Dear All,
Just resending this in case it did not get through to All.
Warmest
Alan
--On 15 December 2006 01:50 -0800 ted lumley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> dear cherry and all,
>
>
>
> cherry, i agree with you with respect to ‘the fit’.
>
>
>
> the ‘method’ that is described starting from “the teacher of the integral
> yoga’, is in my view, very much in concert with ‘inclusionality’.
> meanwhile, i feel less comfortable with the (east) indian introduction
> of this method by way of ‘the guru’, than i do with the north american
> ‘indian’ way of introducing it; i.e. by demonstrating that, with a little
> prodding, anyone can discover it in the dynamics of nature, and by elders
> in general (not necessarily shamans) nudging their children to discover
> it. the following is an excerpt from paula underwood’s (native)
> discussion of the ‘native american world view’, and for me, it replicates
> the ‘God Light’ integral yoga method without having to go the ‘guru’
> route. you can assess for yourself whether ‘the same method’ is
> implied; (the ‘Whole’ refers to a ‘dynamical one-ness’ rather than to a
> object/material ‘whole’);
>
>
>
>
>
> When hunting, Hawk sees Mouse . . . and dives directly for it.
>
>
>
> When hunting, Eagle sees the whole pattern . . . sees movement in
> the general pattern .
>
> . . and dives for the movement, learning only later that it is
> Mouse.
>
>
>
> What we are talking about here is Specificity and Wholeness.
>
>
>
> Western science deals from the specific to generalities about the
> whole.
>
>
>
> Indigenous science begins with an apprehension of the Whole, only
> very carefully and on close inspection reaching tentative conclusions
> about any Specificity. Indigenous science is based on a profound
> immersion in and awareness of the whole circumstance. Rather than
> mistrusting personal experience, Indigenous science has learned to thrive
> on it. The standards for personal honesty are excruciatingly exact and
> taught from earliest childhood. Educational structures like the Vision
> Quest have as one goal coming to terms with accuracy outside of or devoid
> of your own assumptions or the assumptions of your society. The idea is
> that you are always--if you are wise--moving toward enhanced accuracy.
> You will never entirely arrive at complete accuracy, but you are
> constantly trying to move in that direction.
>
>
>
> As to the efficacy of Indigenous science, let me give you one
> example.
>
>
>
> Since universe is Energy, part of the process of understanding, at
> least as I experienced it, is to learn to "see" flows of energy and
> specificities of energy. Both are necessary. Because, you see, Universe
> is both Whole and Specific. Western science is beginning to understand
> this through explorations of theories about particle and wave. Both the
> particle/particularity/specificity of Universe and the wave/flow of
> Universe were aspects I was encouraged as a child to apprehend and
> understand. I was asked to "see" the "dancing points of lights" and then
> to apprehend the shift from location to flow. Much of shamanic practice
> has to do with developing the ability to enter and use this shift. So
> when I read that the Western science of physics was looking at
> particle/wave theories, I had no trouble with that at all. Instead of
> being startled or surprised, I was given a wonderful gift--the ability to
> communicate more easily some of the things I learned in the shamanic
> process of understanding Universe.
>
>
>
> To the extent that Universe is Whole, location/time
>
> is irrelevant. To the extent that it’s Specific,
>
> relationship is a better construct than either time
>
> or location for purposes of accurate understanding.
>
>
>
> The process of Indigenous science allows you to learn about and to
> experience the flow of Energy through Universe. You quickly come to
> understand (well, maybe it takes a while) that Universe has a kind of
> binary on/off structure, which can certainly be stated as particle/wave.
> In the particle state, particles can be understood in terms of
> "location." But "location" requires a point of reference which is more or
> less fixed in relation to that particle.
>
>
>
> Tell me now, where is that point of reference? Are you not also
> moving?
>
>
>
> The Indigenous scientific approach understands Universe--or All
> Things--as constantly in motion. Even the particles are "dancing,"
> already moving toward the flow state. Since everything is in motion all
> the time (oops, time is irrelevant!)--since everything is constantly in
> motion, any location is in constant flux in relation to everything else.
>
>
>
> Ah . . . in relation to!
>
>
>
> "All Things, All Things are Related" is not just a charming chant,
> designed to put you in touch with "all your relations," it is a profound
> evaluation of the nature of Universe.
>
> . . .
