emergent method

In 2016 I was operating like an academic and pulling together ideas from different disciplines. The details are set out HERE 

Dose of summaries

http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/nutshell 

There have been times when I have been an engaged workaholic. I was usually part of a group producing materials to promote thinking so as to change minds. The root of the initiative was to liberate people from the confines of their natal culture and sub cultures so they would be able to think scientifically. This did not assume that there was a “truth” that could be approached when the correct “method” was used. It was a case of generating the best working hypothesis in the light of evidence presently available.

I cherry picked some of the best ideas that were available and, in the Lesotho phase for example, generated 600 one pagers. In my own time, I began to make these available on the internet but ran out of steam. That was over 20 years ago. I subsequentially specialised in plain language editing and worked short projects for Portsoy and District Limited (PDL), the Banffshire Partnership Limited (BPL),The Out of School Childcare Federation (OOSCF) The Caledonia Centre for Social Development (CCSD), HakikazI Catalyst, and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The underlying theme was social development with a focus on grass roots community involvement

Two web sites with a dose of useful information can be found at

Training of trainers http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/tot/

Knowledge in a nutshell  http://www.toonloon.bizland.com/nutshell

 

IF I RULED THE WORLD 2

If I ruled the world

 thoughts from february 2013 - still much the same in january 2021

https://naesaebad.blogspot.com/2013/02/if-i-ruled-world.html 

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supernormal approaching

We can imagine a mental state that is normal. But this implies states of sub-normal or super-normal. We can imagine a future when the old super-normal becomes the new normal. There might then be a time of peace. All that is required is changing minds. Is that time approaching?

 

more on this

Out of space, time and ego

prefrontal cortex

A  BBC episode about a miracle cure for Parkinsons. 
One of the 42 subjects noted that he could still articulate fancy ideas but he had no urge to follow through.

The pre frontal cortex is thought to be in charge of the executive functions and it is well placed
pre frontal cortex - location and functions

Many authors have indicated an integral link between a person's will to live, personality, and the functions of the prefrontal cortex.

This brain region has been implicated in planning complex cognition, in expressing personality, in decision making, and in moderating social behavior.

The basic activity of this brain region is considered to be orchestration of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals

The most typical psychological term for functions carried out by the prefrontal cortex area is executive function.

Executive function relates to abilities to

 

• differentiate among conflicting thoughts, 
  
• determine good and bad
  
• same and different,
  
• future consequences of current activities,
  
• working toward a defined goal, 
  
• prediction of outcomes,
  
• expectation based on actions, and 
  
• social "control" (the ability to suppress urges that, if not suppressed, could lead to socially unacceptable outcomes
  
  
  https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-prefrontal-cortex.htm
  

the businessof iiving

I am now over 70 and retired from work in education in the UK and in various developing countries in the tropics. I never married and have no children but I have chatted with parents in several different cultures ranging from the technologically very basic eg S Sudan to the very advanced eg NE Scotland.

The following list highlights some of the tasks that have to be performed in the business of living in the twenty first century. Traditionally some of the tasks were reserved for the different genders in monogamous couples.

Water and sanitation systems in the S Sudan were very limited and poorly maintained. Ladies collected water in buckets from the Nile and carried it on their heads to deliver it to a petrol drum at the back door of my house – it then had to be filtered and chemically treated before it was safe to drink. The waste water from the cooking process and from body washing was transferred to the cistern of the flush toilet to be released once a day to a cess pit which attracted clouds of flies.
 
A large part of “development” is related to labour saving devices most of which are driven by electricity. I remember a first year lass in Zambia being amazed that by flicking a switch on the wall she could light up or darken the whole dormitory.

The technology for washing clothes and bed sheets has evolved dramatically from hard graft with a stone by the riverside to an easy push of a button in the privacy of your own home.

• hot and cold water on tap
• flushing toilets
• heat and light at the flick of a switch
• machines for washing clothes and dishes
• gardening - lawnmowers – domesticated animals
• shopping – markets, supermarkets and online
• news and entertainment through papers, radio, TV and online
• hobbies and pastimes eg making music, sports, etc
• finances and budgeting- work
• transport - private and public
• accommodation-  private and rented
• creating and raising children
• care of the infirm and elderly

The list covers topics that relate to my situation of being without wife and children. The  list might thus be missing areas of concern to other people. Bachelors and spinsters have to deal with everything by themselves, but perhaps with the support of good friends. Otherwise there are two parent nuclear families, single parent families and instances of many wives or husbands and of kibbutz arrangements for childrearing en-masse by professionals.
 
It is increasingly common for the state to provide professional, institutional care for the infirm and the elderly. This, along with the labour saving devices, makes it possible for a wife to get a job ,a salary and thus the power to make her voice heard in deciding who should do what in the household and family.

In most of my foreign postings I have employed a cook, housekeeper, and gardener and my employer paid for 24/7 security guards. The salaries of the staff supported the local economy. Married expatriates often employed staff to do the domestic work and the wives sat about sucking their thumbs. Shades of upstairs/downstairs and of slave owner/ slave.

The traditional husband/wife setup is similar to that of slave owner/slave where the slave receives food and accommodation but no salary. Recent thinking in economics recognises the contribution of housewives to economic productivity. Some attempts have been made to include women’s homework in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

chillax for mindfulmess

There may be consilience around chillaxing and mindfulness

In science and history, consilience (also convergence of evidence or concordance of evidence) is the principle that evidence from independent, unrelated sources can "converge" on strong conclusions.

