ABSTRACT
The first stage in the search for openness is found in the desire to move in the direction of that for which we do not already have closure, to move in the direction of the unknown. If we only desired closure we might be expected to avoid the edges of cultural space, an exploration of which may undermine current closure. Such a strategy, however, would if pursued bring the process of closure to a halt around currently available closures. As it has been argued, in one sense all closure involves a move in the direction of openness for it must have involved a turn towards texture. Yet closure is not generally an outcome of the conscious desire for openness. The process of closure involves a turn towards openness but that move is only on occasion desired in its own right. The desire for openness is made explicit in circumstances where there is a conscious attempt to move to the boundaries of knowledge. Since texture is intimately bound into closure, the boundaries of knowledge are found in the realisation of every closure, yet the structure of closure obscures this circumstance. The desire for the unknown is shown therefore in a move to what is seen to be the limit of closure, the edge of our world. For it is at the edge of our world that the unknown becomes most apparent. At the edge of space, we do not experience openness, for we can only experience that which has undergone closure, but it is easier to access texture.
