Hi all
Thanks so much, Alan.  This, to me, is true wisdom and inclusionality.  The
recognition that Paula demonstrates in this post, that worldviews can be
'both/and', recognizing ways that some Western scientists see the world, and
equally (alongside that) demonstrating that indigenous peoples have their
own, equally valid, and often extremely illuminating, alternative ways of
seeing the world.

I will have to 'google' this writer and see what else of her and her
people's wisdom is available!

It rather reminds me of a paper (I think, though memory may be playing me
false here,) from Mandawuy Yunupingu, an Australian academic and aboriginal)
entitled "I have in my hands both ways" which I read many years ago, and
demonstrated how he had benefited from both Aboriginal and Western ways of
being educated.

Season's greetings to all - happy Hanukkah to Jewish readers, happy
Christmas to Christians, and enjoy the break to those for whom this time of
year doesn't have particular religious significance!
Love/Arohanui
Pip

-----Original Message-----
From: BERA Practitioner-Researcher
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alan
Rayner
Sent: Friday, 15 December 2006 11:17 p.m.
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Educational

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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>
>
>
> --
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