Vulnerables on the bus

The other day I caught the bus to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) for my annual meeting with the Parkinson’s Disease consultant. The 35 bus stops outside my front door and outside the entrance to the ARI. Being over 65 I have my free bus pass. The trip one wintry way in a warm bus takes just over two hours. Neat.

The passengers on the bus were mainly Old Age Pensioners like myself and a variety of younger folk who were on physical and mental disability concessions. So – not many passengers paying the full fare. But the Scottish government looks after its more vulnerable citizens.

Two questions popped into my attention centre - What types of vulnerability are recognized, and how many people are vulnerable?

Off the top of my head I imagine that the vulnerable include those who are too young or too old to look after themselves, those who are physically or mentally disabled, and those who are affected by various types of natural disasters.

I invented that typology. Social Scientists have a more nuanced system that includes groups and institutions. (eg

“It is important to note at the outset that ‘vulnerability’ is an imposed category that some ‘vulnerable’ groups would challenge. While this needs to be acknowledged, vulnerability is generally held to refer to those individuals or groups who, due to age, ill-health, infirmity, minority status or their otherwise disempowered position in society may be open to exploitation (whether physical, emotional or psychological). http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/researchethics/4-1-intro.html

So how many people are vulnerable? It depends on how the term is defined and on the reliability of the methods used to collect data. I could set criteria and make guestimates but why bother? Let there be anecdotes.

As a young lad in the village I knew Feel Dave who was officially the Church Hall keeper but it was his Dad who did the work. As a student I had a summer job in the secure ward of the local mental hospital; several of the ab-normal patients burned their take on humanity indelibly into my brain – they set new parameters for what it meant to be normal. Nowadays the hospital has been converted to an up market housing estate and those who would have been patients are now subject to care in the community. Some of them were on the bus the other day.

The state provides. Once hospital accommodation then care in the community – notably not care by the community. How many are looked after in the family home? Vulnerability.

And there is care for the elderly. What goes first body or mind? How long can they stay in their own home. When is the right time to move to a nursing home – or to live with the kids who are now sixty something and have empty nests?

Many of my African colleagues had been to the UK as students. Most of them were appalled to see how we shunted our seniors into old folk’s homes – the lack of respect. Vulnerability.

I am grateful for having been born of sound mind and body and for having received a quality education to university level in Zoology.

I am grateful for having committed to zero population growth while a student and thus having the freedom to live and work in six different countries where I experienced several different ways to be human.

I am grateful for the bus pass, the 35 bus and the exposure to vulnerable people.

I am grateful that my Parkinson’s is advancing very slowly so there is no need to increase the medication. And my next visit to the consultant is scheduled for 18 months rather than 12.

Lest we forget – “The poor will be with us always”

wilber wanes

Ken Wilber

I was fundamentally transformed through reading some of Ken Wilber’s earlier work – especially “No Boundaries”.

In his more mature years he gathered a gaggle of talented disciples and became an industry (Integral Institute) that creates and sells ideas relating to what he now calls the supermind.

His wife died very young and he put his considerable intellectual talent in the reclusive service of making the world a better place by helping individuals to use their mindbrains more effectively.

As a young freelancer he studied all the major world religions and philosophical systems and saw patterns in them. It makes for mind boggling reading.

Here are some useful websites. The rise and fall article is nicely balanced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber
http://www.kenwilber.com/home/landing/index.html
http://markmanson.net/ken-wilber - The Rise And Fall of Ken Wilber
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_Institute

I have written about him several times through the years. Put ‘Wilber’ in the search box on my two blogs:
http://www.naesaebad.blogspot.com   7 times
http://dodclark.blogspot.co.uk/  4 times

Retired for a change

Yesterday an accountant asked what I do with myself now that I am retired. I did not have a snappy answer. So I have been thinking about it.