>
> In my tradition you get mind puzzles a lot. One of the questions that my
> dad gave me as a mind puzzle was, What is the sound of one hand clapping?
> When I discovered that is also a Zen question, I was delighted. I'm
> reasonably confident that they come from the same source. I spent months
> trying to come up with an answer, and I came up with all kinds of
> different things. My father would say, No, that's not really the sound of
> one hand clapping, that's . . . Then, No, that's not really the sound
> either. And finally , he suggested to me the kind of clue that you get
> under this pedagogic structure?Maybe Eagle has the answer. And I knew
> immediately he was right, because of course Eagle would understand the
> sound of one hand clapping.
>
> As with all his suggestions, I taught myself. This process is called
> go-and-be-Eagle. You become Eagle in your mind and heart, and look at the
> world from Eagle's perspective. As a result of that, you may come up with
> an entirely different concept of what the answer might be, which, limited
> to this body, you could not have come up with, because this body doesn't
> work that way.
>
> In this pedagogic tradition, nobody tells you what to think or how to
> process information. Instead, you discover it for yourself, you keep
> discovering it for yourself. And only at the other end of this long
> process of self-discovery would my father say, That's another generation
> that's reached that conclusion. In this case, however, he said that my
> answer was a whole new answer, that he knew of eight others, but that was
> a whole new answer to the question. He didn't tell what the other eight
> were at the time, and I won't tell you what mine is now, because if I
> did, that would prevent you from ever discovering it for yourself.
>
> The basis of learning, the basis of the pedagogy, is to cease preventing
> people from learning things for themselves. This way of thinking, what
> goes on in here, can really be taught from the inside out. When it's
> taught from the outside in, someone else comes between you and yourself,
> and that's not considered a wise idea. That's the tradition. [
> www.goodshare.org/ecoethic.htm ]
>
> * * *
>
> with respect to questions of ‘direction’ (where things or ‘flow’ ‘are
> going’) and ‘center’ (how we, the asserting agent, fit into the
> evolutionary dynamic), we usually apply these to the realm of the
> specific. they have no meaning in a space that is fluid energy. there
> are no centers and we cannot say where the flow is going since everything
> is relational. if we thought that things were ‘going somewhere’ then
> the concept of ‘future’ (arrival somewhere) would come into play, but
> pure transformation in a fluid-energy-flow sense has no ‘direction’, it
> is a spatial accommodation that is reciprocally complemented by the
> actualizing of ‘productive potentials’ (creative potentials, assertive
> potentials).
>
> The idea of how Universe functions that comes out of my tradition, and I
> hear echoes of it in other Indian traditions, is that Universe is Space
> which contains Energy. Energy of its nature moves. As it moves it
> produces Change.
>
> In the Western world we call that Change time?past, present and future.
> But the idea is that it isn't time at all. It is Change?it was, it is, it
> will be.
>
> In one of your papers on Perennial Wisdom [she is talking to the Noetic
> Sciences group] it says that the Native tradition is nature-focused. I
> would like to modify that a little. I would like to say that Indian
> traditions are nature-inclusive. You do not see man and nature as
> separate from each other, but you see yourself in the context of an
> interrelated whole instead.
>
> so, ... there is a geometry here that, to me, is very similar to that in
> the ‘God Light’ presentation, although ‘the light’ in ‘god light’ is more
> akin the the ‘light’ in ‘Bud light’, ... i.e. god is more in the flavour
> of nature and birds singing than in heavy duty mysticism, though i think
> there are common implications in both the east indian and north american
> indian belief systems with respect to ‘spirit’ and ‘soul’ (being one with
> space but in a unique way).
>
> i think what i don’t like about ‘gurus’ is implicit in alan’s talk about
> the achilles syndrome etc. i would call it ‘the burden of
> sovereignty’. i think it is a needed, but unsettling thing, to become
> aware of our ‘sovereignty’ being illusional. there are no ‘causal
> agents’ in real life, therefore there are no ‘teachers’ in real life.
> when it comes to understanding (eagle learning rather than specific
> knowledge or ‘hawk learning’) there can only be ‘tricksters’ that do a
> dance or ritual that tickles you into being ‘healed’ or ‘enlightened’.
> that is, of course, the way of the zen master.
>
> i think that nations can get the ‘achilles syndrome’ and i think that
> canada used to have it, and that it was a good thing. but now we are
> busy trying to show how ...with military and pushing others around, ..
