Living the Questions: Responding to Nora Bateson and Expanding the Imaginal

In her recent reflections on No Limits to Learning (Botkin, Elmandjra and Malitza, 1979), Nora Bateson invites us to reconsider the nature of learning itself—not as a mechanistic transfer of knowledge, but as an emergent, relational process that shapes and is shaped by the systems we inhabit. At Studio Imaginal, we resonate deeply with this perspective. Our work is rooted in the principle of ‘living the questions together’— a commitment to dwelling in uncertainty, engaging with complexity, and co-creating regenerative futures.

The Poetics of Systems

Bateson’s approach, particularly her articulation of ‘Warm Data’ and ‘Aphanipoiesis,’ challenges dominant modes of reductionist thinking. Instead of breaking things into discrete parts to control and predict outcomes, she encourages us to sense into the relationships, patterns, and living ecologies of meaning that shape our world. This echoes Gregory Bateson’s insistence that ‘the unit of survival is organism plus environment.’ (1972, p.23). It also aligns with the work of Fritjof Capra and the systems view of life, which recognises that knowledge is not static but an emergent property of relationships.

For us at Studio Imaginal, this means that design futures must be metabolic, alive, and deeply entangled with the world they seek to shape. We are not designing for an imagined future in a vacuum but rather participating in the ongoing transformation of what is already present. Our work takes inspiration from Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela’s (1980) concept of autopoiesis—the idea that living systems continuously regenerate themselves through their interactions. In the context of design, this suggests that we must create conditions for new possibilities to emerge rather than imposing fixed solutions.

The Semiotics of Tenderness

Bateson’s reflections on the role of tenderness in sense-making are particularly powerful. In a world increasingly driven by abstraction, metrics, and mechanistic logics, there is a profound need to restore the felt sense of being in relationship. Philosopher John Paul Lederach (2005) speaks to this in his work on moral imagination, where he argues that sustainable change arises not from top-down interventions but from the depth of relational engagement. This is the semiotics of tenderness: a way of knowing that honours the soft, the uncertain, the in-between.

At Studio Imaginal, we see this as central to our practice. Whether we are designing learning experiences, facilitating dialogue, or imagining new socio-ecological systems, we approach our work with a commitment to what Donna Haraway (2016) calls ‘staying with the trouble’—remaining with the tensions, ambiguities, and paradoxes rather than rushing to resolution. Our futures work is not about predicting trends but about cultivating the conditions for generative responses to emerge.

Learning as a Transformative Ecology

The 45th anniversary of No Limits to Learning reminds us that our understanding of learning must evolve beyond institutionalized systems of knowledge transmission. As Bateson articulates, much of today’s learning remains trapped in measurable, linear processes that reinforce the very systems we seek to transform. Instead, systemic learning happens in the spaces between—where meaning is relational, emergent, and often invisible.

The Warm Data Lab process exemplifies this shift: rather than extracting knowledge as discrete facts, it cultivates trans-contextual learning, fostering environments where different ways of knowing can coalesce. This echoes Tim Ingold’s (2007) concept of ‘wayfaring’—an improvisational approach to movement through the world, guided not by rigid maps but by the evolving landscape itself. At Studio Imaginal, we believe in designing for this kind of learning, where knowledge is metabolised through experience, relationships, and deep engagement with uncertainty.

Designing with the Unknown

To take Bateson’s invitation seriously is to embrace a shift in the very way we conceive of knowledge, action, and change. It means designing not from a place of certainty but from a place of deep attentiveness and response-ability. It means recognising that the future is not a fixed destination but a living process of becoming.

Studio Imaginal stands at this threshold, working at the intersection of design, culture, and transformation. We are committed to an approach that does not merely generate solutions but cultivates the conditions for new ways of being, sensing, and relating to emerge. This is not just a method; it is a way of life. It is an invitation to ‘live the questions’—to engage with complexity not as a problem to be solved but as a terrain to be navigated with care, curiosity, and courage.

An Open Invitation

As we reflect on No Limits to Learning (Botkin, Elmandjra and Malitza, 1979), we invite you to join us in this exploration. What does it mean to design for emergence rather than control? How might we cultivate a practice of tenderness in our engagements with the world? And how can we, together, co-create futures that are not only sustainable but deeply enlivening?

Let’s keep living these questions—together.

References

Bateson, G. (1972) Steps to an ecology of mind: Collected essays in anthropology, psychiatry, evolution, and epistemology. San Francisco, CA: Chandler Publishing.

Bateson, N. (2024) ‘Living systems change’, The Fifth Element. Available at: https://thefifthelement.earth/opinion/living-systems-change/ (Accessed: 7th March 2025).

Botkin, J.W., Elmandjra, M. and Malitza, M. (1979) No limits to learning: Bridging the human gap. Club of Rome. Available at: https://www.clubofrome.org/publication/no-limits-to-learning-1979/ (Accessed: 7th March 2025).

Capra, F. and Luisi, P.L. (2014) The systems view of life: A unifying vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Haraway, D.J. (2016) Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Ingold, T. (2007) Lines: A brief history. London: Routledge.

Lederach, J.P. (2005) The moral imagination: The art and soul of building peace. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Maturana, H.R. and Varela, F.J. (1980) Autopoiesis and cognition: The realization of the living. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing.