At 23:45 31-05-2002 +0100, Winfried Ursin wrote:
I love this empowerment thread, especially the 'skipping spacer' (may be a good jobtitle?), as I am currently thinking what happens in organisations before they embrace new tools, language, attitudes,...
Hummm. That is the problem I have been considering all my professional life. But in a certain moment I concluded that the problem could also be stated in more general terms, namely:
what happens in PEOPLE, organisations AND SOCIETY before they embrace new tools, language, attitudes,...
I think that one must understand the 3 levels to understand one of them, as there are similarities (and other relations) between them. The other point I concluded is that, in all three levels, to learn new attitudes is to transform the old "reality" (one of Harrison's texts, available in his site, is "Learning as Transformation"), and that implies to (previously or simultaneously) UNLEARN the old mental models or paradigms (or prejudices). So my current line of research is - how to facilitate unlearning of what one always took for granted? How to facilitate personal, organizational or social metanoia? How to prepare the new generations to continuously question and review their old "knowledge"? Part of that works through seredentipity, puzzling situations, paradoxes and, why not?, skipping space. (what once happened in the road of Damascus can probably also be described has "skipping space", can't it?)
Another question for me is how could one go about creating global spaces, which allow the creation of new solutions. Could the internet play a role (and the tools created in the past and current) should we believe in synchronicity - or both, or more? For me this is the opposite of the neo-nationalism, currently on the raise in Europe.
I am not so sure if what is happening today in Europe is "nacionalism" - I would rather say it is a combination of "regionalism" (infra-national, often related with languages or dialects, as in Galicia, Catalonia, or Corse) and super-nationalism (as in EU). Both things are questioning old nations and frontiers. And I am not sure if it is only happening in Europe as I found similar situations in Africa and maybe even in South America. Yesterday began the Football (soccer) World Championship. France (the current champion) played with its ex-colony Senegal (first time appearance in the FWC) and lost 1-0. The event was commemorated in Dakar and... in Paris (by the Senegalese's living there). Now, if one looks at the players of each team, one finds very interesting things. In the French team only 2 or 3 have French origins (including one that is Basque), the majority have African origins, some have Algerian origin (including the big "French" star - Zidane) and one (Vieira) was born in Senegal, with Cape-Vertian origins, and a Portuguese name. Of the 23 players France took to Korea, 22 play out of France, namely in England, German and Italy. Of the 23 players Senegal took to Korea, 21 play...in France. Who are the French's? Two other football recent facts related with France. Recently France played, in France, against the ex-colony Algeria - the match was ended prematurely due to an invasion of the playfield done by the assistance, where Algerians living in France were the great majority. In the final of the French Cup where Bastia (from Corse) played, the French hymn has been sniffled by Bastian supporters and French President, Chirac, leaved the stadium and the match was delayed half an hour... Football and the "nation question"... [Back to FWC, next Wednesday big and strong USA will play against my small USA neo-colony. See you there...]
Re languages: I think I understand, what you are getting at. But is it language? Having spend some years in a Chinese environment I came to a point, where I had to question all my interpretation of the spoken language (which of course was English), then I had to throw away all my (western) interpretations of body-language. At that point I felt really at a loss how to communicate in a culture, which was so alien to me. Until I noticed that yes, I could still communicate and slowly started to trust my instincts. Now I pay much more attention to the small cultural differences like the effect of not shaking hands every time you meet in the anglosaxon world. It is still unsetteling to me central european after all this years! How much bigger are all the big differences? But in hart and spirit you still find like-minded people, with whom one can overcome all this.
Marvelous description, Winfried. Thank you very much for sharing your experience. From your description I can understand that you have been able to unlearn your initial model (and then you felt lost) and then to learn how to cope with the situation. And you are right it is not only language. But body-language is also a "language", isn't it? And probably an even more profound language that the one people "speak". And I wonder if "culture" is not a meta-language... So you have "language" (cultural) sensibility, isn't it? Maybe you don't speak Chinese but your body does ;-) Anyhow, and back to what we normally call "languages", you are from central Europe, so your native language is NOT English. But you speak English at a working level, because that is your working language. (Indeed, how many languages do you understand?). If you would only speak one language, would you be able to understand Chinese culture as you do? So my presuppositions are as follow: 1 - If one doesn't understand at least 2 languages (preferably, at least 3) one will have very strong difficulties to understand different cultures, even if one leaves there, as an expatriate, for a period. [I know it is difficult to correct that after a certain age - but one can "design" that as a feature of the education one defines for theirs children or, through them, to their grand-children - and this, I believe, will also open the space for peace and understanding.] 2- Whatever happened is what happened. Whatever will happen depends on many factors, including of what one does (and that depends on the values one practices - not on the values one claims). [Even if one doesn't intervene and doesn't care about outcomes, that is a choice one made.] Regards Artur * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html