DIRECTORY YOU CAN ALWAYS GO TO http://www.wiredbrain.net/directory.htm. If you have the URL in a window use arrows to get back to http://www.wiredbrain.net/ (or http://www.geocities.com/~wiredbrain/ for open INDEX page. RE: Invertebrates, Robert MacNamara, Gestalt and The Reference to Tony Wallace, "The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca" 1.) When we lived in Long Beach California we collected from tide pools there, in Santa Barbara, in Bahja California. We kept salt water tanks with dozens of species. There were clams, star fish (very temperature sensitive - the sea is about 65 degrees off southern California) strange big mollusks called moon snails, but the glory of the tanks were anemones. These beings are like active flowers, with super sensitive tentacles that are aware of tiny chemical changes in the environment. Without a central nervous system, invertebrates have an extraordinary awareness of the sea anemone of the world around them. 2.) I have done some Gestalt and other mind-body work and think about the awareness of anemones. They have in some ways a "higher state of conscience." The fields of neurology and immunology have now joined to conceive of the "body-mind", that chemical, electrical field of energy around cells and in our internal environmental that is a chemical sea, very similar to the real oceans of the invertebrates. They are IN TOUCH..and we think thought disconnected from feeling - which gets us to Robert MacNamara and Vietnam and the Death of American Civilization and the hope of revival or renascence (rebirth). 3.) Bob MacNamara was a Whiz Kid of WW II. The systems analysis developed by the Army Air Corps was the marvel of rational decision making. Objective models were created that simulated the complex real world and alternatives could be tested for unanticipated consequences and a shell of likely results could satisfy complex requirement.. a form of liner programming and PERT (program planning and Review Techniques). Rickerover brought in the Atomic Subs on time and under cost using what became Modern management techniques. This turned out to be the final burst of "scientific management" pioneered by Taylor and Gailbrieth (Father Knows Best - and Cheaper by the Dozen).. Well management and people in general got out of touch with the bio Neurological- chemical system that we know as LIFE. What is life ? A form of intelligence seeking goals of growth and reproduction.. What did scientific management and the systems people produce ... a disembodied separation of thinking and feeling and doing.. that is the confused person who is Robert MacNamara.. does not know who HE is or what he feels but knows that something terrible happened on the way to the rational decision making abstract systems utopia. Neurophysiology is the study of the structure and function of nerve cells and networks of nerve cells used by organisms to receive, process, and act on information about their environment. The information is conveyed throughout the nervous system by means of electrical signals (both slow changes and rapid nerve impulses) and chemical messengers (NEUROTRANSMITTERS) across a synapse, the gap between two nerve endings. Neurophysiological studies, using the methods and knowledge of physics and chemistry, are largely concerned with the features of nerve cells (neurons), the origin and conduction of the electrical nerve impulse, the transmission of the nerve impulse from one neuron to another, and the encoding and decoding of information as neural signals. People and other creatures process this information depending on their species information processing equipment and programs.. biology and culture. Survival depends on correct processing - It can be eaten (food supply) or you will be eaten. (dangers and opportunities). Being OUT OF TOUCH is not good for any species. Therefore Mind\body-mind work body work is rather important. The Orientals are not so badly out-of-touch. peasants are not so ot-of-touch..But we are.. RE: What is Moral, and How Do we Know it? Review of Article in Commentary June 1993 (The Moral Sense, Free Press July 1993) By James Q. Wilson "Mankinds' moral sense is not a strong beacon light, radiating outward to illuminate in sharp outline all that it touches. It is, rather, a small candle flame, casting vague and multiple shadows, flickering and sputtering in the strong winds of power and passion, greed and ideology. But brought close to the heart and cupped it one's hands, it dispels the darkness and warms the soul." "The kind of culture that can maintain reasonable human commitments takes centuries to create but only a few generations to destroy. And once it is destroyed, those who suddenly realize what they have lost will also realize that political action cannot, except at a very great price, restore it. " (P40) People want freedom and liberty, up to a point. But when choices become unconstrained by intuitively understood commitments. The political order is threatened when the social attachments between people break down - first in the family, the community and the nation. People come to believe "Anything goes if you can get away with it. Everything is a matter of choice." "The idea of autonomous individuals choosing everything - their beliefs and values, their history and traditions, their social forms and family structures - is a vainglorious idea and could only be invented by thinkers who felt compelled to construct society out of theories." Moral and political philosophy must begin with a statement of human nature. We may disagree about human character but we could agree there is one. (Cultural anthropologist almost agreed there wasn't - anything is possible theory - but have backed off of that extreme position, Incest and murder are limited in all societies - all have ways to care for children - and the list gets longer , gifts, songs, religion, cermonies, etc.) Wilson has trouble making a firm statement of what a natural moral character would include. He feels, with Shakespeare, we are of mixed feeling and principles. We gain by identification with our ethic group - beyond ourselves and families but then Bosnia and central Africa, is the excess of ethnic passions. Of course, anything can be overdone. The central theme in Aristotle is balance, the golden mean. The central place of parents - of "family Values" and the natural state of households is obvious. "In the household first we have the sources and springs of Friendship. of political organization, of Justice" and that there is everywhere in nature an impulse toward this sore of