In essence I am a ‘writer’. I write about the impact of cutting edge thinking on the process of changing minds. This fascinating topic leads in many directions. It formed the basis of most of my erstwhile professional work in education and in grass roots development.

As I make my way in the world I change my own mind and that of others (one at a time or in groups) and those others change my mind and the minds of even others. The pattern of influencing is different as we move as individuals from womb to tomb, and as empires from rise to fall. (see http://naesaebad.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/changing-and-changed.html )

The process happens more or less formally and at both the smaller and larger scale. At the smaller scale there is you with your friends and family; at the larger scale there are the institutions of education, apprenticeship and work, and also the hegemonic, political, power systems that drive the advertising and propaganda machines through the media.

I have recently been approaching the topic from three main directions – neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and mindfulness.

Neuroscience has made gigantic advances since I graduated in Zoology in 1971. In essence the mindbrain is modular with ever active connections between the modules. Some modules are inherited from our primate, mammalian, and reptilian ancestors. The uniquely human modules tend to be in the cortex which is the third and most recent of the three-part (triune) brain. Wikipedia explains the structure as follows:

“… the triune model of the mammalian brain remains one of very few approximations of the truth we have to work with:

• the "neocortex" represents that cluster of brain structures involved in advanced cognition, including planning, modeling and simulation;
• the "limbic brain" refers to those brain structures, wherever located, associated with social and nurturing behaviors, mutual reciprocity, and other behaviors and affects that arose during the age of the mammals; and
• the "reptilian brain" refers to those brain structures related to territoriality, ritual behavior and other "reptile" behaviors.”

Sensory signals enter the sense organs and are churned up with memories by way of figuring how to react quickly and to respond more slowly to what is happening in the external world.

The structure of the mindbrain is not set in stone. A remarkable amount of neural plasticity is possible. If a part of the brain is damaged in an accident then another part can take over the functions that have been lost.

Over 99% of the activity in the mindbrain is in the unconscious. The human ability for self conscious reason and rationality is considerably less than has been supposed since the European enlightenment in the west. Most normal people behave according to the instincts and intuitions of their autopilot most of the time. But the potentially good news is that, by taking thought this way rather than that (see below), an element of free-will can be exercised.

Wikipedia offers a list of 21 major branches of neuroscience. This demonstrates the wide influence that the discipline is having on various fields of cutting edge thinking. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience#Major_branches

Evolutionary Psychology (EP) is focused on how past adaptations have shaped the mind and brain to behave this way rather than that. EP recognises that both nature (hard wiring) and nurture (learning) are responsible for an individual’s world view and associated points of view.

Arguably there still exist some bits of stone age hard wiring that are no longer functional in the modern world – (eg the fight or flight adrenalin response being constantly triggered in urban environments). But these anomalies can be noticed and thus have their sting removed. Mind over matter with free will is therefore possible. It might be something of an uphill struggle but at least there is a framework that allows us to conceptualize a way of changing minds so as to build a better world.

The five principles of EP are listed in Leda Cosmides & John Tooby (1997) “Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer”. http://www.cep.ucsb.edu/primer.html

• Principle 1. The brain is a physical system. It functions as a computer. Its circuits are designed to generate behavior that is appropriate to your environmental circumstances.
• Principle 2. Our neural circuits were designed by natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary history.
• Principle 3. Consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; most of what goes on in your mind is hidden from you. As a result, your conscious experience can mislead you into thinking that our circuitry is simpler that it really is. Most problems that you experience as easy to solve are very difficult to solve -- they require very complicated neural circuitry
• Principle 4. Different neural circuits are specialized for solving different adaptive problems
• Principle 5. Our modern skulls house a stone age mind

When the findings of neuroscience and EP are shared a whole new world view opens up. Amongst other things it becomes obvious that a child is not a blank slate and the amount of the slate left over for self consciousness is in fact rather small. There is also a large amount of instinct blindness (see Principle 3) but, by taking thought in a particular way (see below), at least some of the underlying complexity can be appreciated.

