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Dear Alan, Yes, I warm to that and would personally like to put it this way:- Wisdom is the deepest expression of self-awareness as an evolutionary inclusion of natural neighbourhood, which develops through our capacity to learn from our experience of living and loving. It is rooted in appreciating the natural truth that all tangible form arises from the flow of energy and space as distinct yet mutually inclusive presences, and seeks to apply that appreciation without prejudice to questions of how we relate to one another and our natural habitat in a sensitive, sensible and sustainable way. Warmest Alan -----Original Message----- From: Alan Nordstrom Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 7:49 PM To: Group concerned that academia should seek and promote wisdom ; [log in to unmask] Subject: RE: Wisdom in Practice Thank you, Alan! Here's a little more reflection from this morning on practical wisdom: http://alan-nordstrom.blogspot.com/2014/06/wisdom-is-highest-expression-of-self.html Cheer, Alan Nordstrom, PhD, LVP Professor of English Rollins College Winter Park, FL 32789 (407) 629-1785 BLOG: verses, essays and images http://alan-nordstrom.blogspot.com/ "Don't let school interfere with your education." ________________________________________ From: Group concerned that academia should seek and promote wisdom <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Alan Rayner <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 9:48 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Wisdom in Practice Dear Alan, Thank you for this poetic spur! Now, the question I have for you and everyone else is:- What truth and human quality/qualities can effective deliberation and practice be based upon? Clear answers to that question need to be in the core of any call for transformation/wising up of Academy and/or Society. Otherwise, as you and Ian imply, it's all just a noisy game of abstract-mindedness and emotional reactivity, going nowhere fast. Warmest Alan -----Original Message----- From: Alan Nordstrom Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 1:50 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Wisdom in Practice WISDOM IN PRACTICE for Nicholas Maxwell Attaining wisdom is a noble aim Though often just an intellectual game; Whereas, far better than a brainy sport Are efforts of a consequential sort, Pursuing not abstruse enlightenment, But working with a practical intent To turn the world from foolish practices, Impediments to our collective bliss. For instance, global warming is a threat That science and philosophy have yet By abstract cogitation to resolve; Instead, a resolution will involve Both shrewd deliberation and a plan Of action to protect the fate of man. —Alan Nordstrom Alan Nordstrom, PhD, LVP Professor of English Rollins College Winter Park, FL 32789 (407) 629-1785 BLOG: verses, essays and images http://alan-nordstrom.blogspot.com/ "Don't let school interfere with your education." ________________________________________ From: Group concerned that academia should seek and promote wisdom <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Ian Glendinning <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 3:37 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Campaign for Wisdom-Inquiry Nick and all, Accepting that the aim of this particular group is: (B) To transform academia so that it puts wisdom-inquiry into practice. With the wider objective of: (A) To help make progress towards a wiser world (or, more modestly, to help promote wisdom in the world). .... towards a better world generally. The question is "How" to transform what academia does, how to change its values and decision-making, so that it does put "wisdom enquiry", or the equivalent by any other name, when deciding on curricula and course content. Simply repeating and communicating the (B) message that it should, doesn't make it so, doesn't address the how. Money is a key component of decision-making in academia, what pays and what do money and debt mean, etc. Money is the supremely objective marker in real-number-quantifiable terms, the "currency" of choice, the epitome of rational objective decision-making generally, and that scientistic neurosis is more general as you have yourself pointed out Nick. However right "Wisdom Enquiry" and Aim Oriented Rationality messages are, they are described technically and hard to "sell". You said yourself when presenting your latest book earlier this year at UCL,that it's the same message you been proclaiming for 40(?) years. In order to sell it / them we need to change hearts and minds about how academic decisions are made and accepted as valid by those affected. Ian On Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 8:30 PM, Alan Nordstrom <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Dear Nick, et al., > > > With respect to the alleged environmental problem of curtailing carbon > emissions assumed to harm the health of our biosphere, what roles should > universities—as seedbeds of wisdom—play in addressing this problem? > > > Since "a basic task [of universities] ought to be to help humanity learn > how > to create a better world" [FOW], it seems clear that universities are > indeed > appropriate venues for investigating the parameters of this apparent > threat > and seeking apt means to mitigate it, scientifically, politically and > practically. > > > Thereby "Academic inquiry . . . would become a kind of people's civil > service" [FOW]. This would be one way that academia