Hello from the sidelines.
I have been learning from your list for over a year; and only hope
everyone who participates in this dialogue realizes how important this
ongoing event really is. I thank you all.
What moved me to begin my own participation was At's latest offering on
fruitfulness. (As you may suspect, At)
This (entering my own listing) is somewhat like sailing alone for the
first time: Scary, exhilarating and full of wonder- if you can ever
arrive safely back at the same dock. Please bear with me...
At wrote:
> We can make effective
> contact with each other's formal level of knowledge. But what about
> the other three levels (experential, tacit and sapient)? Another
> related example is a person disabled in some manner such as a motoric
> disability. We will find it extremely difficult to make even contact
> with that person's formal level of knowledge in the way we make
> effective contact with "normal" persons.
My ten year old son, Dan, has cerebral palsy and cannot talk or ambulate
on his own, and has motor problems in his arms and hands as well. He is
well adjusted and has a great sense of humor. We know that he is creative
if you choose to observe this. It takes time and patience, and any
emergence might rarely approximate the norm for his age. (something that
our culture in the USA continually throws up as a measure of worth.)
But recently, Dan came home from school with a coupon for a free meal at a
local restaurant. He had won an art contest. We thought it was wonderful
and congratulated him, but he seemed a bit indifferent. We continued this
support in front of others, and they too congratulated Dan. He made sure
we used the coupon for the lunch of his choice.
Several weeks later, I came home from work to find a large painting and
asked my wife what it was. She replied that it was Dan's winning artwork.
It was a watercolor of a perfectly proportioned and painted giraffe. It
was smiling profusely. In the corner was Dan's name penned in as the
artist. Dan has not learned to write, nor draw or paint in a way that we
can recognize objects. Not only had the art teacher who submitted the
drawing on Dan's behalf not valued what Dan had to offer, but she had
apparently assured that he learned a most pitiful lesson about the
self-value of his own creativity. We asked Dan if he had participated in
this artwork, and he shook his head "no".
My interest in the discussion of fruitfulness (and sureness) that you have
presented At, seems to center on the possibility of suspending the
judgements and assumptions you describe in your entry. I would like, if
you will, to go into that deeper; as it relates to all seven
essentialities. When I suspect that with regards to the essentiality
"Openness", open is being impaired in both Dan's and the art teacher's
case, but I am not sure. I also suspect that this story represents a sad
immergence that you have been so thoughtful in coaching me to avoid.
I find that the assumptions others make about the "unreactive rest" of a
person to be the cause of most misunderstanding and failure to create
emergences. I have read of many models and attempts which try to clarify
this phenomenon (ladder of inference, unconditional positive regard,
Krishnamurti, etc) but see the essentialities as going deeper. How may
this (giraffe story) be used as a model to help explain so I may move from
tacit to a more formal understanding of your model?
Thank you all for this opportunity to participate.
Charlie Saur
--Charlie Saur <csaur@remc8.k12.mi.us>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>