First, Dear Shujoy -- you are welcome. Hopefully others on the list who
had not previously seen the item also found it to be a thought-provoking
read.
Second, Dear all:
In his inspiring and provocative item "What is it Like to be a Bat?",
Thomas Nagel raises and examines useful questions and challenges having
to do with exploring and aiming to understand consciousness, as well as
how we appear to grapple with what we think is objectivity (The
Philosophical Review, LXXXIII, 4 [October 1974]:435-50). I suspect such
questions are timeless and underpin all of our "isms". I think they also
shed light on our endless efforts to achieve success as members of
whatever tribes we are born into, and any extended groups to which we
are exposed, that we work with, contribute to, are adopted by, learn
from and about, and of which we choose to become recognized and valued
as full and useful members.
How do we do these things? Think for a moment of how we define,
partition, delimit and make innumerable judgments and decisions about
the depth, breadth, extent and nature of self and other. Reflect on the
variables that we juggle and work with and are a part of (and, as you
know, the following paltry list is just a beginning): identity,
selfhood, personhood, membership, leadership, followership, bonding,
partnering, contracting, rejection, boundaries, commitments, alliances,
permeability, malleability, integration, collaboration, competition,
negotiation, collaboration, discrimination, inclusiveness, testing,
complexity, honesty, transparency, truthfulness, the internal, the
external, beliefs, reflection, needs, wants, delusion, denial,
projection, defenses, assertiveness, aggression, argumentation,
augmentation, communication, functional and conceptual clarity, risk,
reformulation, trust, learning, understanding, doubting, reflecting,
knowing ...
I've gone on and on here and don't wish to end up doing a very unfunny
Adams with a "life, the universe, and everything" routine. That would be
pointless, embarrassing and both an insult to and a waste of time for
list members.
However, I would like to suggest that if we choose to consistently and
take it as normal and necessary to pause and reflect on what we see,
what we do, and what we experience -- and if we think about and share
our stories of power and role relationships while attempting to be as
clear and incisive in our explorations as Nagel -- then we might stand a
reasonable chance of developing deeply meaningful and helpful approaches
to questions such as "What is it Like to be X?", where "X" could be your
partner, your enemy, your hero, your doctor, your parent, your nemesis,
your colleague, your critic, your team-mate, your adversary, your
barista, your therapist, your homeless, your destitute, your biographer,
your investment counsellor, your cartographer, your prime minister, your
president, your student, your design client ...
I suspect that thinking extensively, inclusively and deliberatively
about all these things (without getting completely wrapped around the
axle in the process) has the potential to help greatly in shaping a
positively critical world view and our trajectory in it that will
support and add value to the lives of others through all the work that
we choose to do -- and in particular, how we choose to do it.
Best wishes,
Bob Este, Ph.D / VectorRDI Ltd. / Cochrane, Alberta, Canada
PS -- new readings completed this week that you may also find to be of
value: [i] Oliver, Mary (2016) Upstream. Collected Essays. New York:
Penguin Press; [ii] Sontag, Susan (2007) At the Same Time. Essays and
Speeches (edited by Paulo Dilonardo and Anne Jump; foreword by David
Rieff). New York: Penguin Books; also re-reading underway at the
moment: [iii] Nussbaum, Martha C. (2001) Upheavals of Thought. The
Intelligence of Emotions. Cambridge (UK): University of Cambridge Press
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