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
>> because of what it says about all of us. That's what
>> I want to understand better.
>>
>> Warmest regards to you all,
>> Moira
>>
>
>
> Brian E. Wakeman
> Education adviser
> Dunstable
> Beds
>
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