> (how one demonstrates sovereignty,
>
>
>
> the lights are flickering, ... third storm in a week! and the power will
> almost certainly go out, so i will send this now.
>
> love,
>
> ted
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
>
> From: Cherryl Martin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 6:33 AM
> To: 'A.D.M.Rayner'; 'BERA Practitioner-Researcher'
> Cc: 'Alon Serper'; 'Jack Whitehead'; 'Marie Huxtable'; 'Ted Lumley'
> Subject: RE: Educational
>
>
>
>
>
> Dear Alan and All,
>
>
>
> I received this newsletter, copied below, yesterday. The way it speaks
> into the issues you have raised in your last e mail Alan is incredible.
>
>
>
> Busy now ? but will write later
>
>
>
> Love Cherry
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
>
> Welcome To The God Light, If you are a new Member. There is a spiritual
> get together in the chat room daily at 9pm London GMT.
>
>
>
> [Image: "Right-click"] ? Every so often we bring to you wise souls that
> have taught spirituality upon this earth. This time we bring to you Sri
> Aurobindo an Indian Guru ( Meaning heavy one in English ) was born in
> Calcutta on 15 August,(1872-1950) and educated at a Christian convent in
> Darjeeling. At the age of seven, along with his two brothers, he was
> sent by his Anglophile father to England in order to receive a "British
> Education". Returning to his homeland at age 21, he worked for some
> years in the public service, while learning from scratch the languages
> and traditions of his own culture. He was prominent in the struggle for
> independence against the British, and spent a year in prison. Whilst in
> prison he had a vision of the Divine, which assured him that India would
> attain its independence and that he could leave the movement to devote
> himself to the spiritual task. He retreated to the French colony of
> Pondicherry, where he would be safe against the British, and set up an
> ashram. There he became an important philosopher, yogi, and teacher and
> developed he called Integral Yoga, the yoga of the whole being. He was
> joined by his co-worker and fellow Adept Mirra Alfassa, who later became
> known as The Mother. For the remainder of his life Sri Aurobindo worked
> tirelessly for the transformation of the world, the yoga of the earth. A
> prolific writer, he produced a total of twenty-nine volumes, including
> such classics of spirituality as Savitri, The Life Divine, and the
> Synthesis of Yoga. He spent many hours each day writing replies to
> letters from disciples, some of which were later collated and published.
>
> ? The Teacher of the integral Yoga will follow as far as he may the
> method of the Teacher within us. He will lead the disciple through the
> nature of the disciple. Teaching, example, influence, -- these are the
> three instruments of the Guru. But the wise Teacher will not seek to
> impose himself or his opinions on the passive acceptance of the receptive
> mind; he will throw in only what is productive and sure as a seed which
> will grow under the divine fostering within. He will seek to awaken much
> more than to instruct; he will aim at the growth of the faculties and the
> experiences by a natural process and free expansion. He will give a
> method as an aid, as a utilisable device, not as an imperative formula or
> a fixed routine. And he will be on his guard against any turning of the
> means into a limitation, against the mechanising of process. His whole
> business is to awaken the divine light and set working the divine force
> of which he himself is only a means and an aid, a body or a channel.
>
> ? The example is more powerful than the instruction; but it is not the
> example of the outward acts nor that of the personal character, which is
> of most [Image: "Right-click"] importance. These have their place and
> their utility; but what will most stimulate aspiration in others is the
> central fact of the divine realisation within him governing his whole
> life and inner state and all his activities. This is the universal and
> essential element; the rest belongs to individual person and
> circumstance. It is this dynamic realisation that the Sadhaka must feel
> and reproduce in himself according to his own nature; he need not strive
> after an imitation from outside which may well be sterilising rather than
> productive of right and natural fruits.
>
> ? Influence is more important than example. Influence is not the outward
> authority of the Teacher over his disciple, but the power of his contact,
> of his presence, of the nearness of his soul to the soul of another,
> infusing into it, even though in silence, that which he himself is and
> possesses. This is the supreme sign of the Master. For the greatest
> Master is much less a Teacher than a Presence pouring the divine
> consciousness and its constituting light and power and purity and bliss
> into all who are receptive around him.
