Replying to LO24632 --
Dear Organlearners,
Judy Tal <judyt@netvision.net.il> writes:
>Moreover, I feel and I think you deserve special compliments
>for your courageous opennes when sharing with us details of
>your private life and experience. This should never be taken for
>granted by us - we should make the least effort and drop you
>a word: THANKS.
Greetings Judy,
This is the second response to your lovely words. I hope this response
will not scramble the LO archive system too much.
I have changed the topic somewhat because last Saturday a letter appeared
in a local newspaper (Beeld) which is a fine example of what I am trying
to do. I would not have reponded with this contribution were it not for
the fact that this letter is also a profound example of what the
LO-dialogue is about.
But first some background before I offer a translation of the letter.
In 1987 an Airbus called the Helderberg ("clear mountain") from Taiwan to
Johannesburg crashed near Mauritius, killing 159 passengers. This was in
the last decade of apartheid when international sanctions were severest.
Millions were spent to uncover the wreckage and especially the flight
recorder so as to establish the cause of the accident. An investigation
into the cause of the crash was headed by judge Margo. Much of the
hearnings were in camera. The official finding was that evidence was too
inconclusive to establish a cause. A few pages of transcription of the
flight recording were also released. The reasons for not giving more were
that the tape was badly damaged and that private talk by the crew was
omitted.
But rumours on the Helderberg tragedy kept popping up. When the new
government took over, even the TRC (Truth and Reconcilliation Commission)
reopened the case with a hearing involving close to twenty witnesses. Much
of this hearing was also kept confidential. However, the ruling of the
TRC was that the investigation ought to be reopened. Guess what? Nothing
happened.
One citizin kept on asking for a copy of the flight recording. After he
finally succeeded, he took this copy to the USA to be analyzed by the
latest technology ("super sound blaster" stuff). Eventually he returned
with dozens of pages of transcriptions containing every word which could
be recovered, no matter how private it was. It seems as if there were two
fires on board. The first fire flared up soon after take-off and caused
structural damage before it could be extinguished. The captain of the
Helderberg did not turn back, but kept on pushing for South Africa. At
some later stage he informed his shocked crew that they have a "Boy
George" on board.
Then the second fire occurred and the Helderberg was no more.
Beeld published the imbettered transcription exclusively. Now the fat is
in the fire. It seems as if the apartheid goverment even used air liners
to transport dangerous munition for warfare so as to bypass the
international sanctions. It seems as if the air liner captains were
extorted to do so otherwise they will lose everything, even their lives.
It seems as if in the name of secrecy even justice was bended backwards.
It seems as if nobody can be believed any more.
But the incident which seems to have opened the festering boil is the full
transcription (of a copy of) the original flight recording made public the
first time ever. I have seldon seen people using tacitly the seven
essentialities as during the last week. Dont try to fix a being, but let
become what has to become. Seek for a categorical identity rather than an
acceptable finding. Put everything on the table on merely what relates to
the disasterous flight. Let all the people who want to make effective
connections do so rather than suggesting what connections has to be made.
Do not limit the body of evidence because people might not be able to cope
with more. Allow inputs from every possible angle. Open completely up even
if it will cause a complete change in people's evaluation of the norms of
society.
The letter has been written by Capt D R Leathers of the Air Liner Pilot
Association of South Africa (ALPA-SA) in Beeld 27-05-2000 (p8). The letter
is in my mother tongue Afrikaans so that I will try my best to give a
reliable English translation of it. I will number the paragraphs for
reference purposes.
~~~~~~~~~
(1) The Air Liner Pilot Association of South Africa (ALPA-SA) wants to
protest strongly with this writing against the manner by which Beeld
handled the alleged, technologically improved transcription of the
Helderberg's flight voice recorder.
(2) I want to refer to my discussion with Peet Bothma of Beeld before the
publication of the transcription, during which I expressed my gratitude
for Beeld's intention to put pressure on the appropiate authorities.
(3) However, I also requested that this most sensitive issue had to be
handled in a professional and responsible manner.
(4) The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a subdivision of
the UN, keeps basic international priciples and rules in custody to manage
the the use of flight recordings during investigations into accidents.
(5) Beeld must understand that, without the consent of the flight deck
crew, there would be worldwide no flight recorders in use, and without it
aviation safety would not have been improved to the present level.