Mindfulness as a conscious mental process is 2500 years old. Historically it is associated with Eastern world views (especially Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Zen). But when the Eastern exotica are stripped away we are left with a robust psychology of perception which is now at the cutting edges of several patterns of Western thought eg MBSR and MBCT.

The practice of mindfulness is easily stated but not so easily done. In essence it involves calmly noticing the thoughts, feelings and moods that arise from the unconscious and occupy the attention centre for a while before being replaced.

When you are operating on autopilot the thoughts, feelings and moods take over the whole of the attention centre – ‘you’ are not in control; you are instead a puppet driven by the stuff that swells up from the unconscious.

The alternative is to notice calmly and non judgementally what is going on as if you were a witness to what passes through the attention centre.

The autopilot gets 100% angry. The witness notices that anger has arisen to the 50% level.

Jon Kabat-Zinn explains that “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” (Google him for many inspirational video presentations)

The mind is like a horse, elephant or Olympic athlete. Taming and training can be tough in the beginning but with persistence all manner of wonderful things develop.

Amongst these wonderful things is non-attachment to a world view and assorted points of view. The disciplined mind knows that the ‘truth’ is contingent. It is said that “the reality that can be described is not the real reality”.

To train your mind you can sit quietly paying detailed attention to your breathing. But the attention will wander. Notice this calmly and put attention back on the breath – time and time again – practice makes perfect.

In time the feverish workings of the autopilot are replaced by the peaceful musing of the witness. The thoughts, feelings and moods that arise are seen to be mind-made; and the mind from which they come is a biological and cultural product with its roots in the serendipitous churn which is your particular nature and nurture.

Recommended for digging deeper:

• Jon Kabat-Zinn – various texts, and audio and video presentations since the 1970s
• Mark Williams and Danny Penman (2011) “Mindfulness – a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world.”
• Henepola Gunaratana (1991) “Mindfulness in plain English”

Various themed compilations of my fairly recent short articles on most of the above mentioned themes are freely available at  http://toonloon.bizland.com/compilations/the-compilations/

SO although I have retired from the institutions I still account for myself as a writer. And, whilst I recognise the Taoist notion that “those who speak do not know” I still get my jollies from stringing words together.

Changing and changed

The following matrix shows four ways of thinking about the changing of minds. It can be either self or other who does the changing and who is changed.

1 - Self changes self

You can notice your own thoughts and feelings and therefore become objective about them. This leads to unattachment from the prevalent world view and allows for a relatively easy time in reconciliation. It is as if there is a you on automatic pilot but also another you as witness. The task is to accentuate the latter and diminish the former. Notice what you think and feel. Transcend. Self actualise. Know yourself. Know there is no self.

2.- Other changes self

This is the essence of enculturation and education. The process begins in the womb and keeps evolving till tomb time. It begins with family and friends and gradually spreads out. The worlds of work and play also shape you. There will be cultural propaganda and advertising of fads and fashions. There can be more or less severe brainwashing.

3 - Self changes other

The self can be entrepreneurial and creative. It can think different and seek to spread its ideas. They are the shakers and movers. OR  - the self can be parent to the child, teacher to the student, shepherd to the sheep. The idea is to be conservative and to maintain the traditional ways.

4 – Other changes other

Most people have a limited interaction with other cultures. But they appreciate that they are dynamic.  Modern Western people find it hard to get their heads around the grooming of suicide bombers.

--ooOoo--

Changing minds means changing the thoughts, feelings and moods that lead to activity. The mindbrain is continually churning and changing its configuration as a reaction or response to inputs from the sense organs. Neuro-psychology experiments show that most of the sensing/feeling/thinking/acting process is fast, intuitive, complex and most of it happens in the unconscious. How long is a thought moment? He who hesitates is lunch.

titmus and world view

Christopher Titmus

The concept of 'world view' (weltanschauung) is catching on. Buddhist scholar and activist Christopher Titmus extols the value of being able to treat your world view as contingent and thus to hold it lightly.

