern and marvel. If I succeed in having others find astonishment again, I shall be quite happy……

When people begin to be astonished again. Not to doubt, but be astonished. ³

*****

A lady floats in the air. The usual argument is something like this: aha—these magicians try to direct my attention away, try to confuse my thinking so that I don't observe what they are really doing. In fact, the whole magic consists of inviting you to create a world of yourself, creating a new world in which ladies are floating, in which elephants keep disappearing (. . .) Magic is not a question of distracting you, of any kind of a gimmick, rather a way of making you attentive to a particular reality you're creating. Magic is the strategy of constructivism." ⁴

¹ Heinz von Foerster/ Monika Bröcker, Part of the World/Fractals of Ethics (unpublished English edition)
German version: Carl Auer Systemeverlag
²See point 1
³Heinz von Foerster – in memoriam. Part 2, Kybernetes Volume 34 Number 3/4 2005, Guest editor: Monika Bröcker
⁴ Susanne Freund, Heinz von Förster— Cyber-(ethics) A Portrait, ORF 1992..