could "put wisdom > inquiry into practice" [FOW]. > > > Cheer, Alan > > > Alan Nordstrom, PhD, LVP > Professor of English > Rollins College > Winter Park, FL 32789 > (407) 629-1785 > > BLOG: verses, essays and images > http://alan-nordstrom.blogspot.com/ > > "Don't let school interfere with your education." > ________________________________ > From: Group concerned that academia should seek and promote wisdom > <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Maxwell, Nicholas > <[log in to unmask]> > > Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2014 8:38 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Campaign for Wisdom-Inquiry > > > Dear Friend of Wisdom, > > > > I would like to thank all those who > have replied to my request for ideas as to how we might get a campaign for > wisdom-inquiry underway – especially those with helpful suggestions as to > how we might do it. > > > > Before I attempt to summarize what > has > been said so far, there is one crucial distinction I need to make. There > are two quite distinct campaigns before us, namely: > > > > (A) To help make progress towards a wiser world (or, more modestly, to > help > promote wisdom in the world). > > (B) To transform academia so that it puts wisdom-inquiry into practice. > > > > My concern is with (B). Friends of > Wisdom was founded over ten years ago with (B) in mind. Or rather, with > a > somewhat more modest (though still immodest) goal in mind, namely to > create > awareness, within and without academia, of the urgent need to transform > academia so that something like wisdom-inquiry is put into practice. > > > > (A) is the campaign we all care about. > All sorts of groups are struggling to put all sorts of aspects of (A) into > practice all over the world: groups concerned with peace, justice, civil > rights, the environment, the economy, global warming, slavery, poverty, > hunger, preventable disease, democracy, individual liberty, the > flourishing > of wisdom, and so on. (B) is primarily a means to the end of (A) – yet > another potential contribution to (A). What makes (B) so important, > however, is that (1) it is vital that humanity possesses wisdom-inquiry if > it is to learn how to make progress towards a better, wiser world, but (2) > hardly anyone appreciates this point, and hardly anyone is actively > engaged > in the task of helping to transform our institutions of learning so that > they do put something like wisdom-inquiry into practice. > > > > We are, above all, the species that > learns. > We really can learn how to make progress towards a better, wiser world. > But > in order to do that, it is essential that our public institutions of > learning, our schools and universities, are rationally designed for, and > devoted to the job. For what we require, above all, is social learning, > public learning, learning of our institutions, our corporations, social > arrangements and governments. Our problem is that academia as constituted > by and large around the world, shaped by what I have called > “knowledge-inquiry” is profoundly and damagingly irrational when judged > from > the standpoint of promoting human welfare (or helping us make progress > towards a better world). The argument is spelled out on our website at > http://www.knowledgetowisdom.org/basic_arg.htm . (For a more detailed > summary of the argument see http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/16142/1/16142.pdf . > For a list of things that need to change if knowledge-inquiry is to become > wisdom-inquiry, see > http://www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom/whatneedstochange > > ). > > > > I do not think we stand much hope of making > real progress towards a better, wiser world if we continue to have in our > possession institutions of learning damagingly defective when judged from > this standpoint, as at present. Indeed, in terms of one entirely > legitimate > notion of “cause”, the cause of our current global problems is our > long-standing implementation of knowledge-inquiry, our failure to > implement > wisdom-inquiry. (The astonishing success of modern science and > technological research leads to modern industry and agriculture, modern > hygiene and medicine, and so, along with much that is good, all our > current > global problems.) > > > > We need to do many things in pursuit of (A). > One vital, much neglected thing we need to do is successfully achieve (B). > It is (B) that should be our concern here. > > > > And I would like to suggest that we take the > campaign (B) as characterized on our Friends of Wisdom website, as our > starting point at least, since it is that which has brought us together. > If > wisdom-inquiry, as it has been characterized, does not seem to be what we > should be aiming for, in some respect or other, then arguments need to be > put forward as to what is wrong with it, and why such and such would > constitute an improvement. But, until there is general agreement about > some > improvement, we should take our goal to be what our Friends of Wisdom > website advocates (at http://www.knowledgetowisdom.org/index.htm ). > > > > In my next email I will try to summarize > responses to my request for ideas as to how we might get a campaign > underway, and try to see what the next steps might be. > > > > Best wishes, > > > > Nick Maxwell > > Website: www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom > Publications online: http://philpapers.org/profile/17092 > http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/view/people/ANMAX22.date.html > > = =