[Host's Note: I call your attention to a remarkable image sent to a few of
us by Andrew. With his permission, I have put it on the web at
http://www.learning-org.com/images/AllSaintsChurch.jpg
This is the church to which Leo refers below. ..Rick]
Dear LO'ers,
Andrew Campbell has send me a mail where he wrote about the beautiful old
church which is nearby his home. This church stands there as a very quiet
and solid statue - a restful point to rebalance unsure thoughts. It is
also the gateway to heavenly thoughts.
It must be the place where for centuries peasants and people from a wide
area around have found rest and inspiration to cope with hard life.
The 500 years old church is brightly shining in the sunlight. Bright,
because it is made of a special rock. See what Andrew and I have said
about it:
> Lieve Leo, Winfried and Rick
>
> << Lieve Andrew,
>
> I just received a fantastic vision, just before a meeting that will start
> within 10 minutes.
> >
> > Let me tell you Leo, passionate man in impassioned world, that inside that
> > great obelisk of ancient sandstone is a five hundred year old spiral
> > ascending staircase that through its owned inner brightdarkness and
> > untrammelled passing is pristine, pure and as new, as new, as new. It is a
> .........
>
> You know, Andrew, that that sandstone is nothing else than the petrified
> sanddunes that passed in our public discussion on the LO-list. You walk on
> that staircase on fossil desert dunes (probably of Permian age = ca. 250
> million years). Is it not fascinating that now these dunes are hard rocks,
> the Richter slope doesn't matter anymore? You just could climb these
> dunes, up to heaven.
>
> Leo >>
As a matter of fact, these types of sandstones are the worldwide targets
for oilcompanies. Because of the high pore volume between the equally
sized sand grains, it is the reservoir rock for many oil and gas reserves.
Oil geologists look to a special association: they search for fossil sand
stone formations with on top of it a sealing layer of an other rock (e.g.
salt, or clay) and a special structural configuration of this pair of
layers. Since fossil hydrocarbons are lighter in weight than rock, oil or
gas tend to migrate to the highest possible place. Ideal structures have a
form comparable with a upside down soucer, so the hydrocarbons are
concentrated in the top of that structure and sealed by the overlying
rock, preventing further rise.
The climate during the Permian age in this area was very dry and huge
deserts have been formed.
Andrew continued:
> Yes it is that sandstone, my neighbour a geologist for a petrol company
> researched it some years ago and told me about it...i recall little;-) but I
> am enclosing the image to you and Rick, so that you may perhaps write around
> the rainbow drawing the multicoloured threads together for a rich picture to
> the LO to illuminate your visions Leo. Feel free to use my private words to
> you if that helps your "ascending" etc. I am sure that such choices of terms
> are deeply directed and emergent and point us all to deep structures in our
> language as per James Joyce...though I understand the man knot;-) If you want
> to include my letters to you this past few weeks do so, if the pristine non
> ablated staircase is not some fuzzy symbol for the special centre of our
> turning minds I don't know what is, and of course there is the double helix
> of DNA...Mmmm, so much light you throw out all around...please be kind and
> send me a rough draft if you do write out your inspirational thoughts. In the
> meantime here is the picture as a pdd file from the scanner's software.
>
> Love
>
> Andrew.
So far the dialogue.
The rainbow as a heavenly aureole above a 500 years old church that is
composed of 250 million years old sandstone. The special light effects are
partly due to the polarisation of the sun light (inside the rainbow it is
somewhat darker, due to polarization). The rainbow, for some people this
is also the Godly sign that never a deluge will happen again.
The spiralling staircase in that old church and the words of Andrew
reminded me of something else.
The stair as pathway to higher atmospheres. There is a famous spiralling
tower we probably all know: the tower of Babel of Pieter Bruegel the
Elder. A high quality reproduction could be found in the site of
artchive.com:
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bruegel/babel1.jpg.html
Is this picture not the ultimate illustration of our dialogue and the yet
unfinished building of a learning organisation???
Look at it closely, you may find all the five disciplines in this rich
picture. The people in the left foreground are dialoguing, there are feed
backloops, there is a complex inner structure, the high levels of systems
thinking, etc. And maybe if we continue in the construction of a LO, we
will reach the clouds of heavenly atmospheres.
But of course, this picture has another side - the warning. Keep the
dialogue constructive and alive. I have looked in my Dutch-English
dictionary what the translation might be of the Dutch expression: "langs
elkaar praten" - litterary "talking along with each other". Words will
never meet eachother. Strange enough, the dictionary gives the English
expression: "talk across some one". This sounds to me that words meet each
other, maybe in collision. This is to me too close to the litterary
translation from the Latin *dialogue*. What would be the Latin for
*talking along* ?
Anyway, the tower of Babel is symbol for misunderstanding and talking
along eachother. That is the warning.
There is very much written about this picture of Bruegel. And keep in mind
that this picture is of the same age as the church of Andrew! That church
with a spiral staircase, as in Bruegel's tower.
Is that so...?? Have a close look to that picture.
I have looked carefully, took a ruler, started to think and look deeper,
checked and double checked my suspicion. And then I came to the conclusion
that the Bruegel's Tower of Babel is a
DOUBLE SPIRAL
Yes, Andrew, the helix hidden in a medieval picture!
I have never seen a publication were this double spiral was observed in
that picture. The double spiral is the perfect situation for
miscommunication. What a trouvaille of Bruegel!
These people, building that tower were realy talking along each other.
They never could meet each other. Only in heaven will be the meeting
point.
Shall we continue in our construction of a LO-tower? Shall we dialogue and
shall we hope that our thoughts and words will meet our companions? Yes,
let's continue and hope! The idea of building together such a beautiful
tower (which last for at least 500 years!) is worth. The fact that our
words will not always find fruitfully meetings and connections is for me
not to be scared of. Look at that lonesome guy on the painting of Bruegel
who found a solution: a found a ladder to climb to the other winding of
the parallel spiral. He is the wisest of all!
I am convinced that we will construct a fantastic tower of LO!
dr. Leo D. Minnigh
l.d.minnigh@library.tudelft.nl
Library Technical University Delft
PO BOX 98, 2600 MG Delft, The Netherlands
Tel.: 31 15 2782226
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of ideas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--Leo Minnigh <l.d.minnigh@library.tudelft.nl>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.