"What do we do with our fear and anger and frustration? We do absolutely nothing with it. To do something with it would run the risk of adding to the fear and rage that are already in the world.

Terror, fear, anxiety, worry, desire for retaliation—the "full catastrophe" of internal turmoil has to be treated as a completely false, distorted, and absolutely unhelpful mind state, an unhealthy and useless way of relating to life. We've got to reflect on that again and again so that the simple truth of it enters the place inside where all the reactivity is coming from...

In our conflict resolution groups, we stress that to meet each other clearly and openly, we have to hold our labels—our identities—lightly. When we go beyond labels and connect with each other as human beings, everything's possible.

In the Middle East, I don't refer to Buddhism per se. But the teachings on emptiness of ego, nonclinging, non-self, the power of metta and compassion, the wisdom of interconnectedness, being here now and not projecting into the future, inform every meeting we have.

The dharma teachings of liberation and freedom enable us to have a much bigger worldview because we learn what it is not to cling to a position or opinion or religion.

Finding skillful ways and means within different religious and political structures is something we as Buddhists can offer. The separations that arise from different beliefs are defense mechanisms, conditioned states of minds; we can point to something deeper that unifies us. In that respect, the dharma serves as a profound tool for change. We frequently forget the power of the dharma to engage in revolutionary acts."

Christopher Titmuss - http://www.tricycle.com/practice/rising-challenge-step-toward-peace

debauched by learning

William James

"It takes...a mind debauched by learning to carry the process of making the natural seem strange, so far as to ask for the why of any instinctive human act. To the metaphysician alone can such questions occur as: Why do we smile, when pleased, and not scowl? Why are we unable to talk to a crowd as we talk to a single friend? Why does a particular maiden turn our wits so upside-down? The common man can only say, Of course we smile, of course our heart palpitates at the sight of the crowd, of course we love the maiden, that beautiful soul clad in that perfect form, so palpably and flagrantly made for all eternity to be loved!

And so, probably, does each animal feel about the particular things it tends to do in the presence of particular objects. ... To the lion it is the lioness which is made to be loved; to the bear, the she-bear. To the broody hen the notion would probably seem monstrous that there should be a creature in the world to whom a nestful of eggs was not the utterly fascinating and precious and never-to-be-too-much-sat-upon object which it is to her.

Thus we may be sure that, however mysterious some animals' instincts may appear to us, our instincts will appear no less mysterious to them." (William James, 1890)

unattached to weltanschauung

Outline 150108

This little story was structured using the ‘outline’ feature in MSWord. The main ideas that presently capture my attention were listed, prioritised and sequenced as a series of headings and sub-headings (the default template calls them articles and sections). I then added a few words to explain what is covered in the higher level labels. The basic conclusion is that, in theory at least, I can be unattached to my world view.

Article I.        Weltanschauung (World View)

Everyone has a view of the world which is part hard wired and part absorbed from the cultures in which they grew up and presently inhabit. Various thinkers at various times have described and popularised particular world views. It adds gravitas to use a German label for the concept. Types of world view include religious (Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam etc), and political/ economic (anarchist, communist, socialist, conservative, capitalist etc)

Section 1.01                Points of view

A person’s Weltanschauung deals with the big picture which is made up of many smaller points of view. These need not always be rationally contingent and rarely are. But, arguably, it is worth the bother of trying to tie the loose ends together as the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts. Intellectually this can be a rough road to ride (see below).

Another grave German word is Zeitgeist which points to the spirit of the age. Many people in these modern, rational, scientific times still cling zealously to ancient and xenophobic belief systems.

‘Big History’ is built around the idea of a cosmic zoom through the incredibly small to the incredibly large in space and time. ‘It’ began with the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago and, before too long our sun will go out and it will be all over for life as we know it.

