Richard,
What you have shared with me, and with us, is a Way of Learning that is
beautiful, eloquent---and far, far away from the Way of Learning that is
mine.
And, I submit to you, though many of us are moved by thoughts of
stillness, and serenity, and silence, that is not the Way of the West: not
the Way of our tradition.
Moses and Jesus and all of our great prophets and teachers spoke: indeed,
it could be said that they spoke more than they listened,at least in the
stories we hear about them.
They were Teachers: teachers who wanted to change their students, move
them away from their accustomed ways, not accept them for their truths;
iconclasts, who would willingly smash the gods that others worshipped;
they brought not peace, but a sword.
The 10 Commandments are prescriptions for change.
Jesus did not accept the money changers in the temple for their piece of
the truth, but drove them from it.
I submit this to you for your consideration:
All of us who presume to teach, coach,consult, advise, are, or want to be,
agents of change: we want to change those we teach and coach.
Even when only listen it is our hope that as our clients hear their own
words they will find the way to change.
And I ask you to consider this:
You have told me two lovely stories of your own changes, your own growth.
The first told how, as you matured, you grew away from argument, from
dialectic, and moved to dialog.
This last message tells us that as you grew you learned "the" Way of
Learning: the way of listening, the way of avoiding argument.
The paradox is this:
If one listens closely to your stories, they become parables of
instruction, of teaching.
They become advocates of a better way.
They say, grow, as I have grown; move from contention to contentment, from
argument to listening.
If that reading is at all right, you have found another way, perhaps a
better way, of suggesting to people that they change from dialectic to
dialog, from speaking to listening, from the Western Way to the Eastern
Way.
There is, then, a clear argument, a firm position in your way: you are
trying to teach us to abandon the way of dialectic and choose The Way of
Learning.
Cheers, Doc.
Steve
--Steve Eskow <dreskow@corp.webb.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>