(6) In other words: pilots worldwide have allowed some incursion into
their privacy in their work places, far above that which is normally
expected from other professional persons (for example surgeons) to ensure
that the highest level of safety and integrity can be sustained.
(7) The improper use of voice recording data create far reaching judicial
and social precedents which may cause crew members to reconsider their
position to diminish their privacy in their work places.
(8) It has to be stressed that ALPA-SA believes strongly that such a step
will not be beneficial to aviation safety.
(9) We are disappointed in the manner in which this case has been handled,
since Beeld seemingly paid little attention to evaluate the voice
recording or its transcription for autheticity or accuracy, and afterwards
to work together with the fitting authorities to ensure that any new
evidence will be investigated with the necessary sensitivity and
professionality.
(10) ALPA-SA will assist in full the civil aviation authority, the
department of transport and minister Dullah Omar in their attempts to
reopen the Helderberg investigation should trustworthy evidence justify
such a step.
~~~~~~~~~
What can we learn from this letter with regard to the LO-dialogue?
Please allow me comments on some of these paragraphs.
Par(1)
Most newspapers make a living by printing that which causes
feelings -- the sensational stuff. Compare them with scientific
journals which make a living by printing that which causes
thinking -- intellectual stuff. Is the LO-dialogue, metaphorically
speaking, either a newspaper or a journal or perhaps both or
maybe even none?
How do feeling and thinking relate to each other? Can we afford
in an LO-dialogue to be ignorant of these interactions between
feeling and thinking? I often see some fellow learner complaining
about too much thinking and far less someone complaining about
too much feeling, but I have never seen one of these complainers
explain by theory and illustrate by example how to solve the
problem.
One of the worst things to do in a LO-dialogue is to keep on
tossing the problem from one to another while avoiding any proposed
solution. I do not want to explicate too much on the five elementary
sustainers of creativity since they are intended for elementary use.
However, I wish to draw attention to the fact that we should not
confuse any two sustainers with one another as often has happen
on the list since I began participating in it many years ago.
The dialogue is not meant for problem-solving, nor is problemsolving
meant for dialogue. Should we use the dialogue for problem-solving,
problems will become tossed around forever. Should we use
problem-solving for the contextual understanding by dialogue,
problems will be invented forever. The dialogue cannot be used to
take over the other four elementary sustainers (problem-solving,
exemplar-studying, game-playing and art-expressing), but to learn
from them.
The same applies to each of the other four. Our dialogue on this
list has not only resulted into a deeper contextual understanding,
but has also resulted in a profound examplar for studying the
dialogue. We all have had wonderful opportunities to learn more
from "ping-pong", "wham-bam", "buy-the best", "shutup-listen",
"knock-knock", "aha-hmm" and many other ways of communicating.
We also had wonderful opportunities how some fellow learners played
skillful games while others expressed beautiful art right under our
noses.
I think this LO-dialogue is neither a newpapaper, nor a journal and not
even both, but the recording and its transcription of learners going with
purpose to some destination. Perhaps the "deep problem" is that they do
not all intend to go to the same destination. Everyone tells with feeling
and/or thinking where the destination should be, sweating as a result of
past accidents, expecting a future catastroppy, but nobody seems to
understand that there is a Captain Who said clearly what the destination
will become, except for some denying that such understanding can ever
emerge.
Should each member of the LO-dialogue not have to harmonise feeling and
thinking into a temperament unique to that member's personality so that
all members can learn from one another in terms of personalities as the
constructive outcome of personal evolution by liveness, sureness,
wholeness, fruitfulness, spareness, otherness and openness?
Par(2)
Beeld is a newspaper organisation and the Department of Transport is a
governmental organisation. The big dramas of this world unfold by one
organisation trying to pressurise another organisation to learn what the
former also has learned. Without ever having articulated their tacit
knowledge, they use deftly some extraordinary patterns to force one
another into learning.
We just will have to wait for that profound drama when one LO interacts
spontaneously with another LO so as to ensure the safety of humankind and
the rest of Creation. Why the waiting? In the case of the Helderberg the
waiting has now taken 13 years. Another 13 years will bring nothing
unless we begin to question with all our mental abilities learning itself
so that we can distinguish that unique learning which culminates in
one-to-many love.
Par(3)
When is any issue "most sensitive"? Is the Helderberg disaster
most sensitive because 159 passengers who could afford airline
travel and the able crew have died despite their professional duties?