It is said that ‘the truth shall set you free’. But one person’s ‘truth’ is another person’s propaganda. Thus there is need for multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder processes

(a)    Holism (Systems theory)

(b)    Zeitgeist

(c)    Big History – http://bighistoryproject.com

(d)    Cosmic Zoom

(e)    Propaganda

Article II.      Multi-stakeholder processes

There is a growing realisation of the need to actively engage the stakeholders if policies, plans and projects are to be effective and self sustaining in the long term. The details of procedure are clearly set out in Minu Hemmati (2002) “Multi-Stakeholder Processes for Governance and Sustainability – beyond deadlock and conflict” (UNEP)

There is also a growing tendency, especially in the academic world, to work in multi-disciplinary teams. Details on how this might be arranged are outlined by E O Wilson (1998) in his book “Consilience – the unity of knowledge”.

If there is to be equity, peace and environmental stewardship in our time then reconciliation must emerge between the rich and powerful and the impoverished and powerless.

Grass roots individuals and organisations must develop resilience if they are to survive the struggle of reining in the rich and powerful. ICT increasingly directs, focuses and nudges future action and reflection by crowds.

Section 2.01                Multi-disciplinary teams

(a)    Consilience

(b)    Reconciliation

(c)    Resilience

Article III.    Mindbrain

The brain is the physical thing and the mind is made up of mainly unconscious thoughts and feelings. Neither stands alone – there are neural correlates behind all thoughts and feelings. The brain changes the mind and the mind changes the brain – what fires together, wires together. I call it the mindbrain.

Section 3.01                Psychology

The mindbrain evolved to help shape our reactions and responses to changes in the external world. We can therefore effectively find food, avoid being eaten, and operate in social situations so as to generate offspring. Modern human beings carry aspects of mindbrain that evolved in our ancestors that include primates, mammals, reptiles and fish. It can be useful thinking in terms of a stone age brain in a computer age world.

There are several branches of psychology but they are all informed by evolutionary thinking. The mindbrain has evolved in response to adaptive challenges. But evolution tinkers and does not sort out the messy bits.

Behavioural and economic psychology are experimental and applied subjects. They seek to study the details of how people actually think. It is now clear that up front self consciousness is not nearly as rational as was earlier thought.

Traditional psychology studied people with mindbrain problems and sought ways of getting them back to normal. Positive psychology studies people with superior mindbrains and seeks ways of helping more people to be more positive and transcendent. (ref Seligman).

(a)    evolutionary

(b)    behavioural

(c)    economic

(d)    positive

Section 3.02                Neurology

Aided by a variety of brain scanning techniques, neurology has rocketed to prominence. It is now apparent that the mindbrain is composed of many interacting modules and that there is a two way interaction between the mind and the brain.

Neural plasticity is much more prominent than was originally supposed and it will most likely lead to new ways of promoting healthy psychological and cultural development.

It might be useful to ban the use of the words consciousness and the unconscious because they carry too much outmoded thinking. The European enlightenment went overboard in promoting the rational self conscious as modern man’s greatest achievement. Behavioural and economic psychology shows that this is nonsense.

(a)    modules

(b)    plasticity

(c)    consciousness v unconsciousness

Section 3.03                Mindfulness

Most people, most of the time, operate on automatic pilot. They are driven by instinct and by intuition and are easy prey for advertising and propaganda. But it is possible to come off automatic pilot by training your mind and acting ‘as if’ you were an observer/ witness to the thoughts, feelings and moods that come and go through your attention centre. Having learned how to do this you can be unattached and at peace. The process can be viewed as a psychology of perception and is called mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the root of Eastern meditation which in the last 2000 years or so has developed a vast and exotic history. A good reference is Henepola Gunaratana (1991) Mindfulness in plain English http://vipassana.com/meditation/mindfulness_in_plain_english.php

Mindfulness in the modern West has been around for about 40 years but has only recently more or less gone viral. Jon Kabat-Zinn developed a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme which ignored the exotic eastern trappings. Look him up in Google – he comes across well on video. An associated good read is Mark Williams and Danny Penman (2011) “Mindfulness – a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world.”