>
> ? And it shall also be a sign of the teacher of the integral Yoga that he
> does not arrogate to himself Guruhood in a humanly vain and self-exalting
> spirit. His work, if he has one, is a trust from above, he himself a
> channel, a vessel or a representative. He is a man helping his brothers,
> a child leading children, a Light kindling other lights, an awakened Soul
> awakening souls, at highest a Power or Presence of the Divine calling to
> him other powers of the Divine.
>
>
>
> [Image: "Right-click"]
> We have opened a new Spiritual Book store which holds thousands of
> spiritual books. Enter the The God Light store. [Image:
> "Right-click"]
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A.D.M.Rayner [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 14 December 2006 9:01 AM
> To: BERA Practitioner-Researcher
> Cc: Alon Serper; Jack Whitehead; A.D.M.Rayner; Marie Huxtable; Ted
> Lumley; [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Educational
>
>
>
> Dear Alon,
>
>
>
> I'm responding from my home computer, which the BERA server rejects, so
>
> perhaps you or Jack or Marie could forward this on to the others?
>
>
>
> Yes, I like 'ings' too.
>
>
>
> Flows are 'dynamic relational', always with reciprocal inner (concave)
> and
>
> outer (convex) distinguished and coupled through intermediary aspects
> (e.g.
>
> when 'I walk across a room', there is a reciprocal reconfiguration of the
>
> inner space that my skin outlines with outer space that my skin inlines',
>
> just as there is a flow of water around a boat that reciprocates its
> forward
>
> passage). They do not involve the movement of a spatially dislocated
> object
>
> from A to B as a linear progression in a Euclidean 3-dimensional
> framework
>
> (this being a dimensionally collapsed view of Nature, with space and time
>
> abstracted as empty outsiders). They involve the reciprocal coupling of
>
> concave and convex domains in non-linear (curved) energy-space.
>
>
>
> Insofar as flows have 'purpose', this is to sustain dynamic equilibrium,
> via
>
> a continual 'living' process of 'attunement' or 'harmonization' (in
> physics,
>
> called 'resonance'), as when a hurricane transfers heat from tropical to
>
> temperate latitudes (note that a hurricane cannot be considered as an
>
> 'object' independent from the atmosphere of which it is a dynamic
> inclusion,
>
> anymore than a human body can be considered as an object independent from
>
> Nature). So, the Severn Bore, for example, is quite different from the
>
> Kiekergaardian bore; it is a flow form that sustains dynamic equilibrium.
>
> And so are you and I.
>
>
>
> Below I am pasting in some writing from Chapter 9 of 'Natural Inclusion',
>
> which develops some of these themes in relation to management and
>
> educational practice.
>
>
>
>
>
> Incidentally, I have just come across a book by Petruska Clarkson called
>
> 'The Achilles Syndrome: Overcoming the Secret Fear of Failure' (1998,
>
> Element Books). It describes my personal distress, arising from my
> childhood
>
> and adolescent experience of 'education', and my associated 'Achilles
> Heel'
>
> or 'Secret Flaw', perfectly (also alluded to in my novel, 'Design Fault',
>
> see http://people.bath.ac.uk). It contains the following, telling
> sentence:
>
>
>
> "Another important reason for the prevalence of the Achilles Syndrome are
>
> the inadequacies, deficiencies, absurdities and cruelties of our
> educational
>
> systems"
>
>
>
> If ever there was validation of the need for living educational theory,
> this
>
> is it.
>
>
>
>
>
> Here are seven characteristics of the 'Achilles Syndrome' (linked also to
>
> what is more popularly referred to as 'Impostor Syndrome', but I think
> the
>
> Achilles version is deeper and more Archetypal). All apply well to me.
>
>
>
> 1. A mismatch between externally assessed competence or qualification and
>
> internally experienced competence or capability, leading to feelings of
> 'I
>
> am a fraud';
>
>
>
> 2. Inappropriate anxiety or panic in anticipation of doing the relevant
>
> task;
>
>
>
> 3. Inappropriate strain or exhaustion after the task;
>
>
>
> 4. Relief instead of satisfaction on completion of a task;
>
>
>
> 5. Inability to carry over any sense of achievement to the next
> situation;
>
>
>
> 6. A recurrent conscious or unconscious fear of being found out, and of
>
> shame and humiliation;
>
>
>
> 7. A longing to tell others about the discomfort but the fear of being
>
> called weak or unstable. This sense of a taboo adds to the strain,
>
> loneliness and discomfort
>
>
>
>
>
> You might find the following passages of Chapter 9 of interest also in
> this
>
> light. I think they're also very relevant to Marie's work with
> 'giftedness',
>
> and how giftedness is abused in our current systems, leading to the
>
> predominance of 'concrete blockheadedness'.
