Pip- Hanukkah is not really a religious festival: It is not mentioned
in the old testimoney and is not a YomTov: namely, people still work.
It is more of an ethnic, nationalistic festival. Something that for
me, very personally, is all (the two, ie., organised religion and
nationalism/ethnicity) part of the same ontological insecurity and the
need of the indvidual to come up with something ontologically securing
and sustaining for him/her, to protect him/her against the harsh
reality that he/she is definite and is going to die, perish and be no
more - a non-dasein. Alon
Quoting Pip/Bruce Ferguson <[log in to unmask]>:
> 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
>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>>
>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>>
>> Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.18/584 - Release Date:
>> 12/12/2006
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>> Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.18/586 - Release Date:
>> 13/12/2006
>>
>
|