partnership - that is the city." or Polis (The constitution of character of society - Aristotle.) Logical positivism is to believe that because sentiments do not solve everything they are useless, (only an objective passionless reality counts the rest is blaber). Cultural reativism is to believe than any choices made must be valid, if it works for you, do you own thing, type of attidude. The modern nihilism combine the freedom of choice (what feels good) with the meaningless of social conventions. That won't work for individuals or society. The `delicate balance' between judgements of present circumstances - objective rational choices, prudent self-interest and moral principles is what Wilson (and Aristotle) calls character. Moral strength and integrity, empathy, (respect for the feeling of others), courtesy, fair dealing. These are the people you want as associates. If you are looking for a good gardener, cook, sailor, carpenter, peoples recommendations will reflect both skill and character. The two combine - attention to detail, honesty, concern to do a good job, polite, all integrated into personality. Balance in the moral sense gives good character and a better life. Aristotle understood this perfectly. The practice of virtue is in building anything, harp playing, family affairs, business, arts and politics. Good character starts from repetition of many small acts in youth. Clean your room, don't hit you sister, study, be kind, be thoughtful of others - Virtue does not arise by nature of against nature but by habits. (See S. Covey on Habits) ************************************************ RE: METANOIA and Motivation Motivation is the solution to most human problems: Economics, political, crime, welfare, teen age mothers, business management, sales, love, commercials, and EDUCATION. What do we know about motivation ? 1.) It is mostly pre-conscious, the people who understand motivation best - advertising commercials need a hook to our emotional and visual responses deep in our biology. We are not fully aware of what motivates us, and others peoples motivations are usually a mystery to us and often misunderstood. If we ask people about "what motivates you", we don't get coherent answers. 2.) Groups are very motivating. In "Why Men Fight" Merton showed how soldiers "bond" and will make unlimited sacrifices for each other. The human group has always been inter-dependent, we depend on altruism, mutual aid, empathy, love, for survival and mutual support is in our genes. The "us" and "them" motivates in games and war. The "them" helps motivate "us" in that we are "the special people", chosen by G-d. Love inside the group and hate for outsiders - race, foreigners, strange and alien people who are not "us". 3.) Success breeds Success, the pattern of fail, fail, fail, win is more motivating that always losing or even always winning. We know a lot about "special" learners, so we go step by step, not too easy or too hard. We all learn by challenge but not by having impossible dreams. 4.) The military training system has more Success because it is based on the seven step method of the outward Bound, Sufi 1001 and one nights, the Order of St. Benedict, the Jesuits, the Moonie, The Korean "brainwashing" experiments, Anton Mankaranko's Gorki Colony, the one-room schools, the Z organization, ( Japan Inc) and Motorola, Mobile Oil, in any organization where there is successful "fired up", "gung Ho", collective effort. The seven steps are: 1.) Separation - this is a different place - to use boot camp - the hair cut, the uniform, cutting of communications with the past ( limit phone calls, mail, outside contacts during the first few weeks of training ). Institutional Identification - songs, logos, philosophy, slogans - (BLUE water) all of these are very useful and not expensive - dress codes or uniforms, morning exercises and songs, (universal in Oriental schools and in Germany), special colors, clean by members work - not by others, I.E. in Japan the little ones make their own lunch and clean the school on their hands and knees. 2.) The lesson - Habits start with doing not thinking. The lesson is more than just talking about it. Everyone, Get hands on, clean the rooms, get up at 4 am and run, sing, dance, have exercises in groups.. a ordered set of task not too hard or too easy. Keep busy. (RED mineral) The administration has no closed offices, in in the middle of the action - do as I do - 3.) The drill sergeant - move it - The contact with the dream- time caused by stress - The concerns about our basic self worth come to the surface under stress, we can't do it, we are not good enough, it's too hard.. doubt our beliefs, or faith.. (BROWN - Animal ) No pain no gain... 4.) METANOIA - repentance = change of mind = Think Again = reformation = acceptance I'm OK, self acceptance for who I am - grounding, centered, physically alive being - All bad behavior is from guilt and shame - I deserve the worse because I am not worthy. (Sub-conscious self hate - usually from parents telling them, you rotten kid, and teachers, you stupid brat, verbal and physical abuse) People who know who they are and are comfortable with themselves don't cut their ex-wives throat with a knife. 5.) Make a choice - do I care, is this important, what are my values - values are WHAT YOU DO - you are your values, what you are. Deming was value, old fashion values - from his special background on the frontier. What quality is about is motivation - not doing "only what I have to", do I have to mom ?, IS THIS REQUIRED, will it be counted on the GRADE, not by inspection, but by groups who measure how they and doing because they WANT to do better. From K to death life long learn to evaluate your own work in order do better. Evaluation is our friend... We taste the food, listen to the music, and our evaluation helps us cook better, play better, from inside out. 6.) Acceptance.. A true Marine, the few, the proud, the brave.. Now I can do, I can meet the struggles and demons and we shall overcome. This is called CHARACTER .. will do good with no one watching, with no reward, maybe even in secret I will do my best - WHY what motivates people of character - MERIT, value for its own sake, the essence of being is quality, if you do it do it right because that is who you are and you feel good about it, you are no slob. 7.) A meaningful relationship with the universals, spirit, courage, stability, and other such mesages from the dream time. When other loose their heads, in situations of fear, when the tough get going - where will you be ? Only a connection to the