I just came across this quote shared by Lisa Scheinkopf in "Thinking for a
Change: Putting the TOC Thinking Process to Use."
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
-- Philip K. Dick, 1985
[Host's Note: Philip K. Dick is a very interesting science fiction writer,
the author of the book underlying "Blade Runner." ..Rick]
At, you ask, "Is something real as a result of culture?"
With Dick's quote in mind, and your question, I think of "The Walking
People: A Native American Oral History," by Paula Underwood, a very
interesting, beautiful book. It is published by "A Tribe of Two Press." In
the following excerpt is the story of the name, Tribe of Two:
The name comes from the Third Winter Ceremony in which Paula's father
gave her her Learning Name. As she tells it..
In my tradition, a name is given to any child only when some
person they are learning from has discovered enough about the way that
child learns to give them a Learning Name. That name is given in a Third
Winter Ceremony. At least three of the People should be present.
The winter I was three years old, my father began coming home
later every day. I had no idea why. Finally he came home one day and
said,
"Honeygirl, I've looked everywhere. I find Piute and I find
Papago, but I find none of the People.
"We are a Tribe .. of Two!"
Here is what Paula Underwood writes in the Foreward:
When I was a child my father sang me endless songs about a People
who walked vast distances, struggled against high odds, succeeded, failed,
but above all else, continued.
I learned these songs from him. And then one day he asked me what
I knew. "Why," I said, "I know the vast history of a whole People who
continued and continued over thousands of years."
"Do you?" he asked, "And how do you know such things?"
We discussed this for a long time, deep in conversation, deep in
thought. Each time I told my father I knew such things had happened he
reminded me of what 'know' means, until at last I said,
"I know my father lifted his head and sang. I know I heard him. I
know these are his songs. I conclude they contain much accuracy because I
feel the reality behind the words and because my father seems to me the
kind of person to take no such task lightly and because it seems to me his
father would have been such a one also.
"Perhaps during my life I, too, will go and look and see for myself
the accuracy of these words. But until then, I accept my father's task as
he accepted the task from his father. I shall perpetuate these words. I
will take upon myself the further task of forming them in English,
accurate always, beautiful if possible.
"But beyond this I will make no further claim:
"My father lifted his head and sang.
"I heard him."
---Paula Underwood
Here are a few excerpts from the introduction:
From my earliest days my father tested and trained my memory....This was
never done as a pass/fail test, nor was any pressure at all put on me to
succeed....It was a learning -- an opportunity to understand life
better....
As I thought I had learned any section, I was encouraged to "give it
back", but never in the same way it was given to me....When it finally
seemed to me that I might risk "giving back" one whole section to my
father, I learned something new. I was asked to give it back to him three
times -- in three different ways -- no one of which could be the way in
which my father presented it to me.
...I should be able, you see, to demonstrate an absolute understanding
so sure that I could restate it in any contemporary language, so that it
might be more understood than "wondered at." As my father pointed out,
language changes! Many people did not even understand the language of
Shakespeare which his mother often read aloud. Little value in a history
so couched....
Five generations ago, a young woman, growing in wisdom, took up and was
given responsibility for all this ancient learning. She was Oneida, one
of the Five First Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Her clan was
Turtle. She was my grandfather's grandmother. She saw all this Ancient
Wisdom disappearing around her and grew determined it should not die, but
be perpetuated down the generations, until a new generation learned to
listen. It should then be given as a gift, she said, to all Earth's
children willing to listen....
The story that follows in 833 pages of verse is really quite amazing --
and humbling.
Certainly, some things are real (and live) as a result of culture because
you believe it.
Best wishes,
Dan Chay
--"Heidi and Dan Chay" <chay@alaska.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>