Native Perspectives (Aankondiging)

Emil Möller is promovendus op de Universiteit van Maastricht en hij zet zich zich in voor de transitie naar een duurzame samenleving. Vanaf volgende week zal hij het “Duurzaamheids / Innovatie Journaal: Native Perspectives” op Sargasso publiceren.
Het Native Perspectives Journaal houdt u op de hoogte van de ontwikkellingen en achtergronden op het gebied van duurzame energie en innovatie. Waarom verloopt verduurzaming zoveel trager dan wenselijk en mogelijk? En wat kan er in concreto aan gedaan worden in het kader van systeemverandering? Hieronder publiceren wij een tekst van Emil waarin hij het idee achter Native Perspectives uitlegt. De Sargasso redactie vond het een pittige tekst maar wij zouden u de lezer te kort doen als wij voor u zouden gaan bepalen dat het te ingewikkeld is. Volgende week start linkdump journaal Native Perspectives in haar eigenlijke vorm (iedere dinsdag om 13.00).

All the world’s a stage and we all play our roles [i]

As with the caterpillar in the process of becoming a butterfly [ii]:

break through and add a dimension to your life [iii], or a break down and become a mess of sorts [iv].

This iteration not local, but global. Inviting the privileged (us) into meaning: who are we and what is our work? [v] For intellectuals, see for example Gouldner [vi], George [vii] and Chomsky [viii]

Organizations, including corporations and societies, generate qualities for enhanced break troughs as well as break downs.

Our sense of lack [xvi] is what fuels our ignorance [xvii]. Which constitutes the stage and our roles.

We always already were one [xviii] and can get ourselves out of our messy stage easily [xix], [xx], [xxi]

Good night and good luck [xxii]

[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_world%27s_a_stage

[ii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmutation

[iii] Personal Creativity always involves an Order, Chaos, New Order process. The creative process of human individuation may be thought of as a Life, Death, Heroic Openness, Rebirth process. This section integrates this overall framework for human individuation with ideas from: 1. Hero with a thousand faces by Joseph Campbell, 2. Transitions by W. Bridges (1980. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub Co.) 3. Where two worlds touch by Gloria Karpinski (1990. New York: Ballantine Books), and 4. Therapy with difficult clients (using the precursors model to awaken change) by Fred Hanna (2002. Washington, D.C.: Am. Psychological Association). Joseph Campbell’s ideas include the six phases of hero mythology: 1) Dual nature of hero, 2) Call to adventure, 3a) Answer to the call, No, 3b) Answer to the call, Yes, 4) Hero battle, 5) Victory of hero battle, and 6) Hero’s return to the world. Ideas from William Bridges’ book relate to the “transition process,” which I call human individuation and are: 1) endings, 2) the neutral zone, and 3) making a beginning. The ideas I use from Gloria Karpinski’s 1990 book are her listing of “seven stages of conscious change,” which are: 1) Form, 2) Challenge, 3) Resistance, 4) Awakening, 5) Commitment, 6) Purification, and 7) Surrender. Fred Hanna focuses on the process of personal change which is analogous to my focus on the process of human individuation that, in turn, is a special case of the process of transformational evolution of the universe. The ideas I use from Hanna’s book are his listing of the seven precursors for human transformation which are: 1) a sense of necessity, 2) a willingness or readiness to experience anxiety or difficulty, 3) awareness, 4) confronting the problem, 5) effort or will toward change, 6) hope for change, and 7) social support for change.

Socialized, Mindful Trust (SMT).

I propose that personal transformation is grounded on a triune psychic structure consisting of: 1) appropriate social support system, 2) experiential Faith-Hope = Trust, and 3) mindfulness. A convenient name for this psychic structure is socialized, mindful trust (SMT). The appropriate support system consists of teachings and practices that, at the very least, facilitate the rational person to have the proto- or actual emerging Inner Witness to begin to displace the ego as the center of consciousness of the Mind Self. As this displacement starts to occur, one develops a corresponding mindfulness, see Inner Witness & Mindfulness. The teachings of the support system include some statements about some ultimate Source for all changes that occur or can occur in the universe. Then the mindful person can look to this Source as a guide for accomplishing a difficult task. Alternatively, the individual who has experienced some transformation, e.g., transition to adolescence, can begin to see this Source as generating the transformation. The person will have a beginning level of experiential Faith-Hope = Trust in the Source as a guide for other transformations. Ideally this socialized mindful trust (SMT) will guide one through a series of transformations that progressively increases the intensity and power of one’s SMT. However, a particular crisis may be too great for the level of power of one’s SMT. Then one will need a therapist (or spiritual counselor) with a powerful enough SMT that becomes synergistic with the client’s SMT to guide the transformation process. The SMT is needed throughout the transformation process. It works by becoming synergistic with other precursors appropriate for each step of conscious change.

Precursors for Saying Yes to the Call to Adventure.

First precursor: A sense of necessity.

This precursor sometimes emerges independent of other psychic factors, and is expressed in one of two ways. It’s usual expression is that one sees that his present life situation is not working; i.e., daily inconveniencies escalate to daily painful events. The escalation may and often does lead to one seeing his/her life as hopeless and absurd. At some point during this escalation one will “feel” the necessity to change. The second expression is when one “sees” a situation that is to some extent under one’s control is harming others he/she loves or cares about. Again at some point this “seeing” turns into the feeling of urgency to make a change. One feels the need to stop some behavior, e.g., drinking, criticizing others, often becoming angry, that hurts others or one feels the need to change a life situation, e.g., a wife moving out of the house in which the husband abuses her children in some way. The feeling of urgency, however, does not necessarily lead to change. Other precursors must be present.

Fred Hanna remarks that: