Replying to LO25616 --
Dear Judy,
Cycles. Movement in a paradoxical world is cyclical. Learning Cycles, this
seems to me the Double Bind of the Year - by any counting method. This is
a self-referential paradoxical Godelian sentence that only somebody from
the Crete College who doesn't smoke pipe (CC: no pipe) can say ;-).
Somebody wrote that we're like the ands* in the picture of Escher of a
Moebius band and ants. Like the monks going down the stairs because
they're tired of going up. You introduced paradox and a lot of
questionsss. Were will they bring us?
The ((non-)western) theories of leadership are faced with four paradoxes:
- authority
- dependency
- creativity
- courage
(i adapt from "Paradoxes of Group Life", the other book that didn't make
much of an impact yet. In this book the authors (Smith and Berg) talk
about the paradox of speaking. As the Speaker is the chair(wo)man of the
Parliament (parlez = talking) i feel save that i can substitute
leadership).
Authority, or rather authorizing, is a self-referential process if
anything: the person of authority has to be authorized by the persons he
will authorized over. Some animals are more equal than others.
Dependency, or rather depending, is a self-referential process if
anything: becoming independent - and connected - can only be achieved by
expressing dependency of others. Some animals are more interdependent than
others.
Creativity, or rather creating, is a self-referential process if anything:
creating change means destructing existing patterns, destabilizing
constructs to converge on new constructs that, in the end, resist change.
What if creative destructiviness threatens the group? Some groups of
animals are more creative than others, but you wouldn't want them near
your house ... .
Courage, overcoming angst, "to be or not to be", what is better,
self-preservation or self-affirmation? "Courage is the power of life to
affirm itself in spite of this ambiguity", writes Tillich. Courage for the
journey. Is it more courageous to conform than to speak out? Is it
courage to sacrifice one's life for a group? Some animals have more "joi
d'vivre" (or is it compassion?) than others.
Let's turn to your questions:
> Ray wrote:
>
> >I like Whitehead. His name is great and seems almost fictional in that he
> >embodies many of the transcendent elements of Western thought in his
> >writings. I often think that Whitehead and Russell are very good
> >introductions to non-Western thought from a Western perspective of course.
...snip...
> "It is no paradox to say that in our most theoretical moods we may be
> nearest to our most practical application." A. N. W.
>
> I ask myself what is all this for me, now, toward the end of year 2000 (by
> Christian counting method - for me, it's actually the dawns of 5761),
> equipped with all it needs to look back at the development (be-coming) of
> human consciousness (you may name it knowledge, understanding, technology
> ;-))? what can i learn from this developpment?
Everything, you can learn everything, development is all there is. It is a
wonderful cyclic word, de-envelop, unwinding layer after layer.
> For logicians, non-X is anything but X, not only that the two sets have no
> element in common, but that together they make up EVERYTHING (just don't
> ask me what EVERYTHING is, please). therefore defining non-X by what it IS
> will most probably be impossible.
>
> Can my consciousness encompass any theory of leadership, different from
> the theories I developped from and into?
you already did, so why stop now?
> Will this be more then an ersatz?
The other day i was reading the diary my great-grand father kept of his
journey to the Holy Land, in the 1930's. He travelled on a German ship and
one day was served "ersatz ice": he found it distasteful, but it had one
advantage: it didn't melt in the heat. Thanks to ersatz he did appreciate
real ice better. The proof of the ice is the eating.
> What does it mean "non-western" for me, a western product of procreation?
i dunno.
> Can I dream in any other language, but my mother-tongue?
One dreams, i've been told, in an analogue language: feelings, pictures,
(e-)movies and the left hemisphere makes up digital language stories as a
kind of sub-titles. That is why it can be frustrating to talk about
dreams.
> It seems that I
> can not, and I'm not even surprised, doesn't it directly follow from
> Whitehead and Russell's model and by Godel's theory?
no, i think not.
> And if so, what now?
exactly.
> An insight occured at the Friday dinner table, when my daughter, a fresh
> student in the faculty of Eastern Culturs came up with the following:
>
> In the Chineese caligraphy lesson her teacher was tracing back the history
> of "writing". He explained to the class how this invention served the need
> for communication among hundreds of different "languages" in old China,
> and therefore they had to invent a figurative script, pronounced in
> various forms but common to all. Yes, yes, we say, that's also how
> hieroglyphics developped in old Egypt, to serve the need to communicate
> with nomadians (workers or tradesmen).
;-), eventually we'll have pictural communication through the web too.
> Maybe Jan is right, suggesting to seek for a new common language, less we
> become a modern instance of the Tower of Babillon. I think there's no
> need.
i agree: we already have two languages. The point is that we can not use
one language to describe or tell us something about the other language
completely. When we try, we end up in circles or conflicts.
> It will suffice to give more respect (just like logicians do) to
> "non-me" and all what derives from it (like "non-us"). This can be
> accomplished, among other ways, by letting ourselves experience the
> simillarity in opposites, as mentioned in an earlier post.
Perhaps not experience the similarities in opposites but the experience
that the opposite, the other, is needed to define ourselves. By defining
"others" as opposite of "self", groups constrain their ability to move
(learn) in the service of reducing anxiety. Any (ANY) practice of the art
of leadership theory should facilitate groups to understand the ways they
define themselves using other groups.
> LCL -Learning Cycles
All around you,
Jan
--Drs J.C. Lelie CPIM (Jan) LOGISENS - Sparring Partner in Logistical Development mind@work - est. 1998 - Group Decision Process Support
Tel.: (+ 31) (0)70 3243475 or car: (+ 31)(0)65 4685114 http://www.mindatwork.nl and/or taoSystems: + 31 (0)30 6377973 - mindatwork@taoNet.nl
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