>
>
>
>
>
> Warmest
>
>
>
> Alan
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> Inclusional Implications of the Boundless 'Fifth' Dimension: Curing
> Cosmic
>
> Cancer
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Perhaps it was unwise of Mother Space, in her everywhere-Divine Wisdom,
> to
>
> enable any of her diverse local expressions to become aware of its
> awareness
>
> of itself. But if there is to be creativity at all, any possibility of
> life
>
> and evolution, maybe such possibilities must also be entertained. The
>
> trouble is that such a form of expression could develop a Mind of its Own
> to
>
> declare itself an independent entity and so make an enemy of its
>
> neighbourhood, setting the scene for invasion of its birthplace,
> determined
>
> to take over vacant possession.
>
>
>
> Maybe it was this declaration of independence, through an ever-hardening
>
> belief in its own free will or purely internal purpose as 'first cause'
> of
>
> its own actions, associated with its ability to make absolute judgemental
>
> choices, that brought about the Fall of One such a form from Merciful
> Grace.
>
> The difficulty lay in its declaration, as an abstraction of its Mind
> alone,
>
> not the actuality of its inescapable inclusion in interdependent
>
> relationship by and of All, space included. For, by no stretch of
>
> imagination is this form truly able to act or be acted upon as a superior
> or
>
> inferior object independent from its dynamic situation. It cannot be an
>
> absolute, independent singleness. Every man like every form is no more
> and
>
> no less than a transient island of flow, connected through and undersea
> with
>
> every other, a distinct identity but never a discrete entity.
>
>
>
> The declaration of independence was the product of a partial and
> idealistic
>
> vision, which led this one such form mentally to Box reality securely and
>
> paradoxically in a finite, three-dimensional Euclidean frame stretched to
>
> infinity, whilst vaunting its own free agency. By the end of the second
>
> millennium CE, life in this frame was painfully overheating. Was there no
>
> escape from the pressure cooker? What could this form do about it? Could
>
> this form, for so long the World's plunderer now save the World from
>
> depredation? What kind of transformation would such a noble act of rescue
>
> take? Would it be some wondrous new technology and/or legislation, of the
>
> kind that this form was so good at inventing, again and again, in the
> nick
>
> of time, as crisis loomed? Then there could be some great collective sigh
> of
>
> relief, followed by a return to die-hard habits to await the next crisis
> of
>
> exploitation. Or, perhaps, as one of Man's star mathematical performers
>
> suggested, it was already too late: it was now time, through the ultimate
>
> technological fix of space travel, to move on like a virus to other host
>
> planets, leaving the wasteland of His own vacant possession behind.
>
>
>
> But there always was, is and evermore shall be a loophole: a window into
> and
>
> out of the solid confinements of the 'Adverse Square Law', through which
> the
>
> unbounded presence of space everywhere melts all into coherent, fluid
>
> dynamic relationship. An eye of the needle through which to ask not how
> to
>
> shift the world from a disastrous course, but how to help the world
>
> transform our sense of individual, active-reactive self-identity into
>
> receptive-responsive neighbourhood. A loophole at the intersection of
>
> Vertical ('I') with Horizontal ('-') outwardly recurving planes, to form
> an
>
> electrogravitational centre of inference: a centre of dynamic balance in
> the
>
> core and spread through the surfaces of all tangible, primarily
> non-linear
>
> form, a zero-point source and receiver of all through all, distributed
>
> everywhere. A core of pure spatial relationship, continually
> reconfiguring,
>
> and hence utterly different from the fixed-point control centre of
> Euclidean
>
> geometry upon whose illusory existence so many principles of human
>
> governance have been founded. One place and many where apparently
> opposing
>
> sides are conjoined and transformed into complementary dynamic partners
> via
>
> the inclusion of light in darkness and darkness in light, in vastly
> unequal
>
> proportion. One place and many corresponding with the notion of 'space'
> as
>
> the '5th element' in Hindu philosophy, which both includes and is
> included
>
> in the 'melted elemental forms' of 'Earth, Air, Fire and Water': a
> boundless
>
> 'fifth' dimension transcending the three-dimensional singularity of
> frozen
>
> space and extraneous time.