creation makes a real answer possible. RE: Character, virtue and TQM in Schools; There have been two recent public T.V. programs on Mind-Body connections. One by Bill Moyers explored the health implications of non-western medical practices and Norman Cousin's Healing describes his experience with a terrible sickness. Zen, yoga, some forms of marshall arts, visualizations in sports psychology, TM, bioenergetics, (Alexander Lowen, M.D.)and other forms of mind body integration reduce stress (Benson at Harvard) and increase health. This much should be clear. This is not a religious issue and the practice is not a religion. The basic is physical not metaphysical. To understand the idea of quality some form of "higher" awareness or what is called a paradigm shift is necessary. Quality flows from the process and can not be imposed on it by top down methods, tests, inspections, slogans, and blame. Demning main point is that we need to understand "system" functions and particular attributes. What variance is cause by the system and what is random noise and what is a personal problem? When a teacher gets unprocessed students who have been passed along for rework they have more uncertainty in the system than the methods available can handle. It is as in physical production the materials are not standard, the machines are out of tune, the working conditions awful and the worker is blamed for poor quality. Covey wrote about Character, how until 1920' character was a major part of schooling, then it became personality. Bennett has a new best seller on Virtue - he says it is not a special religion or national idea but universal attributes supported in all cultures at all times; such as family, loyalty, work, honesty, sincerity, kindness and concern for others, respect, discipline, and orderly mind and a healthy body. Theses virtues are clearly related to quality. The first step is body awareness. The next the control of attention. Then increased awareness of the full dimensions of reality and a comfort in new ideas. Security is the first need (Maslow) then moving up to higher levels of motivation. Maslow's Further Reaches of Human Behavior explores these area as a form of virtue beyond the self. In Covey it is explicit that only "higher" values can be the basis of stable, centered, principled action. These could be stoic, platonic, or religious, that is not the issue. Principles arise out of a quality situation not to be imposed on anyone by anyone. Leadership is by example. Do as I do, be what I am. (B values) It's a heavy responsibility. ************************************************************ ZEN IS THE ART OF GETTING YOURSELF OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY ************************************************************ RE: THE ANSWER IS MAGIC: Thesis; Treat the society that is out of touch as you would a person who doesn't know who they are? Out of touch - The dream world - reality - illusions When people have profound psychological problems - the general belief is that you need to deal with the emotional basis of the causes - While there are many theories of practice - Alexander Lowen, Bioenergetics - a form of Gestalt - Autogenic and other names (Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer by Pelletier, Kenneth) and Wilhelm Reich - ( but goes back to every Shaman I know ) has a simple and direct approach. Emotions are feeling - feeling are NOT thoughts - they are physical. (Thoughts exist in the brain but I talking about fight/flight a series of body reaction to emotions) This has been called the Stress syndrome - The practice is to work directly on the stoppages - the blocks - then rational thought can begin to solve problems - not before. You didn't talk you way in you can't talk you way out. The words, centered, balance, grounded, mean something in practice. You do it not talk about it. (The Way to Vibrant Health ) Harper 1977 Alex and Leslie Lowen - The process of life by respiration and metabolism creates energy. The mind and body are identical and one is a reflection of the other. How you feel effects how you think and how you think effects how you feel (Also Norman Cousins interesting book on Health - Bill Moyers series on public T.V. Benson on Stress etc) Out of touch means not only with our feeling - how up-tight we are, how afraid, how uncertain, (The ad with the kid inside that wants the frosted side ) out of touch with the "child within", with our spouses, our kids, our students, or communities - This is the dream world - the sub or un conscience - most of the forces that control our lives. The "real" world is an illusion created by social norms, language, advertising, political interests, etc. The real world is in our dreams. Hard to believe? Difficult to believe? Magic is real - real is magic. Magic is the use of sub-conscience forces - or a trick - something appears to be different from what it is - like matter - stars - other people - The President - social conventions - et al. How do I know? Well you have to practice - body knowledge - How do we treat the society the world - by practice - by example - by doing not talking and directly at the emotional base. RE: Top Secret: I will tell you (shsss) the top secret to human power, happiness and the joy of life itself.. and no one will be any wiser. When you get beyond the self, desire and need - an in contact with the other, in love with G-D, at one with the creator, Diad, and other names. You enter and are into the clear away from social habits and false beliefs; if you listen, feel, and know very carefully and very quietly you will understand, the harmony of the spheres (music in your ears) and have control of events internal and at a distance. This is the power.. and you will know it when you see, feel and use it. There are seven stages, steps, valleys, phases, and they are well known as the stages of the cross, of mass and boot camp, of magic acts. Number one is to cool it. (Breath and stretch, energy flows and health - bio-energies) Then passion, fire, love and death, pain and suffering, remorse, the great green man, the white heat, the clear clear water of redemption, the slaying of monsters, the dreamtime, loss of reality, and a few other passages of heros.. Into their own unconscious into their own chemistry. Just the process of growing up. If you try to use the power for any personal gain, power, fame, or reason of self, it will not work because the "self" in the way.. If you try too hard or show off it will back fire. So it's useless, as Saints are, there is no bottom line.. Being one with the creation