Replying to LO25539 --
Dear Organlearners,
Bill Hancy <wthancy@home.com> writes:
>I read with great interest your response to John Zavacki's
>question about organizations manifesting change by
>manifesting change. There is a part of your response;
>however, that I don't understand:
Greetings Bill,
I am not saying it is the following with you. When, after a lecture, I am
approached by merely one student saying "The only thing which I did not
understand is XYZ", then my bowel begin to losen up typically like that of
a primate. It means that only one student understood one thing said in the
lecture clearly and because of that only that student had the guts to ask
about something else.
Upon my
>>The last possibility we will have to bear in mind is
>>. {input-constant} ----> [system] ---->{output-change}
>>In other words, can a system begin to output changes
>>when it is subjected to constant inputs from a constant
>>environment? Yes, but it involves a "creative collapse"
>>(a compassionate, yet carefully controlled, deconstruction).
you ask
>Could you please elaborate on, and possibly give an
>example of, "creative collapse?" Is it like {water} in a
>[river] where the {flow} is constantly changing?
Bill, I see from your question that you are not thinking in terms of
"human creativity" any more. But your use of the "like" shows to me that
you are most likely only "tacitly" aware of it.
I myself distinguish between "deep creativity" and "creativity". When
people speak of "creativity", in the far majority of cases they mean
"human creativity" -- not because I say so, but because I listen very
carefully to how they use their concepts of "create", "creation",
"creature" "creator", "creative" or "creativity" and then try to form my
best possible opinion. Only within an open dialogue will I dare to
question them on their use of these concepts so as to make sure that they
refer to the "human" and not perhaps something else too.
[Last Monday a young man experienced this "daring questions" in an open
dialogue which we had -- not in cyberspace! When he reads this, he will
know what I mean.]
In terms of my "deep creativity", not only is any human creative, but also
any gorilla, monkey, dog, snake, bird, fish, tree, fern, bacterium, virus,
molecule, atom, electron or photon. The difference is merely a case of
degree. Consequently, when I speak of "creative collapse", it can involve
anything like those things which I have mentioned in the first sentence. A
couple of months ago I used as example for a "creative collapse" the
formation of benzene from cyclohexane. You will find it under the topic
"metanoia".
You have put me in a terrible fix because of trying to find an example for
a "creative collapse" involving "water" and "river", not because I cannot
find an example, but because I have to give one which will speak clearly
to you. Furthermore, although your own example is not bad, it does not
illustrate sufficiently the essential points of a "creative collapse".
Perhaps the following will help.
A river flows. If it flows strong enough, it will make waves on the
surface as a result of that flow self (rather than because of wind).
Should a rock lay in the river with part of it exposed and such a flow
wave hit it, some of the wave's water may splash over the rock because of
the free energy it has. (I specifically mention that any human forcing
water non-spontaneously over the rock by any means is excluded.) This will
never happen spontaneously with a rock layng partly exposed in a still
pool of water upon which there are no waves. The river has made a
creative collapse. I can go deeper into the physics, but what I have said
is in essence enough.
When a human makes a "creative collapse", that person daringly,
deliberately and knowingly gives up some part of a mental creation of
him/her or one of his/her mental creations which will then enable that
person to create mentally something new -- to "splash over the rock which
without the collapse would never have happened SELF".
Here is a human example. A mother is hungry and she knows her child is
hungry. Someone gives her a piece of bread. She feeds all of it to her
child. She knows that she will become hungrier and she knows that her
child will have less hunger. It makes her happy despite the hunger. She
has made a creative collapse.
The central feature of a creative collapse is to release "free energy"
inside the system (rather than importing it) by letting go some of the
system's organisation so that a higher level of organisation can be
attained. In the example of the mother she knows that she has to eat to
still her hunger. She overrides this knowledge, gain "free energy" so as
put the bread in her child's mouth rather than her own to still some of
the hunger of her child. Because of doing so, happiness emerge within her.
Bill, thank you for asking. Please, do not memorise my answer or try to
apply it to other situations. Seek within your own inner world of
experiences for an event which seems to tell you what I have informed you
about. Then begin to seek as many correspondences and differences between
that event and what I have written. If you find many correspondences and
no differences, especially when you try very hard to find at least one
difference, then you will also have an authentic understanding of the
"creative collapse" too. You will be surprised that when you finally
articulate your own authentic understanding in your own words, it will
look different from mine. This is OK for me because we are different
persons with different personalities.
Should you afterwards care to inform me about your knowledge on "authentic
learning", I will be happy because I will then know closely (but not
exactly) what you are thinking. Many people think that this statement is
most arrogant because I imagine myself to be a mind reader. However, the
few teachers who focus on authentic learning will have something different
to say on this statement. Such teachers need not to administer an
examination, mark the learner's answer and then know what the learner
knows. They know how easily outward appearances can fool the unwary.
The true artist always have deep admiration for the works of art of any
other true artist, although their personalities may clash severely. Only
love is strong enough to prevent them from clashing.
Every authentic learner is a true artist who creates beautiful works of
art.
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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