>
>
>
> Once 'seen with gravitational feeling', this boundless dimension utterly
>
> transforms and revitalizes understanding of how we may manage our lives
> and
>
> living space in a loving and sustainable way. Here boundaries are
> understood
>
> as co-creative, co-created zones of differentiation, mutual respect and
>
> complementarity, not severing divides between conflicting sides in
>
> opposition. It is the implications of this transformational understanding
> of
>
> our natural, dynamic human neighbourhood for the way we may live in
>
> harmonious, respectful, co-creative evolutionary relationship that I wish
>
> now to consider in this opening ending chapter.
>
>
>
>
>
> The Vitality of Imperfection - From Abstract Concrete Blocks to Natural
>
> Evolutionary Neighbourhood
>
>
>
> As may be apparent from previous chapters, I think that the notion of
>
> evolution by natural selection is an oxymoron, a paradoxical 'concrete
> block
>
> evolution'. When we accept and work with this notion, we assume the role
> of
>
> obstructive 'concrete blockheads' intellectually out of touch with our
>
> feeling, receptive-responsive hearts. It is a truly compassion-killing
>
> notion, Hell-bent on replacing natural, fluid-dynamic diversity with
>
> concrete monoculture. It is a model of cancerous degeneration, not
>
> co-creative innovation. Set within an abstract, 3-dimensional Euclidean
>
> frame, a cubical cubicle filled to completion with independent cubical
>
> singularities, it leads inexorably to the notion of an ideal form of
>
> individual 'unit of selection' - the 'fittest' competitor within a
> rigidly
>
> walled niche. This in turn gives rise to the idea of perfecting
> individuals
>
> by selecting out those traits that don't conform to a prescriptive set of
>
> standards - an idea that has become deeply entrenched in human
> educational
>
> and regulatory systems. It comes inevitably with an intolerance of those
> who
>
> in one way or another are judged by fixed standards to be 'not good
> enough
>
> - 'imperfect' in some way. Such intolerance can lead to great cruelty
> and
>
> great distress as we impose rationalistic notions of perfection and
>
> imperfection upon others and ourselves in a conflict-ridden anti-culture
> of
>
> discontent, as I described in Chapter 1. We actively seek out, punish and
>
> attempt to eliminate whatever we find fault with, whilst glorifying what
> we
>
> perceive to be flawless in a culture of blame, shame, claim and gain.
>
>
>
> Not only is this concrete block view of evolutionary perfectionism deeply
>
> distressing to those judged not good enough, but its rigidity results in
> the
>
> exclusion of the enormous creative possibility of bringing diverse,
>
> complementary relationships to bear as we navigate the ever-transforming
>
> world of our natural, fluid dynamic neighbourhood. It is radically
>
> counter-evolutionary; a bastion set against change other than its own
>
> proliferation and concomitant destruction of diversity. It makes no sense
> in
>
> an ever-reconfiguring, non-linear, space-including context where the
>
> evolution of one cannot be dislocated from the evolution of all, and vice
>
> versa.
>
>
>
> There is therefore very good intellectual reason for feeling
> compassionately
>
> that what we might deem in a perfectionist framework to be a design fault
> in
>
> human nature, our vulnerability and proneness to 'error', which comes
>
> through the inclusion of space - darkness - in our make-up, is actually
>
> vital. It is an aspect of our nature that enables us to love and feel
> love
>
> and so work co-creatively in dynamic relational neighbourhood,
> celebrating
>
> and respecting rather than decrying our diversity of competencies and
>
> appearances.
>
>
>
> Correspondingly I think there is a need for us to grow beyond the
> obsessive
>
> perfectionism that is evident in our present educational and
> administrative
>
> systems, governed by fixed, objective, rules, regulations and standards.
>
> There is a need to recognise that there can be no such thing as an ideal,
>
> fixed, individual form that all can aspire towards. Evolutionary
> perfection
>
> can only be a property of all in dynamic relationship, not one in
> isolation.
>
> The exception that seeks to rule can only create turbulence, not
> perfection.
>
> Our educational and administrative systems need to help us learn how to
>
> flow, by including and loving the very source of irregularity that makes
> us
>
> imperfect as independently performing objects but perfect as dynamic
>
> relational - receptive and responsive flow-forms. The standards that we
> tend
>
> to encase ourselves in need to be allowed to come alive: to flex and
>
> transform as ever-reconfiguring guide-linings in our ongoing evolution.
