Replying to LO27167
Hello again At and fellow learners,
My thermostat (perhaps a too simplistic analogy) is a human applied form
of intelligence to assist people in daily life. Adding to human made
intelligence we can turn the water heater off and on to control system
loading etc etc. I see this type of evolution in the same vein as I do
life evolution.
Within the evolutionary process there are going to be deviations from the
"norm". In our quest to build upon the simplicity of a water heater
thermostat - to system load control - to intelligent machines and software
some of us will use that intelligence for things detrimental to "life" or
"nature".
Hopefully the root of decency going deep into humanity, much like the root
of the wild fig tree going deep into the ground will limit the damage done
by the "deviations from the norm" of people who revert to base instincts
(hard wiring) or use their intellect (thermostats/load control etc)
destructively.
In the similar circumstances particularly where there is hardship the
range of human behaviour will be revealed, as Viktor Frankl describes it
"From the Saint to the Swine". a Mugabe and a Mandela, a Milosovoc and a
Gorbachev, and the range is inherent in all organisations by way of their
memberships.
Tongue in cheek though my quip about doing like the boss says may have
been, I witness people doing exactly this each day and believe they have
mastered their environment by doing so. The fact that people will carry
out atrocities for the ideologies of a faulty human thermostat (mind)
reinforces this point and not all such people are "educationally
challenged". Were they machine systems like my humble water heater, we
could re program them and get rid of the impairment. Alas many of the
impairments go as deep as the fig tree root.
Nor is it a bed of roses here At with diversity of peoples to deal with.
The Maori people are Polynesian and if you look at the Polynesian group of
Islands they are spread over vast distances of the mighty Pacific Ocean.
In New Zealand today you can still hear the differences in the dialects of
the Maori language. We dont see eye to eye either, however our numbers
are but a fraction of those you have in Southern Africa and by and large
our collective PM is focussed on a win/win future. Rather than replacing
culture I would like to think that the mixing of the genes in New Zealand
is adding to the hard wiring, maybe sending the fig tree root searching
deeper for nourishment.
Meantime while the root is searching, the tree also has to weather
adversity. While much of what we are and do is inherent in our gene pool
draw, environmental influences have impact as well. The norms of
organisational life have fought for control of the thermostat for as long
as humans congregated in groups. Thermostat in this instance is how I
describe the human intellect, that part of the human not hard wired out of
the gene pool. The fight for control of it? Educational Institutions,
Religions, Corporations, Political parties, Ideologies etc etc.
And on goes the quest for Personal Mastery in order to underpin our
organisations/families/groups with the collective decency (our individual
interpretation) of all their members.
You gave Mandela as an example of PM At, in this respect we are seeing
from the same set of eyes. Others in my opinion are Mohammed Ali, Viktor
Frankl, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ghandi, Mother Theresa.
I would be happy if what people of this ilk expound(ed) is used and taught
in the institutions that educate our children.
In my training and development capacity within my organisation I
constantly use the ideas of people like this when working and dealing with
our workers. Our workforce is well educated when benched marked
internationally against other organisations in this industry, yet there
there is a distinct lack of PM and ego's are so frail. While we talk
about teaching PM to our children, I am certain that most adults could do
with some refreshing or catching up.
I resigned this year after having spent 12 years on a secondary school
board of trustees "doing my bit" for our children. I spend my days at
work "doing my bit" to help the children of yesteryear cope with the
work/develop PM, I will continue for life to do this and to develop my own
PM
Regards,
Dennis.
--"Dennis Rolleston" <dennisr@ps.gen.nz>
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