(a)    Eastern roots

(b)    Western refinements

Section 3.04                Meta-cognition

I was a school teacher of science and biology before becoming an adult learning facilitator. The latter demanded that I should have facilitated my own learning. I did this by turning the wheel of action/ reflection, for at least a year, five times. I also cheated by acquiring a couple of Master degrees – but at least they were after the event studies (a) Agricultural Extension through schools - when I had already done it in three schools, and (b) curriculum development and teacher training – when I had already worked on both in four countries.

On one of the retreats I tackled philosophy and was drawn to existentialism and thus to cultural relativism – the eternal verities evaporated and there was a serious dose of cognitive dissonance. There were too many threads and I could not rationally and reasonably tie them together. The only certainty was doubt.

Then I discovered mindfulness. I realised that ‘making sense’ in the style of the European enlightenment is a futile project. The Weltanschauung is always mind made and is therefore always coloured by the sense maker’s culture and language.

Then, more recently, I discovered the three psychologies mentioned earlier. They have been integrated in a user friendly way by Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman (2011) “Thinking, Fast and Slow”.

Most of us most of the time think fast and react quickly based on instinct and intuition which are subject to many kinds of bias. But there is now the possibility of many more of us more often thinking slow and responding thoughtfully in the manner of mindfulness that, by its nature due to evolution is tolerant and peaceful. Opposing Weltanschauungs but with nothing to kill or die for. (Other than them!)

(a)    Cognitive dissonance

(b)    Fast and slow

Go along to be-long

For whatever reason the rational, up front, conscious part of the mindbrain has been the ‘author’ over these last few days. The story which follows is never thus totally clear about where it is going; and, towards the end, the plot is lost other than for a few sentences suggesting that, at that point, the unconscious is back in the driver’s seat. It is about belonging.

In my time I have belonged to many more or less formal groups. In each case, to belong to the group, I had to go along with its rules, regulations and viewpoints.

Here I speculate about the group dynamics when I served as an education advisor – mainly in Belize

Depending on the maturity of the group some slack was allowed for:

• children - until they move beyond adolescence (Note – many cultures have ‘coming of age’ ceremonies to mark progression to maturity – formal schooling does not manage this role very well.)
• incomers - in their early days, (eg spouses, slaves, migrants or visitors from other groups) and
• geeks, nerds, freelance philosophers and politicians – operating in the public sphere when there is need for adapting to changing times.(eg when American TV came to Belize and altered how people spent their time)

When adaptation is needed members of the radical vanguard groups emerge from their chrysalises and swan about like butterflies. But they may not be as ‘way out’ as they think they are. What seems from the inside like an intra-cultural mountain can usually be seen from the outside as an inter-cultural mole hill.

In the Belize cultural context I was an incomer and a geek who was employed to develop curricula using teacher panels. I saw my role as a process helper rather than as a subject specialist. To gain credibility my first set of activities was to meet with the key people in the all powerful Belize Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (BAPSS). Most of these were priests and nuns and most of these were concerned about moral and spiritual learning needs.

I spent a lot of time conducting one on one interviews, collating what was said and circulating short reports. I was there for four and a half years and a lot got done. In brief - working with Teacher Panels, history and geography were amalgamated into social studies, and a curriculum and teachers guide for Homeroom (coming of age) was developed.

American TV arrived while I was there and the official and idealist vanguard was hot on neo-colonialism. They were therefore cool on me. But there was also an unofficial and pragmatic vanguard which appreciated my listening skills and ability to get things done.

Topics included curriculum development for the University College of Belize, preparation of the Belize Culture Policy (and help organise three culture and creativity conferences), preparation of the Pink Book – a handbook for educational administration; spearhead a major … blah blah … a lot of stuff got done.