> In
>
> this way we can be naturally intelligent neighbourhoods, not artificially
>
> intelligent, concrete blockheads.
>
>
>
> So, how can such ever-reconfiguring guide-linings be formulated and
>
> communicated through our educational and administrative systems? What
> kind
>
> of leadership is required? Is the very idea of leadership one of the
>
> die-hard habits that keep us stuck in concrete?
>
>
>
>
>
> Powerboat Leadership and Sailboat Craftsmanship
>
>
>
> There is a form of leadership that does not call for a careful, creative
> and
>
> reflective consideration of possibilities viewed from all angles by all
>
> concerned. Rather, it demands conformity with its own vision and
>
> specification of destination. In the absence of others' agreement, it
>
> carries on regardless with whatever action it has planned, convinced in
> its
>
> own mindset that this is the 'right thing to do'. Any leader of this ilk,
>
> whether elected by a supposedly democratic majority or not, considers him
> or
>
> herself to have a prerogative to do what they know to be best for the
> world,
>
> regardless of context. Moreover, by exercising their moral imperialism in
>
> the face of opposition they demonstrate the strength of their authority,
> a
>
> resolve that historical narrative will, they imagine, in due course
> affirm
>
> and celebrate. But events often don't exactly turn out as predicted. The
>
> real life and death situation on the ground is far more complex and
>
> non-linear than envisaged. The effects of intervention in complex
> situations
>
> aren't so certain in the long run. The ensuing tragedies are never more
>
> heart-rending than when a leader decides to declare war upon his
>
> neighbourhood.
>
>
>
> This is a style that I think is all too commonly the sole form of
> leadership
>
> recognized in human organizations: a product of prescriptively definitive
>
> (rationalistic) thinking and action that places deterministic power at
>
> control centres or hubs. It amounts to what might be called
> authoritarian,
>
> dictatorial, proprietorial or, as my friend Ted Lumley puts it, powerboat
>
> leadership. It entails leadership towards a set destination of a fleet of
>
> individuals that have declared themselves independent of their natural
>
> situation by dint of strapping an outboard motor of technology on their
>
> backsides, which creates one Hell of a wash of collateral damage for
> those
>
> caught up in their turbulence. It is the kind of leadership provided by
> some
>
> so-called experts, gurus, presidents and ministers whose actions
> primarily
>
> serve individual self-interest, whereby an individual or elite lays down
> the
>
> law or 'codes of conduct' for others to follow, regardless of
> circumstances.
>
>
>
> Personally, I would hate to provide, or be accused of providing this kind
> of
>
> leadership, even though I have found it to be expected of me as a
>
> professional academic responsible for initiating students and
> non-academics
>
> into 'good theory and practice'. There is another style of leadership, or
>
> perhaps more aptly, craftsmanship, that I do, however, feel more
> comfortable
>
> with and indeed aspire to, as a cultivator of creative space for myself
> and
>
> others to air our views and benefit from shared experience. This is what
>
> might be called Arthurian (after King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
>
> Table), co-educational, non-proprietorial or, as my friend Ted Lumley
> puts
>
> it, sailboat leadership. Such craftsmanship is based on learning through
>
> experience how to attune with natural processes, in a way that others can
>
> learn from. This is what I try to bring to my role as a University
> educator.
>
> I have found through experience that all students except those relatively
>
> few most fearful for their qualifications and future prospects come to
> love
>
> and greatly appreciate this approach as a source of guidance for their
>
> creative and critical development.
>
>
>
> Now, as the supposedly 'United Nations' of humanity contemplates its
> 'next
>
> steps', in the face of seemingly global environmental crisis, the
> question
>
> of which, if either, of these forms of leadership is wiser seems very
>
> important. Here, it is not a question necessarily of 'which is better?'
> in
>
> an 'either/or' sense, but how can these styles best be balanced? I accept
>
> that pragmatically, given the current predominantly concrete mindset of
> our
>
> culture, there may need to be at least some 'powerboat' leadership by way
> of
>
> technology and legislation to help us on our way. But I would want to
> ensure
>
> that it doesn't become exclusive and is balanced by a good and perhaps
>
> increasing dose of 'sailboat' leadership.