can not be given away or caught from another - can not come from any belief, can not belong to any cult, or system, religion or ideology; and is very private, so it can't be shared like a pizza or a ride on a bus, as in I have some .. I will give "it" to you, follow me and believe, (pass the plate) and all that kind of fluff of cheap discount models, you will not gain the wisdom and the system will not fly. Fakers (Physical Yoga) hypnotise themselves and the viewer, and can do wonders of physical control, Monks gain control over feeling and emotion, and can enter the state of mediative contemplation, Mystics and Buddhist have contacts with other worlds and their own beings as they are thinking, (Hatha yoga and Zen) Sufi are all of this world not otherworldly; We are in this world but not of it, we maybe practical and committed to merit for it's own value. So that's very easy.. now you know the most important secret of the vision quest and it does you no good. So why do I bother to give away ancient secrets - why not ? RE: A.H. MASLOW: The Farther Reaches of Human Nature "Synergy in the Society and Individual" An Esalen, Penguin Books 1976 ISBN 0 14 00.4265 2 Chapter 14, Page 191 Ruth Benedict (Patterns of Culture; Race, Science and Politics) an essay on holism, invented and developed the idea of synergy at lectures at Bryn Mawr College in 1941. MASLOW had the only copy which was to be published with the assistance of Margaret Mead in 1970. Benedict tried to overcome the idea of cultural equality ( not everything is right ) and the doctrine of cultural relativity, what ever works for you is OK by me. Societies she said have a flavor, character and are not all equally functional. Some societies are "anxious", surly, nasty, aggressive, and hateful, this come from insecurity and causes low morale. ( such as the Chuckchee, the Ojibwa, The Dobu, and the Kwakiutl) Other societies were "nice" people, affectionate, kind, secure and with high morale. ( Zuni, Arapesh, The L(d)eKota, Eskimo ). The critical element in the concept of synergy is aggression vs. cooperation. Synergy is where individual benefit and groups welfare are in sink. Farming, fishing, hunting can product mutual benefits of cooperation. Selfish self-interest (winner/losers) vs. unselfish, altruism (win/win). Siphoning vs. funneling of wealth, use vs. ownership, Comforting vs. Frightening Religion, high energy or low energy institutions, are characteristics of synergy, where are we ? We have had a out break of win/lose - me and mine - the hell with the hind most, winner take all, activity. This discourages the losers, causes aggression, and is socially dysfunctional. A few institutions maintain high energy but the society is winding down. Synergy is spirit and systems for successful cooperation, institutional means of using aggression (learning for conflict), and rewards for all from social success (tide lifts all boats). RE: Character The principles of Education: Objective and "right" reason with a respect for the "divine" are the conditions for successful people and social systems. Since becoming human is a social event, correct social habits of child raising are clearly so important to human history. C. S. Lewis, in "God in the Dock" (page 116 1970 Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids Michigan) put the idea this way. Each generation is taught by an earlier generation. "The moment we forget this we begin to talk nonsense about education. We talk of the views of contemporary adolescence as if some peculiarity in contemporary adolescence had produced them out of itself. In reality, they are usually a delayed result -- for the mental world also has its time-bombs -- of obsolete adolescence, now middle-aged and dominating its form room. Hence the futility of many schemes for education. None can give to another what he does not possess himself. No generation can bequeath to its successor what it has not got. You may frame the syllabus as you please. But when you have planned and reported ad nauseam, if we are skeptical we shall teach only skepticism to our pupils, if fools only folly, if vulgar only vulgarity, if saints sanctity, if heroes heroism. Education is only the most fully conscious of the channels whereby each generation influences the next. It is not a closed system. Nothing which was not in the teachers can flow from them into the pupils. We shall all admit that a man who knows no Greek himself cannot teach Greek to his form: but it is equally certain that a man whose mind was formed in a period of cynicism and disillusion, cannot teach hope or fortitude." RE: Biological Social Webs and habits of Mind: Dennis Wolley ? (The psychology of Winning - In the Dale Carnegie, Carl Nightingale, Norman Bishop Peale, tradition of positive thinking ) says that habits start like thin spider webs but become chains over time, therefore practice good habits. Since, we are bound by our habits of mind let's learn new ones that help us. That is was what families and schools use to know "in their bones". As you raise a child that is how they will go in life. The Debbie Mier District # 4 schools in NYC (In Fiske Smart Schools) talks about education as habits of mind. C.S. Lewis says teachers habits and thereby their teaching have a lot to do with character, which everyone used to know. Education has something to do with wider horizons and seeing beyond ourselves and our cultural limits. That is why a year abroad is so educational. We learned so much in the peace corps. It was the best liberal arts school of our time, but mis-conceived of as a foreign aid program. (High School II a PBS film) References on request or on our http://mall.turnpike.net/~pflaump now NT //winserve.001/pflaump ) Bill Moyers body/mind T.V. program and book describes how we think with every cell of the body. The immune system is thinking in a different way than our language center in our left brain or visual thinking in the right brain. Athletes, artist, musicians, actors, scientist and mathematicians "think differently" but not only from genetic differences but also because of different habits of mind. Mozart was raised in a musical family. The traditional neurological (computer) model of an electorial mind, we learned about in school, must be expanded to include chemistry, peptites such as endorphines, which are deeply involved in habits from smoking and drinking, from sex to perception and disease. We must be aware that we "rationalize" compulsive behavior. When we are horney we may become romantic. We need a drink because of x, y, z (excuses). Bio-chemistry