Replying to LO26254 --
>Any good unambiguous words from other languages/cultures that fit here?
Hi Bill and all,
I think there is also an aspect to empowerment, which has to do with human
maturity. You write: "The President (or Prime Minister or ...) can empower
his Secretary of State to go to Europe or Asia or ... " Of course the
Secratary of State cannot just be anybody. One may also say that the
President trusts in the degree of empowerment which the Secretary has
reached.
In "The true meaning of civilization" (makes a GREAT contribution to our
list:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?eo20010101f3.htm)
Morihiro Hosokawa, a former prime minister of Japan, wrote among others on
an interview with Mansai Nomura, a kyogen actor: "He said many of his
fellow performers want to try something different, appearing in movies and
musicals, for example. In his opinion, they should concentrate on stage
performance. Nomura said that kyogen as an art has been perfected in the
past seven centuries, and young actors should not try to change it. He
said he would never try to change the traditional kyogen until he reached
age 60. Nomura said that when he reached that age, he might establish his
own style."
This seems to me to be really profound differentiation. Yes, empowerment
comes from within, it is about /_\(irr)S(sy) ;-), BUT: take care of the
FORM which such empowerment from within takes. In his example, Hosokawa
contrasts the hurry for fame of "fellow performers" with the virtue of
patience and practice of Nomura. Who would dare to think of empowerment in
terms of orienting oneself towards a seven centuries tradition of
perfecting an art? And, contrasting dogma with openness: Who would
anticipate the possibility of a creative collapse beyond 60 and then
become a most honoured member of the Kyogen society for the contribution
to its becoming instead of a late outcast?
Liebe Gruesse,
Winfried
P.S.:
At wrote in LO26219: "I think I have mentioned during that dialogue that
in my own mother tongue we distinguish between "gemagtig"=authorised and
"bemagtig"=self-authorised. The stem word "mag"=power. The two prefixes
"ge-" and "be-" makes the noun a verb while the suffix "-(t)ig" makes it a
past participle."
German has a similar distinction: bemächtigt (=self authorised) and
ermächtigt (=authorised). Bemächtigung (noun) or bemächtigen (verb) has
two applications: the deep learning of a subject or to seize power (would
you also say "to seize a subject"?).
--"Winfried Dressler" <winfried.dressler@voith.de>
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