>
>
>
> How does anyone in this situation who seeks leadership or has leadership
>
> thrust upon them, see their role? Do they see themselves as
> co-cultivators
>
> of creative space for wise enquiry? Does they see themselves as Directors
>
> and Proprietors of organizations? Is wise leadership something definable
>
> that we can be instructed about via the 'right kind of training' in a
> real
>
> or virtual Institution? Is wisdom perhaps identifiable with love, some
>
> indefinable presence that we can open ourselves to and co-cultivate?
>
>
>
> I want now to explore in general rather than specifically detailed terms
> how
>
> different perceptions of leadership, power and geometric influence affect
>
> approaches to three kinds of life management. These respectively set out
> to
>
> regulate, apply and mimic living processes.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: Alon Serper <[log in to unmask]>
>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Sent: 13 December 2006 17:21
>
> Subject: Re: Educational
>
>
>
>
>
> Alan - I would replace the ed to ing - namely, detached to detaching;
>
> fixed to fixing: And space to one's subject of interest:
>
> Conceptualising and approaching human existence and the human subject
>
> in my case. 'Biology and ecology, human relationships?' in your case?
>
> Otherwise I fear we abstract into a theory of all theories.
>
>
>
> I still think life has to flow somewhere: A clear purpose and
>
> intention. Otherwise it is just a big Kierkekaardian bore. The idea
>
> of just floating in space with no clear purpose and direction scares
>
> me. Anyone can flow somewhere in space: What is important to me is
>
> where it is flowing to. I am not sure the question of fixed static or
>
> flowing and transforming is an issue anymore, at least not in my field
>
> of interest and purpose. The living/transforming has won. I believe
>
> the question now is flowing where?
>
>
>
> My point is that poetry can and should be used for scientific analysis.
>
> Poetry is aesthetic but why, for what purpose: And how is it
>
> epistemological and educational, convincing and coherent?!. Alon
>
>
>
> Quoting Alan Rayner <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>
>
>> Dear Alon,
>
>>
>
>> I very much like this emphasis on the artistic and lyrical as a vital
>
>> inclusion of any deep enquiry into the fundamental nature of human life,
>
>> taking you beyond the realm of detached objectivism. I feel that the
>> story
>
>> of how you are transforming your originally purely analytical
>> perspectives
>
>> by this means exemplifies the transition from fixed to living 'standards
>
> of
>
>> judgement' and could provide the basis for a highly creative and
>> original
>
>> thesis. I might liken this to 'ice melting through becoming receptive to
>
>> warmth', 'salt dissolving into solution through exposure to water' and a
>
>> 'seed germinating into a flower'. There is this vital transition from
>> the
>
>> crystalline or latent form to expansive fluid form, a transition which
>> is
>
>> not the 'annihilation' that positivistic thinkers may fear. In terms of
>
>> 'inclusionality', I see this transformation as arising most
>> fundamentally
>
>> from the dynamic embodiment of space as 'immaterial presence', opening
>> the
>
>> door to the creative possibility of unfixed, non-Euclidean geometry.
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> Warmest
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> Alan
>
>>
>
>> --On 13 December 2006 14:49 +0000 Alon Serper <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>
>
>>> Dear All,
>
>>>
>
>>> I was watching Federico Fellini's 'La Strada' yesterday: An incredible,
>
>>> classic, poetic and artistic film but not so much educational or
>
>>> epistemological with no clear message and insight, other than the usual
>
>>> Fellinian anti Church messages. And certainly not analysis. It is
>>> full
>
>>> of artistic symbols (e.g., sea).
>
>>>
>
>>> I am using it to reflect on the difference between poetic and artistic
>
>>> and epistemological, phenomenological, educational and analytical that
>
>>> uses poetry and art.
>
>>>
>
>>> I have been drawn to art in my heuristics of human existence so as to
>
>>> analyse and delve inside it as an educational exercise and rebelled
>
>>> against my original training that told me to leave the poetic and
>
>>> artistic for the analytic, empirical and scientific.
>
>>>
>
>>> I transformed myself from being a very cold, impersonal scientist to an
>
>>> artist of human existence. I am overwhelmed this transformation.
>
>>>
>
>>> My intentions are still educational and epistemological though as a
>
>>> psychologist and the constructor of my heuristics of human existence.
>
> Alon
>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
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>
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>
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> 12/12/2006
>
>
>
> --
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