and neurology is the only sound basic of psychology and a sound RE: Inside out What we feel, think, desire, need, and perceive comes from the inside out. We like to believe we can be objective. There sure is an objective reality out "there", what ever our attitude about "it" maybe. There are laws of the universe that are unaffected by our belief systems. Because there is an objective world does not mean we know much about it because we are humans, a species on small planet with inflexible biological characteristics. The organism is alive and very interactive. Ergonomics is a primitive science of adjusting technology to what we are as people. We need to thing in "general systems" and social psychological (as if there was anything except social psychology) terms about the ergonomics of the information revolution. The "laws of free markets" are a kind of natural force over which we as individuals and even organized societies have little control. The world of information is growing so fast. Maybe too fast. We think with our whole electrical chemical systems just like a bacterium. The higher senses and language functions are layered on a billion years of biological information process equipment. Information is survival. Information is how live finds meaning, nutrition and reproduction. The information processing capacity of a virus is quite amazing. One of the sillier mindless slogans was "biology is not destiny", meaning women were not limited by their physical being. How silly, since we all are, and we find the meaning of life and moral purpose in being what we are, not what we may think we are.. or are told we are, or the cultural setting say we should be, but BEING in the more traditional sense. If we have a sense of being it surely is physical and living not an idea but a feeling , which is the gestalt . Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits. As technology expands and reforms our information processing systems it changes the nature of survival. Evolution is applied information systems. Inputs, process, and outcomes. Positive feedback and you get more, negative and you get less. Living creatures seeks goals that are set by the information networks and their systems of perception and processing. As we change in process from speech, body language, tone of voice, familiar faces in a known context we change the very nature of people. The biological ruts are deep (Sociobiology) so our dynasty and destiny is our biology. Human work and live best within small groups (LT. 80) which are stable so everyone gets to know everyone else and they share a "vision". The collective reality become strong and there is synergy, the whole is more than the sum of the parts. Human groups become dynamic information systems if they share goals seeking behavior and identify a common interest, feeling. passions. wants, needs, desires, thoughts, language, context, vision, seeing things in a common way. The dilemma is that this quick becomes includes "small town" barrier to new information and change. The balance between the collective and the individual, between stability and change is a difficult balance. Thai's life. THEREFORE, the Ergonomics of work groups require small, stable, sets of individuals. The technology allows us to share with Blaine (I have an 8 year old with that name ) in Spain (they just returned for seven weeks with grandmother in Javea, Alicante) but if I don't "know" him and we are each working only for our best interest, and to take the credit and pass the blame to Blaine in Spain, in an organization that doesn't know us, or care about us, it is not going to work very well if at all, regardless of the technological wonder. The history of technology transfer and adaptation is that social goals come first. What is the human and evolutionary advantage of the new way. Clearly in military technology, kill or be killed. In non lethal technological-social systems, economic advantage, merge or be merged. The groups that can produce "distance" synergy have a great evolutionary advantage. The power of "real" work groups working at a distance is very great and very difficult. That is the experiment I am working on. Actual human groups working, loving, hating, hiding, opening up, talking, really talking about what's inside. From inside out. Sharing a world view, and being complex seeking human creatures in all their wonder and wondering. Psychology is the only base for all social science and theory. Recent research has described the mind and the "ID" (Brain structures) in new ways. It's more than Freud ever could have conceived and the dynamics are not Newton's or Maxwell's but Plank's quanta. The inter-play of dynamic energy fields. This leaves the door open a crack for para-psychology, ESP, etc. The left brain is busy "making up" reality to explain and justify our needs, passions, wants, desires, fears and other emotional content and feelings. Emotions and feeling are in the body first - anger in the shoulders, fear in the belly - (see Benison The Stress Response) In sleep, when the left brain is relaxed, (but still active) we can come in touch with the reality of body/knowledge or what I have called the "dream-time". The dreamtime (The last Wave Movie of Peter Weir) is the source and the origin of "people", our laws, customs, love and hates, what we are as humans. When we loose contact with the dream-time, contact with our bodies and ourselves, pay no attention to the natural world around us, we are in deep do-do. Wake-up (Tart) PAY ATTENTION the Sufi, Gestalt, BioEngerics, Yoga, Zen all explains states of conscienceness, and how people can be described as sleep walkers - coming into a darken room and see taking shadows for reality. Is Clinton, our anchors and T.V. people talking shadow or a "real" people ? See we don't know and confuse T.V. land for our clan territory. It's the way we are built. Myths and fairy tales are the foundation of human being as describe in Joseph Campbell's 1000 faces and by Carl Jung. ( About Neo-Plato, Socrates and the Interior Writing, Hermantic and Freemasons which is American Founding culture and other Sufi teachers, see A Story in the files, not everyone can understand or benefit from everything - there are secrets ) The infant child "bonds" with mother biochemically. Love is chemistry and much as neurology. It was just the neurologist and bio-chemist didn't talk to each other. The immune system contains learning and thinking in a different but profound way. Perhaps, profound knowledge is "body" habits, as suggested by ancient educational practice (Sufi, Zen, Hatha