Replying to LO27898 --
Dear Organlearners,
Mark Spain <mark.spain@bigpond.com> writes
>Thank you for your articulations. I am impressed
>by the time, energy and commitment you, At, invest
>into expressing yourself here with all of us.
Greetings dear Mark,
Thank you for your kind words. Trying to prevent a vehicle from sliding
backwards on the slope of a muddy road is a ridiculous excercise. Yet I
keep on for it feels for me as if humankind is beginning to slip on the
mud of rote learning.
You ask very important questions.
>1. What does my tacit knowledge become when
>I articulate it?
It emerges into "articulated" knowledge. Since these articulations can
also be considered as inFORMation, I prefer to call it FORMal knowledge.
Most importantly, the tacit knowlegde decreases accordingly. This can
become dangerous when the tacit knowledge is not increased regularly by
way of new experiences and working them into the body of tacit knowledge.
It is the "kernels" of our knowledge with which we eat the information
provided by others. The metaphor "teeth" tells us that those up front (in
formal knowledge) are not all the "teeth". What about those in the back of
the mouth which cannot be seen?
>It reminds me that much of my authenticity and
>openness to learning is tested in my day-to-day
>behaviour.
It is indeed the case also for me. It is with my daily behaviour rather
than my speaking/writing by which I create constructive experiences for
others so that their tacit knowledge can benefit from it.
>2. How do I, or another person, notice the
>difference in my authentic behaviour if I am
>emonstrating that I am articulating and testing
>my tacit knowledge?
My willingness to search for the authenticity in the other person's
learning. We each have to articulate our tacit knowledge. We think we use
the best possible articulation, but often it still does not inform what we
meant to tell. So, if another person say something seemingly dubious or
disfiguring, ask that person to explain what he/she meant. Repeat it if
necessary.
In the personality of each of us there is an "hidden order". It is
impossible for me to know the "hidden order" of your personality in terms
of your articulations. Should I do it, I will fall in the trap of thinking
"PROBABLY you meant this". The only person in the whole world who can
articulate some of the "hidden order" in your personality are you. So if I
am interested in knowing some of this "hidden order", I will have to step
into a dialogue with you.
>From the outside it may look like the expression
>"Before enlightenment carrying wood and fetching
>water; after enlightenment carrying wood and
>fetching water"
Yes. But the difference is that I discover my "hidden order" not only by
questioning myself, but also observing it mirrored in your "hidden order"
by your articulations functioning as the mirror. Some believe that quiet
contemplation, inner reflection or meditation can reveal all of this
"hidden order". I believe that we also need collective interaction. That
is another why the Learning Organisation is so important.
>3. When are the times in my day-to-day life
>that I can best articulate and test my tacit
>knowledge as I respond to people and
>situations authenticly?
I think we should do it as much as possible. But yes, there are times when
it is impossible. It is when the spiritual free energy of the other person
had been depleted. First take care for helping that person to regain some
spiritual free energy. Sometimes that person merely need to be left alone.
But when that low ebb of spiritual free energy persists, it
is time to keep a cool head and strong sense of purpose.
Try to get that person involved into one of the five ESCs
(Elementary Sustainers of Creativity)
thoughts exchanging (dialogue)
problem solving
exemplar exploring
game playing
art expressing
As that person proceeds in the ESC, his/her spiritual free
energy will grow. It is then when the articulation of your
own tacit knowledge will proceed best.
>.... I more often do this by reacting to people
>and situations by remaining in the long, narrow
>valley of my own existing beliefs and assumptions
>about them and the situation. I may make
>attributions of them and not be aware of
>challenging my own thinking
Even though a dubious thing to say, I will do it. How right you are ;-)
And now I need to question your tacit knowledge. Did you mean "beliefs",
or would words and phrases like "mindset" or "mental models" not do it
better?
"Making attribution of them" again reminds me of the "hidden order". Only
when the "hidden order" and the "founded order" are the same thing, might
it be possible. But when they are not, I am pretty sure that it is
impossible.
>4. I am also genuinely interested in what other
>ways members have created more opportunities
>for authentic relationships via our connection on
>this list to overcome the danger that At describes
>as exchanging "merely external information"?
We can, for example, make our homes available for family members of fellow
learners. It is nice, when a person arrives in a strange country, to know
that somebody will take care of you when things become diffcult. My grand
daughter visited my youngest daugther on a working holiday in England. I
knew I could send her there even should my daughter die unexpectedly Why?
Andrew lives there, willing to take care of my grand daughter as if his
own daughter.
By the way, my home is open to anyone of you or your family emebers.
We can also send each other a tangible gift signifying how much we
treasure learning and the passion which it creates.
Sending a gift which can be bought over the counter of a super market,
although sincerely intended, will not signify as much as one which has
been created with care. For example, Andrew has send me some years ago
paintings as delicate as gossamer. The care with which he made them struck
me deeply and I shall never forget it.
I sent him once two species of a very rare succulent passion flower, the
one almost twenty years old and which I had grown from seed. He needs to
take great care with these plants, observing their life cycle very
carefully. They need to rest completely in winter and some part of spring.
Any watering trying to push them out of their hibernation will kill them
surely. Only when they show with passion that they have stopped resting,
he then carefully has to nurse them to full growth. Any overdoing or
underdoing will just hold them back or even kill them.
I have enough such passion flower succulents to send to many fellow
learners. However, this is where the authorities of our world come into
action. I need to get permits here to send them and you need to get
permits in your country to receive them. In the end the paper work becomes
a mountain to overcome. This paper work (each permit costing money) has
been invented to prevent the over exploiting trade in rare and exotic
species.
The problem is that this permit system works only for people with honesty
and integrity. It does not work for dishonest opportunists. There are many
ways to fool or corrupt the authorities. Sometimes they do get caught, but
they pay the fines and confiscation with a smile.
I sometimes feel like crying when my nursery gets visited to inspect
whether I really am growing the plants which I want to export. I have to
take the official person from species to species which occur on the list.
The official is not able to identify even one of them self. But we all
have to go through the motions as if we all know what we are doing. Speak
of auditing!
Meanwhile the destruction of wild life by the expansion of "civilisation"
goes on unhindered. This creates orders more havoc than the illegal trade
in wild life. It reminds me of the three monkeys -- those land developers
who cannot speak, cannot hear and cannot see the wild life getting
destroyed, have the very free hand to do it. Our laws managing nature are
ignorant of those acting with ignorance. Similarly our laws managing
education are ignorant of those acting with ignorance.
>For me, I feel I have to be very disciplined in
>my own life to read and reflect on all our
>contributions to this list and then to find my
>own authentic learning and write a response
>or share my own experience.
These are words full of wisdom! Thank you for sharing them with us.
>Life is good!
>Love
>Mark
Amen
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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