Replying to LO27864 --
Dear At and Dear Learners especially 'accusatorial' ones,
>A few people have written over the years in private accusing me that my
>"art of deep creativity" is an undercover contest with the LO as
>management system. This "art of deep creativity" is not a management
>system. It is like Goethe said of his "Steigerung" or Smuts of his holism
>-- it is a way of living by exploring everything. It is a way which
>enabled me to understand the LO better, but it has not (yet ;-) enabled
>me to offer something better than the LO as management system.
The President of the United States of America is in China as I write. He
tacitly acknowledges that China, communist and nationalist will very
probably become the cornerstones for a possible renaissance in human
affairs. In his speech to the leaders of China he has asked them to allow
freedom of expression in matters of religious faith (belief), as well as I
presume, to embrace a more open, democratic and capitalist ethic. This is
a man who is acting wisely and who takes the advice of wise men and women.
Wisdom has many ways. I could say wisdom IS many ways to freedom. BUT I
won't ;-) There, now you see it now you don't. I see some spinnings and
slits upon an horizon...
Let's get beyond Peter Senge, de Geus, enter endlessly receding list of
interconnected personalities who propogate 'theories' of managing
something from the 'wildly' inanimate to the 'passively' animate...
"Great indeed is Confucius! He has learned a lot, but has nothing to base
a reputation on. The Master heard of it, and says to disciples at his
gate, What shall I take up? Shall I take up chariot driving? Shall I take
up archery? I shall take up chariot driving!"
LY 9 c0405 9.2 [A. On Culture] The Original Analects, Sayings of Confucius
and His Successors, Brooks & Brooks
At! D'you know;-) that Michael Polanyi was teaching at Merton College,
Oxford just prior to my arrival there circa 1967/8 (I was just fourteen
years old;-) then;-). Merton College was one of the three founding
institutions of Oxford University. Some of the founding habits and maybe
ghosts remain intacto ;-) What I wonder do these officionado's wot 'rote'
you so nice k(no)w, I mean really;-) know about living emergent systems?
"Great indeed is Confucius! He has learned a lot, but has nothing to base
a reputation on. The Master heard of it, and says to disciples at his
gate, What shall I take up? Shall I take up chariot driving? Shall I take
up archery? I shall take up chariot driving!"
Confucius was capable of being quite facetious, as the above demonstrates.
And I can imagine;-) the roters perspective, because, to have lived for
years out of a undermining fear, the fear that someone will tap you on the
shoulder and say "charalatan" makes on depend upon the self termed 'gurus'
deeply. I think they can live with any 'term'. but they cannot, will not
live without what goes with it in our society...the means to an ever
increasing production of a personal wealth and income. They can (among
themselves of course behind closed walls) make fun of themselves as when
in the Second International Conference on Complex Systems 1998 seven;-) I
quoth the author of the Intro: "management gurus were brought together
under the same roof to discuss the role of complexity science in
management theory...some in attendance even agreed with the phrasing of
Micklethwaite and Wooldridge..."American managers are fond of the word
guru because they aren't sure how to pronounce the word charlatan..."
Mmmmm. A paper of one such 'guru' of about nine pages is followed by a
references table of 'authors' -- sixty eight other 'authors' amounting to
four pages in reduced type scale from 10 to 8 pt at a guess. Who but an
academic would do that? With that many references but no cross references
who would challenge such an author? If knowledge is power and power is
convertible into money in the info. age (... and who among managers really
understand 'the difference that makes a difference' between
***onformation**** and knowledge...is that an emergence...or immergence;-)
What might such a 'master' (sic) find himself/herself saying/writing if
they had somehow, sometime, somewhere lost the thin ascending fractal
thread that leads to emergence? Might it lead to a kind of schizophrenia,
a multiple personality that cannot any longer attend to core values... I
quoth a guru from same compendium of ***infromation**** " With the access
to both new words and actions for possibilities for action. With the
access to new actions comes the potential for new identity. The most
prominent example of this is Monsanto, which not only adopted complexity
science lingo, but also reorganised the entire company around it." At, you
know something about complexity, is a management team that adopts rather
than grows likely to succeed in an emergence? Is the (pejorative?) use
here of the term "lingo" bespeaking of a crude appreciation of 'the WORD
sea' in which we, as Maturanna (nearly) puts it, collectively swim?
The next paragraph is a citation by someone we are all very familiar with
(Vygotsky 1986) "Experience teaches us..." Mmmm, does it..." that thought
itself does not express itself in words, but rather realizes itself in
them. A word in context means both more and less than, the same word in
isolation: more, because it acquires new context: less, because its
meaning is limited and narrowed by context. The sense of a word....changes
in different minds and situations and is almost unlimited. It is not
merely the content of a word that changes, but the way reality is
generated and reflected in a word." I will not quote any more because the
words start to choke me...words like in just some eighty
remaining...grabbed hold of...guide language choice...managers
-influence...lies...to make meaningful for those they lead...not by
changing behaviour but giving a sense of understanding...in this sense
lies complexity as.. a tool...
"Great indeed is Confucius! He has learned a lot, but has nothing to base
a reputation on. The Master heard of it, and says to disciples at his
gate, What shall I take up? Shall I take up chariot driving? Shall I take
up archery? I shall take up chariot driving!"
I'd just humbly say that 'tools' can be misapplied and I have not noticed
any increase of open intelligence in this organizationally operand world,
nor love, nor compassion, nor wisdom, nor health, nor happiness, nor real
wealth, nor democracy...but I see where many things lie;-) Funny things
words. Aha! But then, I am only a failed poet;-)
CEO of Monsanto give every member of your company a copy of Walt Whitman's
poem Song of Myself. You will have no need of gurus, systems of
management. I reckon your productivity will yield you a great harvest, but
first read it yourself and ask yourself if you are really CEO of Monsanto
at all? Now there is a point of leverage in a complex system. TRY IT . Let
me know how it went... what we look at and see is not nature itself, it is
nature exposed to our method of questioning.
Here is an intimation of a new beginning for anyone, for free, listen with
care..."With word and deed we insert ourself into the human world and this
insertion is like a second birth in which we confirm and take upon
ourselves the naked facts of our original physical appearance. This
insertion is not forced upon us by necessity, like labour, and it is not
prompted by utility, like work. It may be stimulated by the presence of
others whose company we may wish to join, but it is never conditioned by
them, its impulse springs from the beginning which came into the world
when we were born and to which we respond by beginning something new on
our own initiative." Now, I ask you ...What is clever, Ph.d able,
specialised Journable about that...doesn't it form a tiny circle around
you of infinite expansion?
'A few people have written over the years in private accusing me that my
"art of deep creativity" is an undercover contest with the LO as
management system.'
come out, come out, where-ever you are, come out;-)
Or as Mr Plato MBA PhD said it around the time of Mr Confucius charioteer
extrordinaire, 'We can forgive our children for being afraid of the dark
but we must become concerned when as adults we are afraid of the light
';-) Plus ca change eh...
At, do you sometimes feel an immense and immeasurably small power running
right through you, perhaps in the middle of the night as you dance the
dance;-)
Love,
Andrew
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