Yoga, Christian traditions such as the Jesuits, and the British Public School). Jane ? presents scientific evidence on how body/mind is damaged by television in "Endangered Minds". The neurological patterns, especially the left brain, rational language centers are badly wired with the excess of visual stimulus including Sesame Street. You only have to glance at MTV to understand brain damage. I suggest the neurological mal function is in concert with chemical disfunction augmented by bad diet. The learned habits of mind become chains that change "world-view or Gestalt" and deeply effect the bio-chemical bond between people, the order of society, educational practice, politics, economics and communications. Like all serious ailments the sickness feeds on itself. Because we have a breeding population with damaged social habits, their off-spring are even worse off. Television has put the process of "civilization" into reverse. Civilization as James Q. Wilson is the product of thousands of years of "good" habits called virtue, character, responsibility, family values, religion, political statesmanship, military skills, science, tradition, libraries, institutions, Universities, local governments, clubs and associations, a vast social infrastructure built on "culture" which is socially transmitted in child-raising. As the Greeks noticed the household is the "model" of the state (Polis). The issue of Family Values and Virtue (Bennett, Covey, Deming ) is not some Religious Right power play but the heart of survival of the "civilization". The need for "moral" revival is great. My example is Wallace's Handsome Lake in "The Death and rebirth of the Seneca", and why this book is so important to our times. Rebuilding character (not personality ) is an outward bound experience (body knowledge) and maybe new colonies like Markarenko's Gorki Colony. (The Road to LIFE..another time of social breakdown was in Russia civil war of the 1920's, end with a whimper or a bang - The Wasteland T.S. Elliot). Society is based on the body/mind bond created by family habits. We are our "culture" and the product of socialization. If the body/mind is not "programmed or video taped scripts" but screwed up by T.V. the social fabric unwinds. This is what is going on and why is so difficult to understand and do anything about. Remember the social breakdown of over crowded Norwegian Rats, they failed to keep up their nests and family duties collapsed to the point the population did as well. WEEK 11: Listening: ATTITUDES: PREJUDICES: PERCEPTIONS: PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR FEELING: THE REASONS YOU BELIEVE IN THE PERCEPTIONS THAT YOU HAVE DEPENDS ON HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT YOURSELF AND OTHERS. This activity involves an internal thought process. The cluster of concepts need to be defined and understood; expectations, attitudes, prejudices, assumptions, values, beliefs, etc. What really happens in the socialization process. (P 209) What is the reference? What are we talking about? What is going on here? What can go wrong? This is the going somewhere or going nowhere cycles. How do you use understanding to take action and be more effective ? Give other examples of situations - thought process - behavior - feeling that are common, such as power - who's the boss, greed (it's mine), love ? Is your group going to do a field trip, to Court, prison, school, hospital, public meeting? How about Interviews ? What is going on ? What do these people think is going on ? Roles and expectations / how do expectations become demands ? Give examples of going nowhere and going somewhere .What did you learn about yourself that you want to modify ? How is this exercise related to more effective communication. WEEK 11: LISTENING and prejudice - Sociology - Chapter 10 Family USA Chapter 20 Education Social Science Chapter 19 Family Collective behavior, IDEOLOGY, CHAPTER 12 AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY CHOICE A first and critical choice, is between existentialism and platonic idealists. People believe in chance or in order. This primary attitude becomes the internalized systematic theme of their lives. Choices are made, even if people, and cultures are not aware of doing so. One can believe there is no central purpose in life and a person's past controls their future. They feel dependent, and what happens to them is deter mined by fate and forces outside themselves. Other feel there is a rational meaning in existence guided by FAITH, BIOLOGICAL principles, PHYSICAL judgment, or OBJECTIVE wisdom. When people become aware of who they are - including their place in the general scheme of life - they can achieve independence. When a person knows how to control life, within the limits of human nature, they view themselves as subjects not objects. Some value issues are perplexing and cause divisions among people when they become very political. It is in some people's interest to enhance the differences. Euthanasia, abortion, school prayer, cultural diversity, property rights, and individualism are hard issues. It can make one believe that all issues are limited by the interest and concerns of solely personal values and viewpoints. This is true of some issues but not all there is to the matter. If there is a "right" way do we need to be tolerant of "wrong"? Social science, in the imitation of physical sciences tries to be "value-free." Because some issues are difficult and some rational approaches try to control for unproven opinions, does not mean that all value issues are complex or all thinking has to be value-free. There are areas of agreement and room for differences. Every culture and society, social scientists, people of the political right and of the left, Chinese and Greek, all religious believers and nonreligious skeptics, all can agree on the necessity of certain common virtues, such as; - Hard work and responsibility - diligence and forthright ness - clarity of purpose and the social worth of others - cleanness, honest, the responsibilities of parents and neighbors, etc. Social success depends on having proscribed cultural standards and norms. An individual's well being depends on the groups success. Only thieves and con-men will disagree. We cannot live in a society of thieves and con- men. The chart shows many common elements of all cultures. These common elements are biological. People are all within a range of size, intelligence, visual abilities, and they all behave within certain patterns. All languages and customs have common elements because we share a common