Hi Dianne - you wrote
Monday, 5 May, 2008 12:07:23 AM
'How can we unpack this to identify what it is about
the 'traditional scholarship models' that traps us in the 'collecting data to prove where I have been'
mode. Is this a carry over from historical studies thinking?
Is this a carry over from the 'statics' - what has past can't be changed and
therefore it can more easily be studied, because studying the 'dynamics' is that
much harder and more complex?
Are the powers that are served (I am thinking of
Smyth's 'in whose interests?' question) those of conservatism, and a useful
brake to too much change too quickly so that there is no predictability
possible? and if so, how do we help let off those brakes, if as some claim, we
are moving into more turbulent times, when the old ways will not
suffice?'
.......
... and then Alan responded with that amazing piece. I think he said so much about what creates and maintains the personal blocks and explains quite a lot of where we get trapped into collecting data to prove rather than improve. I think in part you are right - studying a dynamic is more difficult that the static - and more scary as what might emerge is uncertain and therefore offers a potential to challenge the present order. Alan has spoken before about 'addiction to certainty' and that is I think another part of the story. Tomorrow is always uncertain - some people seem to see this as something to fear, others as an opportunity for adventure. I really liked this which Barry Hymer sent me a year or so ago “What drives us in our society to pin children to their measured competencies, like so many dried and mounted butterflies? Let’s enjoy their colours, not measure them. Let’s not pin them down –
let’s watch them in flight." Thankfully there are always those who refuse to be pinned and create some turbulence. What I want to know is how can I contribute to a turbulence that is, in Jack's words ' a flow of life affirming energy' rather than a destructive whirlwind that simply recycles the debris of the past.
Hmmmm... not sure this helps much but I do so take heart from watching and learning from the flight of some of the butterflies on this list; even those times they are way over my head.
Marie
----- Original Message ----
From: Dianne Allen <
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To:
[log in to unmask]Sent: Monday, 5 May, 2008 7:48:16 PM
Subject: Re: Thread 4 - How do I break free from the traditional scholarship model as a PhD student?
Thanks, Alan, for bringing into clearer focus that
it is the 'frames' - the philosophical context - the taken for granted
assumptions, that do so much damage in our lives and interactions.
Thanks for sharing your story of how those frames
in which we have been brought up, at first unable to question, and then
not being aware enough to question until some crisis occurs and
requires us to rethink, can have such a disabling impact.
I am looking forward to what else Marie will have
to say, when the time for thinking and preparing a considered response has
produced its fruit.
Dianne