In the flood disasters earlier this year in the southern countries of
Southern Africa during which thousands of poor people have lost
their lives and hundreds of thousands have lost everything which
they have owned, I have never heard anybody crying out that this
most sensitive issue had to be handled in a professional and
responsible manner. Is a Learning Organisation not aware of its
own self-organisation as well as the evolution of the whole world
in which it is functioning?
How many millions of destitute street children still have to die
by the disasters in which this world is flung into? Some say
God cannot be Love for letting such natural disasters happen.
What about adults who do not learn to keep at least our
children away from the destructive effects of disasters, natural
and human made?
Par(5-8)
These four paragraphs have a profound depth in meaning for me.
It tells me personally that improving the quality of life, does not
merely involve otherness ("quality-diversity"). It involves the
other six essentialities of creativity's form too. For example, it
requires the system SY to open up to its surroundings SU. But
it also involves the dynamics of creativity's content. For example,
spontaneous consent rather than forced collapse is essential to
creativity.
It is as if the writer wants to stress that the conditions in jetliner
aviation are profoundly abnormal and that even in ordinary live the
conditions for professional work are abnormal. I personally believe
that it is now the other way around. The conditions for ordinary
folk have become profoundly abnormal. But according to the
parable of the boiled frog most people are unaware how much
conditions have become extremely perilious and how close not
only humankind are to extinction.
This desperate situation have developed because of fragmented
dealings with feeling and thinking. The temperament which made
humankind Homo sapiens is fast immerging because of the massive
entropy produced by humankind and, because of a lack of its
very temperament, the ability to guide this entropy production
constructively into higher emergences and their growth.
Is there any hope? Will brute feeling and advanced thinking pull
us through?
~~~~~~~~
There is much hope! Really? I have experienced self how this hope
manifested in me while I persistently questioned the act of learning
as deeply as possible. I have observed how this hope manifested
in hundreds of other learners while aiding them when they began to
question not only what to learn, but the very act of learning itself.
I have studied the history of entire civilisations and also small
communities. They have all succeeded in turning the tide by
authentic learning.
When a plant has to take up water by its roots, it cannot do it
otherwise. When an animal has to drink water with its mouth,
it cannot do it otherwise. Its only humans who have learned
about so many ways of getting water into a system that they
are now ignoring the principal way by which each living system
gets water into it.
Every system has one principal way in which it acts internally
and externally. We may not be aware of this principal becoming,
but we have to be aware of at least one of its innumerous
manifestations so as to question its interactions with all of the
rest. I am very sure that there is an unprecedented consciousness
for learning itself in humankind to which we have to connect
effectively.
The last sentence seems to be very commanding and authoritative
claim and you fellow learners are free to question this perception.
But does this claim not concern what makes us humans -- that we
can excell in learning when we really have to? Do I speak on my
own authority or do I speak as a human?
I have opened up my own flight of learning so that all you fellow
learners can make sure that I am not concealing a "Boy George",
even by being ignorant of it, somewhere in the cargo. I have insisted
that nobody should trust what I write, but carefully must consider the
recording and its transcriptions. I will not control the learning of
any other individual and I will not let go of the little control which
I have acquired over mine. What remains of spontaenous learning is
team learning in which the control is collectively, inclusively and
voluntary.
Let those who can see, look deeper.
The Helderberg ("Clear Mountain") is a rather strange mountain
in the region of Cape Town. Whereas all the other mountains are
frequently covered with clouds, this mountain is virtually always
clear. Cape Town was once known as the "Cape of Storms". Why?
It is here where several global weather systems interact ferociously.
It is the same entropic force-flux pairs resulting from these
interactions which causes the rest of the mountains to be often
covered with clouds and which also keeps the Helderberg clear.
It is the same entropic force-flux pairs which made the Cape Flora
the richest one earth per square kilometer.
Then the second fire occurred and the Helderberg was no more.
Please, let our learning become like the mountain Helderberg
and not like the jetliner Helderberg.
There is no return possible because authentic learning is irreversible and
not because somebody may discover a "Boy George" hidden in the cargo. It
is because of rote learning that we fail to respond timely to any
dangerous incident with profoundly destructive consequences.
The universe does have a "Boy George" which took it from the Big Bang up
to now! What will become us when some humans have advanced so far that by
rote learning they can make use of this "Boy George" for their own selfish
interests? Nothing when we learn ourselves authentically.
Let those who see the coming destruction of the city flee to the
mountains.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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