biology. There is an extreme form of individualism where the greed and selfishness of the "master builders" benefit the whole society. (Ayn Rand) The idea of the `invisible hand' can be taken to simplistic extremes. There is a proper selfishness, one should belief in your self-worth, one needs a firm belief in ones powers and capacities, people should have a love of freedom and independence. We all can respect the rights of man. There is also clearly an extreme form of collectivism. In this ideology the person is only a subject. People owe everything to higher authority and exist only for the society. Extreme capitalism or the law of the jungle does not work and never has. Communism clearly does not work. We all depend on the web-of-life and our social system. Synergy requires "good" character. Trust and sharing requires values beyond the self. The true individual is also the good citizen. Live is a balancing act. The biology of the brain drives us toward the evolution of effective behaviors and "right" answers. The model of "right" behavior is preeminent in the role of parents. Children require long period of care and good parents produce a good child that make for a good society. Bad parents produce problems for everyone. We must care for others and be cared for. If people believe that "anything" goes, in just doing it, and ideas as `long as it works for me it OK', `different stokes for differed folks', and other selfish beliefs, society itself will not work. If people believe that values are just relative and situational then the keystone of the social structure falls. Specific fixed, universal, immutable, unchanging principles cannot be proven or disproved. It's a choice between beliefs. I chose to be on the side of the ages and angels. (Also biology) The beliefs in principles arise out of practical experience and the nature of society over thousands of years. Successful living and a functional society depend on wise customs and beliefs. Everyone has civic duties and responsibilities. If people despoil the public parks, we all are the poorer. When growth is greater than the caring capacity, everyone is worse off. Knowledge is the cure for ignorance, example the guide to excellence. Central principles organize all the other activity within the common myths and traditions of the people. The hard decisions are made simpler, the crooked path is made straighter. Central values are critical to all education and learning. Tradition is the wisdom and experience of the past. Some things change but not everything. The value free position believes the world was made by chance. Natural forces formed the planet and life evolved by the random mixing of chemicals. These random events can be reproduced in the laboratories to create organic compounds, the building blocks of simple organisms. Over millions of years humanoid species developed more complex abilities. Homo-sapiens developed a complex brain with facilities in language and the ability to make speech. Language allowed other skills to be shared. With writing, information was stored, the dead could inform the living. Cultural synergy means the sum is greater then the parts. Human groups vaulted ahead by cooperation and the use of knowledge stored in cultural traditions, folkways, customs, and technology. People can learn from each other and from knowledge gained in the past. Other species require biological, genetic change to increase their capacities. Human can change through cultural technology. Biology does not change. Technology has physical and behavioral limits. Industrial societies have pushed but cannot remove the heredity limits and ignore human nature. Information is not limited by physical perception. We know about things we cannot see, feel, hear or test, but only know indirectly by their effects. Black holes, the strong and weak forces that make the universe possible, the atoms themselves are illusions that create the impression of a solid material world. Scientific and social materialism no longer dominates certain doctrines. Logical positivism has faded. Existentialism has passed its prime. Modern physics rejects the machine like model for an almost mystic one. Time is finite, there clearly was a beginning in the big bang. There is direction to matter and energy. Psychobiology is beginning to understand the limits of behavior. Choice is a critical act in a successful and a happy life. If one choice is clearly distractive and the other helpful, productive, and moral, why is there still an issue? The hubris of science and technology discounted the belief in universal and fixed principle. Civilization believed it had little to learn from the past. We forgot Socrates, oriental culture, and wise men had no rating. Commercialism became the new religion. The poor and ignorant remain poor and mired in superstition and false beliefs. In the last hundred years we should have learned a certain respect for our best cultural traditions and folkways. If we believe there is a truth beyond our own perception then we can seek something that is unknown to us. What the truth is exactly, is another question. The point here is that there is such a thing as universal principles. Something exists beyond the common experience and perception of everyday life. Subject: A few good Sufi Jokes RE: Humor #1 Scholars I am asked "are you the secret teacher?" "Yes, I am." I say "But you don't know anything about Sufi teaching." they say. "That's right - but that's the secret." A Sufi camping one night put a bottle under his head for a pillow. His student said "surely that is going to be too hard?" "as an ordinary bottle, Yes," the Sufi said " but I am going to stuff it with straw before I put my head on it." I computer translation system is set up for the Russian Republic - the message is sent "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." The terminal in Moscow quickly types " The Vodka is ready but the meat is devitalized." Fruit Flies like Bananas (Chompsky) Unconsidered Trifles = Neglected Puddings A famous Professor was demonstrating, before fellow-members of the learned Academy, a remarkable discovery. First he took three flies out of a matchbox. Then he commanded them to fly three times around the table. Then. on his command, they jumped five times. Finally they danced a silent tap dance on the table, their images magnified through a gigantic apparatus devised for the purpose of making such demonstrations visible to a large audience. The onlookers were spellbound. "and now," said the scholar, "I will give you the real demonstration. It is the illustration