Dear Jack and All,

Here is a thought that I shared with our 'inclusional discussion group' 
yesterday, but seems to me to be relevant to how as educators we understand 
and enhance our influence. As educators, do we think of ourselves as 
'Responsive Receptacles' and/or as 'Executive Obstacles' as we enter the 
'classroom'? How do these perceptions influence our way of being with 
students?

Warmest

Alan

--------------------------------------

Dear All,

This morning I woke up with a couple of phrases resounding around, relating 
to the conversations about the nature of genes as non-objects, hierarchy and 
lowerarchy, sailboat and powerboat management, and an article Timo and I are 
currently preparing regarding 'A Copernican Revolution in the Psychological, 
Environmental and Evolutionary Meaning of Self' (see attached summary, which 
also doubles up as summary for my forthcoming 'ICE melting' talk.

The phrases relate to the distinction between inclusional and rationalistic 
perceptions of 'Self' (whereby the inclusional can accommodate and transform 
[through spatial inclusion], but the rationalistic cannot recognise the 
inclusional).

The phrases also relate to a question, which is being used in a current 
advertising campaign in the UK: Where Do They Get Their Energy From?  To my 
mind this is perhaps the most fundamental question to be asked in the 
development of a truly 'inclusional ecology'. The rationalistic 
self-portrait will derive energy from somewhere locally internalized or 
externalized - an 'internal or external executive FORCE'. The inclusional 
self-imagination will channel energy from everywhere (i.e. non-locally) 
through a local focus or 'receptive space'. Whereas the rationalistic self 
portrait therefore imposes discontinuity between organism and world, 
blocking off material content from spatial context, the inclusional 
imagination will accept spatial continuity throughout.

From here we can recognise that inclusionally, 'self' is, like all other 
locally appearing forms in the cosmos, a dynamically informed responsive 
receptacle of inductive space, whereas, rationalistically the 'self' is 
regarded as a whole, material object that does things to other things, i.e. 
an executive obstacle.


Sadly, we seem rationalistically to have unreasonably (i.e. there is no 
sound reason or evidential basis for it) populated the world with executive 
obstacles, not responsive receptacles, and whilst that situation obtains, 
cruelty and conflict will tend to preclude compassion and care in spite of 
ourselves and our planetary home. We cannot find the holey grail when 
looking for definite objects and trying to do things about and to them.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jack Whitehead" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: AA Thread 2 07-08 How do i~we explain our educational 
influences in learning to improve our educational influences as 
practitioner-researchers within the social and other formations that 
dynamically include us?


Here are a couple of thoughts for our second thread of December 07.

The first thought is that some of the practitioner-researchers on this list 
have taken to calling our
explanations of our educational influences in learning, our living 
educational theories. We have
established an Educational Journal of Living Theories with a statement of 
commitment and scope
at:

http://www.ejolts.net/

Moira Laidlaw is Chair of the Editorial Board and the first issue is in 
preparation. You can see the
format we are using at the above url and you may wish to submit your more 
extensive writings
around our second thread to JOLTS.

The second thought is that if you enter:

http://www.inclusional-research.org/

you can participate in the Inclusional Research Forum and Learning Space:

"Evolving Co-creatively, Beyond Conflict.

A space to encourage our understanding of space in the fluid flow of nature.

Is it possible to understand what gets in the way of human understanding?

That is the question we are asking ourselves as we invite you to participate 
in the development
and communication of a natural awareness that we call 'inclusionality'.

We think that inclusional understanding , a natural capability that can be 
're-awakened' in all of
us, can radically transform the way we think, feel and behave, enabling us 
to live more
harmoniously in sustainable dynamic relationship with our living space and 
one another."

When asked recently in another e-forum how he would describe inclusionality 
to a friend, Alan
responded:

"For me, inclusionality means knowing how wonderful it feels to be aware of
receptive, loving influence everywhere, and how terrible it is to deny 
this."

Love Jack.