Replying to LO27270 --
Hello Anne, dear leaders,
The paradoxes of speaking are: authority, dependency, creativity and
courage.
"..the work of those who have or create power is to create the conditions in
which others can move towards their own empowerment.."
".. the work of becoming independent actually involves giving expression to
many of our dependencies.."
"This paradox is founded in the idea that no matter how invested one is in the
creative act, there is also some destruction at the same time - just as there
can be no light without the dark"
"It requires courage to find one's own voice in a group, to speak with
personal authority in the presence of institutional authority. To accept one's
dependency when the inner desire is to reject those upon whom one must depends
courage - .. - to say nothing of the burdens of being creative, the risks
inherent in destroying that which is, in the service of bringing to live that
which might be... Courage is the power of life to affirm itself in spite of
these ambiguities."
These are - in my view - the lessons that are offered to us.
We can choose "single loop learning" and try to "solve the paradox" by
confirming authority, promoting independence, destroying (y)our enemies
and show courage in conquering the negative forces. No matter how -
infinitely - justified, right, positive and blessed this might be, we can
not negate the negation. In the end we'll have to double up and have the
courage to understand that - as Hamlet says - "the rest is silence" - deep
down there is an emptiness we try to evict, to fill, to structure, to
organize that has to be accepted as part of life. Life - creation - is not
our fault, we can not be blamed for it, we didn't invent it nor create it;
yet it was, it is and will be my responsibility, yours and ours alone.
My guess is that we'll learn - eventually - that life is circles and
lines. Our only freedom is the freedom to choose how we're feeling. When
we recognize, understand, know, acknowledge that we use others to define
ourselves and that groups recognize the ways they use other groups to
define themselves, then we've understood the paradoxes.
A late aunt of my, she was a remarkable woman - a large soul in a very
small body - she was a g.p. (docter, healer), a painter and a very fine
pianist - one of the best, i've been told, though she seldom performed for
a life audience - told me that every problem between two people could be
solved by teaching them that we are each others mirrors. We see ourselves
reflected in the other - the things we love in ourself, the right and the
things we hate, the wrong. After 25 years i start to understand what she
was teaching.
Thank You,
Jan Lelie
Chamberlain Anne L wrote:
> Dear Learners,
>
> As a practitioner and 20-year resident of an area near the World Trade
> Center (and former Tower worker), and wanted to at least share a few
> practical observations and some hopeful thoughts in a very painful time.
-- With kind regards - met vriendelijke groeten,Jan Lelie
Drs J.C. Lelie CPIM (Jan) LOGISENS - Sparring Partner in Logistical Development mind@work est. 1998 - Group Resolution 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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