of my discovery." He took the flies and placed drops of honey on their feet, sticking them to the table. Then he shouted "FLIES JUMP!" The flies went on licking the stick stuff. "And that ladies and gentlemen," concluded the Professor "demonstrates that flies, when their feet are covered in honey, cannot hear!" A whole band of Sufis were being admitted to heaven. Each was admitted without any ceremony, the doors simply closed and open for the next. Right at the end came a scholar, with a reverent look and majestic gait, full of confidence. He was the most respected academic of his age. As he step forward the gates swing wide, the trumpets sounded, there was tremendous applause from the assembled multitude. The shining figure of St. Michael himself came to escort him within. "This is most gratifying", said the scholar, " to know that the learned are recognized for their importance. But why all this ceremony?" "Well", said St. Michael, "it is something of an occasion. You see, this is the first time that we have had an academic among us.." #2 Idries Shah - Octagon Press ************************************************************ Peter E. Pflaum Ph.D. * THE_SUFI_METHODS "Mankinds' moral sense is not a strong beacon light, radiating outward to illuminate in sharp outline all that it touches. It is, rather, a small candle flame, casting vague and multiple shadows, flickering and sputtering in the strong winds of power and passion, greed and ideology. But brought close to the heart and cupped it one's hands, it dispels the darkness and warms the soul." James Q. Wilson ************************************************************ Also in # 10: Being Human: Each human and humanity must find unity with the natural world in our own unique way. The future of the species depends on the choices we make. The awareness of new physical and mental possibilities increasing the freedom of choice both in our use of our biology and our self-awareness maybe the reason for our being the way we are and how we got where we are. Unanswered questions, such as what is important to us as individuals and a society and what criteria should be used to make decisions are no longer abstract philosophical wanderings of a leisure class but critical to all of us. What we can learn from the biological and cultural history of the species opens a foundation for a few powerful central ideas. Technology and science progress by the use of theories that make sense of complex events. Social science as failed the species in suggesting more and more small ideas. The career needs of specialist has given us less and less social insight into the really important questions. In fact, social science has wished the important questions away. With a human value system all becomes noise, the tinkling of drums and the sound of idiots clashing at night. The event, in evolutionary history was the ability of humans to use culture to transform the environment. First with simple tools and hominidae social organization. (Pack behavior of Baboons and Chimps). Homo sapiens have developed complex brains that process language (ideas) and communicate them with symbols. This ability made us half angles and half beasts. The success of social organization (technology) bypassed biological and environmental limits. All life expands if it is possible and is only limited by other life and physics. (food supply, climate, competition in its niche) Human organizational ability made possible by image producing brains and language has recently created a world dependent on thought and the communications of ideas. The uniquely human factors are critical to understanding how to survive in this man created environment. Understanding human nature has never been more important and more difficult. The species has created a condition where it is dependent on itself for its survival. It has created a collective Frankenstein. Human judgement has never been more important if we are to manage the new complex systems. Science alone can't help much in managing the technology it creates. The future of the species has for thousands of years been dependent on the choices made by each generation. Those choices were in context of a natural world. Some choices worked better than others in this context. Evolution continued with culture (technology) only slowly taking over from biology. Social systems were able to slowly transform the limits of the environment. The first hominidae stood upright. They left the trees and went into the savanna. They used tools, fire, and communications to survive and spread. For hundreds of thousand of years "hunters - gathers" lived in close relationship with nature. Homo sapiens developed complex specialized brains for the processing of images and words in separated but connected parts of the brain. The right brain left brain specialization (yin-yang) gave power to communications and ideas through symbols. Human were limited as all life was by limits on resources and competitions of other species. The population spread widely but thinly. Physical limits keep a balance. The image producing brain could conceive of new ways of using the resources available and learn and teach others. This started a technological explosion about 10,000 years ago. We can learn about our biological character from the genes that carry history. Genics build on the old in complex layers. Each new is layered over the old. Domestic animals, canals, wagons, weapons, grow and become com In the last few centuries the technological explosion has increased in speed. We are now as a species dependent on thought and communications to make choices that will allow continue survival. The success of social organization, technology has bypassed biological and environmental limits. Cities and energy are dependent on complex social, political, economic systems that require choice. The growing awareness of possibilities, the technological freedom to choice rests on environmental and biological systems not designed by nature but ourselves. The survival of the species depends on the collective efforts of the species to understand and deal with a world of its own making. We have created a world we must control and limit. We must redefine a unity with the natural world in a new and unique way. The basic unanswered questions of social and personal life - what is important and what criteria can be used to make choices are more important that ever. Moral and philosophical - cosmic question are all around us Being human is progressively more difficult. As long as we are we might as well try to make a go of it.