Replying to LO27277 --
At,
Thank you for your heartfelt thoughts. I just discovered I had missed
this message when it first came out. I believe you speak much truth.
You also, like many I saw when I was still in the university, think
through the ramifications of events on both a quantitative (chemical, for
example) and more qualitative level. That is a habit I don't see as much
as I'd like (I probably don't practice it as much as I'd like, either).
(You and the rest of the world do have it a bit easier in doing that sort
of mental math, though. We deliberately and unwisely handicap ourselves
with what the schools used to call the English System and now call the
Customary System, I think; it makes for a bit more mental gymnastics to
remember what constants one knows in English and which in metric and to
make sure to keep them straight.)
I started following your work when you first began expounding on the 7E's
years ago, and then I got busy with other things and stopped wrestling
with your longer postings. I've found that I stay busy, and yet I still
sense there is something important about what you're saying more of us
should internalize. Since I gather your book is not published, are there
a small set of archived postings or other sources which serve as a primer?
I realize that serious learning takes serious work, but perhaps there's at
least a Wegweiser, a set of tips to point one along a fruitful path.
Skipping much of importance in your comments, I'll comment on your
suggestion that we live outside the USA for at least a year. I've done
that, albeit still in a Western country, and I learned much about me and
about the USA as well as about that country and its peoples from the
experience. While we often pride ourselves on the diversity of peoples
who live together here (sometimes successfully, sometimes not), we see
little of other countries' views due to the barriers of distance,
language, US news coverage, and our own choice. I think groups such as
this serve a valuable purpose in beginning to connect us regularly across
national and cultural boundaries. We need to hear others' views, even if
they make us uncomfortable (assuming that makes us think), and we need to
form relationships with others across cultural and country boundaries,
even those with whom we might not agree. So, yes, we in the USA need
support for the shock we've experienced, shock which may unfortunately be
all too real in many parts of the world, and we also need the exchange of
thoughts and insights honestly and clearly and in ways designed to foster
understanding.
Thanks,
Bill
--Bill Harris 3217 102nd Place SE Facilitated Systems Everett, WA 98208 USA http://facilitatedsystems.com/ phone: +1 425 337-5541
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