The verb chillax has been around since the mid-nineties. A blend of verbs chill and relax, its initial use was largely in the imperative as a way of telling someone to calm down and relax about something, e.g.: Chillax, nothing's going to go wrong… Though originally associated with teen speak and younger people, it was gradually picked upon by older language users, over time taking on the slightly different meaning of relaxing for pleasure. It could be argued that chillax is a little different to either relax or chill (out) in that it's a bit more dynamic and implies some level of (leisurely) activity.

The word chill dates right back to Old English, derived from words cele and ciele meaning 'cold, coldness'. Chill and chill out as verbs meaning 'relax' are by comparison relative newcomers, originating in US English in the late seventies and spawning chilled and chilling as a related adjective and activity noun. Another more recent addition to the word's pattern of use is the informal expression take a chill pill, now a humorous way of telling someone to calm down and not be stressed about something.

Mindfulness is the practice of purposely bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment without judgment, a skill one develops through meditation or other training.

Mindfulness derives from sati, a significant element of Buddhist traditions, and based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques. Though definitions and techniques of mindfulness are wide-ranging, Buddhist traditions explain what constitutes mindfulness such as how past, present and future moments arise and cease as momentary sense impressions and mental phenomena.

Individuals who have contributed to the popularity of mindfulness in the modern Western context include Thích Nhất Hạnh, Herbert Benson, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Richard J. Davidson

mindless

I read new books and listen to the authors expounding about them. and then, as now, writing short blogs about them. I strive to keep it simple.

I also give the mindbrain free reign to churn out spontaneous doodles.

The notion is to let the unconscious do its own thing in its own way. Nature, nurture and serendipity play their parts as does aging -  and medicating on madopar, ropinerole and rivasetigmine for Parkinsons Disease.

Aha - there is nothing worthy of  comment coming to mind.

For a more  detailed outline of the practice see HERE

intention

Stuff happens and  we reckon there is an underlying intentional agent. This is true at all levels on the cosmic zoom. The big bang set the ball in motion and was the intention and cause of all that followed - galaxies with stars with planets with living things at various levels of sophistication.

Simple chemicals gave rise to macromolecules which became organelles in early cells some of which got together to form multicellular organisms with a membrane.

More Stuff happens. Some simple cells figured  how to use the energy in sunshine to convert carbon dioxide and water to sugar and oxygen. The process is called photosynthesis and it is controlled by a green stuff called chlorophyll.

Human beings are designed in parts as meat eaters, plant eaters, and a bit of both. The local supermarket bears witness to the range of plants and animals that modern people stick to.

More local stuff happens. After the big bang (see above) there was an autumn impregnation that became me for shaping by nature, nurture and serendipity on an ongoing basis with a cultural foundation.

Note -  I have been on planet earth for 70 years and I  have lived through  them for a few seconds  at a time. The only constant thing is change.
Stuff happens and there is no intentional agent other than natural selection. Or so I am presently  inclined to think.

inhospital

There is frost on the garden grass but there is a heavy duty radiator in the kitchen. Technology - and the harsh weather is powerless. I spent a lot of time in the warm and hot tropics and got here and there by motorbike which created its own breeze. But it is very British to chat about the weather.

There is a feeling to say something about the cutting edge stuff. There has been a lot about this over the past few years. It is cute that authors appear in Youtube as well as writing short stories and lengthy books.

The essence involves  mind-full-ness where there seems to be  thinking, feeling and moods.

back with the blog

I footered and this blog became editable again.

Ya Hoo

61,246 page views

time to declutter

I am 70. Time for decluttering.

I have been a teacher, teacher trainer, curriculum developer, examiner, inspector, and an education advisor in five countries.In the early days there were no computers and no access to the internet.

But latterly I gave up the formal institutions to work at changing minds with NGOs in Scotland and Tanzania. The idea was to translate formal policy documents into plain language with cartoons so as to enable popular participation in the process of social development.

So the70 years of clutter is a mix of old style handwriting, typing, and word processing and more up to date online blogs and web sites married to email and various emerging social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. So the clutter has moved into the cloud which usefully does not take up shelf space.

eg about training of trainers - cyber-clutter

beyond normal

Seven years ago I posted a blog dealing with the normal, the subnormal and the super-normal. Click HERE

Reference was made to flow and flourishing. It is not immediately obvious that there has been a lot of progress. What do you think?

changing reality

After a meeting with the Parkinsons consultant there is now a feeling that there is more to my condition than old age and laziness. 

I procrastinate about paperwork rather than deal with it as soon as it arrives. And there is a never-ending list of domestic chores where I do not make an official prioritised matrix of items. I could be more systematic but that would lead me back to work for the man with no time to stand and stare.

But what is good for me will not be good for everybody. There are many types of people


For example  introvert v extrovert. When I was working I served as a technical introvert speaking text for powerful extroverts. Now that I am retired I can afford to take time to just sit and thus gain insight into the emptiness of all created things. Reality is nothing but a fleeting set of thought moments. Reality is a product of the unconscious and as such is non-abiding.

When I was working I served as a technical introvert speaking truth to extravert power.Now that I am retired I can afford to take time to just sit and thus gain insight into the emptiness of all created things. Reality is nothing but a fleeting set of thought moments. Reality is a product of the unconscious and as such is non-abiding.