Mmmm,

Thanks for responding Alan.....

but what do people feel about the questions I
expressed about the truth of our practitioner research
?

Truthfully,


Brian




--- Alan Rayner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Brian and all,
> 
> Yes, Truth is Absolutely Relational, where Absolute
> means everywhere, 
> including all, matter and no matter, without
> completion, an omnipresent 
> Ghost Space, unconfined to local forms but finding
> expression through them.
> 
> 
> Yours inclusionally,
> 
> Alan
> 
> --On 24 January 2007 20:22 +0000 Brian wakeman
> <[log in to unmask]> 
> wrote:
> 
> > Hello Moira,
> >
> > Yes this is very moving.
> >
> > I wonder whether we have explored fully enough the
> > idea of truth being relational and more personal:
> > ie. that truth is not necessarily an abstract
> concept
> > or in research a set of categories or a check list
> we
> > have to subscribe to for verifying truth
> > claims......but more "being true", same root as
> > 'troth'.
> > 'Trustworthiness', 'faithfulness' in relational
> > ethical terms to the people involved in the
> research,
> > or to our potential audience?
> >
> > Recently I've been reading about 'truth' in Hebrew
> > thought that has this relational and ethical
> dimension
> > according to Brian Walsh and Sylvia
> > Keesmaat(Colossians re: Mixed. Subverting The
> Empire.
> > Paternoster Press 2005)
> >
> > Similarly 'love': "Chesed", 'peace': 'Shalom',
> > 'respect','fairness' and 'justice' :
> 'Sedeq'......are
> > all activities, actions, something we do, rather
> than
> > concepts we talk about..... according to the
> ancient
> > Prophets.
> > Apparently the O.T. idea of 'covenant' is
> similarly
> > rich and meaningful.
> >
> > In truth,
> >
> > Brian
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- Moira Laidlaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >> Dear Bernie, Jack and everyone!
> >>
> >> I've been reading the recent responses to the
> video
> >> stuff and people's reactions to them with great
> >> interest, but haven't had much time to respond.
> As I
> >> pack up to leave Beijing to come to England
> >> for a month before going back to Guyuan as an
> >> independent worker, I've been thinking about the
> >> qualities of humanity represented by the utube
> >> presentations Jack compiled, and all your
> >> responses to them. Like you, Bernie, I was also
> once
> >> convinced of the superiority of text over the
> >> visual. The work that you're doing, Jack, is
> really
> >> important in terms of finding ways to represent
> >> truths realistically, helpfully and
> authentically. I
> >> really like the way the visuals help us to
> clarify
> >> what it is we're trying to do and in the name of
> >> what.
> >>
> >> Friday was my last day as a volunteer with VSO,
> an
> >> organisation I have worked with for over five
> >> years. Its slogan is 'sharing skills, saving
> lives',
> >> something I find has grown in dynamism and life-
> >> affirming energy, the longer I have remained with
> >> the organisation. My brief there was to work
> >> with colleagues (about twelve of them) on action
> >> research enquiries, and also to take a look at
> >> their monitoring and evaluation procedures in the
> >> light of an impending whole-country review in
> >> November 2007. If we 'fail' the review, we'll be
> >> closing the VSO China programme after March
> >> 2009.
> >>
> >> I don't know whether the following anecdote is
> >> meaningful for anyone else, but I offer it here
> as a
> >>
> >> celebration of something wonderfully human and
> >> inspiring, something, I hope you'll agree, we can
> >> all recognise. Something that shows that what is
> >> remembered isn't necessarily ideas, but, as in
> >> recent postings from me and others, more akin to
> >> love, respect, fairness and justice.
> >>
> >> On Thursday last my colleagues took me for lunch
> in
> >> a really lovely restaurant and as we ate and
> >> drank toasts, they decided it would be a good
> game
> >> to say something about Moira! This is so
> >> Chinese. 'What enduring memory of Moira do we
> have?'
> >> the country-director asked. I suggested
> >> that my ability to leave the table pronto was a
> good
> >> one, but that was ignored!
> >>
> >> What was really fascinating to me, was the
> qualities
> >> they drew out had little to do with the quality
> >> of my work in terms of ideas, and almost all
> about
> >> the way they see me interacting with people
> >> and how I treat others. Each person told a
> personal
> >> anecdote that was, on the surface, trivial and
> >> yet not so. A young colleague with tears in her
> >> eyes, talked about the fact that she had learnt
> so
> >> much from the way in which when I'm getting a
> drink
> >> in the office of a morning, I go round to
> >> everybody to ask what they want. She said that
> she
> >> had not seen anyone else doing this kind of
> >> thing so consistently, and that she realised that
> it
> >> wasn't my ideas that stuck with her, it was the
> >> way I showed respect to others. One colleague
> >> mentioned the time when I said in a one-to-one
> >> meeting we should perhaps concentrate on
> something
> >> she was worried about rather than
> >> continuing the Action Planning session we had
> >> arranged for. I'd forgotten the incident but she
> >> said
> >> she never would. She said she didn't realise she
> >> could be more important than a scheduled
> >> meeting. Another colleague said that because of
> her
> >> daughter having sudden onset asthma, my
> >> internet search and discussions with my sister
> whose
> >> son had the same problem at the same age
> >> as her daughter, was something she'd never
> forget.
> >> She had tears in her eyes too. And this is
> >> China where people don't cry that in public.
> >>
> >> My point? Everyone said that the demonstrations
> of
> >> respect for them as unique individuals had
> >> really moved them and some mentioned times when
> they
> >> had acted differently as a result of their
> >> insights about the importance of relationships in
> >> any endeavour. It's so moving because it
> >> vindicates so much of what I believe about
> process
> >> and people, and means that the ideas we have
> >> been sharing in the office may truly have a
> chance
> >> to embed themselves in meaningful ways with
> >> the individuals concerned and within the
> >> organisation because of the nature of respect and
> >> trust
> >> that has built up between us.
> >>
> >> I offer this anecdote because it moves me,
> because
> >> it reveals what matters about being human. If
> >> our research can focus on ways to help us show
> >> respect, to help us make connections and walk
> >> around from inside others, then surely this
> current
> >> research has to be very important indeed. I
> >> wish, so much, that this had been videoed. NOT
> >> because of what they said about an individual but
> 
=== message truncated ===


Brian E. Wakeman
Education adviser
Dunstable
Beds