And the stuff was done by groups. My role was to listen, and to report in writing with the agreed action points highlighted. I did not see myself as a leader but rather as supporter of the genuine leaders rather than the chancers who put their names on the reports of fly by night consultants.

But … I lose track on where this story is going. It is a form of doodling with words. Yesterday I produced a set of new cartoon doodles. The unconscious was in charge. Stuff appeared. I did not have to force it. Just wait – and not for long. It is often easier to produce cartoons than text.

But as with cartoons, so with text – different meanings appear to different people, in different ways at different times. There is no abiding reality – just the churn.

There may well be an international association of doodlers but I do not belong to it. But anyway I doubt that I would want to go along with it. The essence of what I presently do is that ‘I’ do not do it. It just happens. It is wu wei. ‘I’ am driven by the unconscious which is the mind that has a mind of its own.

And here is another variation on the theme of doodling: this morning I sat in a café for half an hour noticing, and making notes about, the topics and feelings that passed through my attention centre. There were more external topics than internal ones. Three wheelchairs brought feelings of gratitude aimed at the engineers who designed them. A waitress came round offering free samples of iced bun and I appreciated the sugary taste of the icing.

So here is a new way of witnessing – of noticing the mind in ongoing churn. It is most often in the present moment but it does sometimes bring up stuff from the deep past.

Work with the various Belize groups involved noticing and laying aside my own thoughts and feelings and thus being open to new ideas emerging from the group. As a process facilitator my role was to tune into, and act in accordance with, the group’s rules, regulations and viewpoints. I developed the system in relation to education in the South Sudan, honed it in Belize, and used it to great effect in Lesotho. I had the impression that it worked. Go along and belong!

Etic ways of saying

I chatted with various people over the festive season. Conversation with British people normally included the topic of the weather. The 60 something crowd often mentioned looking after aging parents and the over 70 crowd mentioned their medication. There was virtually no mention of sex, politics or religion nor of money – taboos. Given the present Scottish situation I was expecting more on politics – but it did not feature much amongst the people I was with.

I have long realised that I am not good with social chit chat. I look on it as the cognate equivalent of grunting, and picking fleas off each other. Language is a sophisticated cultural tool and it seems a waste to use it in such basic ways. I operate the principle that ‘if you do not have anything to say then don’t say anything’. My non verbals can be enough to let the other know that I am not dangerous.

There is a pair of anthropological perspective which, if I remember them while communicating, can ease the situation:

“Emic knowledge and interpretations are those existing within a culture that are ‘determined by local custom, meaning, and belief’ and are best described by a 'native' of the culture.

Etic knowledge refers to generalizations about human behaviour that are considered universally true, and commonly links cultural practices to factors of interest to the researcher, such as economic or ecological conditions, that cultural insiders may not consider very relevant.” (Ref Wikipedia).

I have formally studied Anthropology several times and I have lived and worked for many years in five different countries and cultures. I am heavily etic when I first get there and gradually become more emic as I get to feel at home.

In theory I should be fully emic in the UK, Scotland, the NE and Portsoy. But I often find myself lapsing into the dispassionate etic. And, when the ‘as if witness’ is active the etic is the scientist looking down the microscope at his own brain.

In short, I become etically aware in emic situations, feel this is wrong, and this ties my tongue.

Rather than deal with people as objects of a field study, I feel that the right thing is to treat them as subjective characters with their own points of view; even when I have little interest in what they go on about.

But also, when in emic mode, I feel that it is rude to ask too many questions; but anyway, the taboos kick in and paralyse my larnyx. So many feelings. Language is a complex cultural construct.  Here are a few relevant aphorisms.

• “Hud yer wheest”
• “If yi dinnae spear yi winnae fin oot”
• “A tongue that wid clip cloots”
• “Little children should be seen but not heard”
• "Please engage brain before opening mouth”
• “If you don’t have anything to say then don’t say anything”
• “He who knows does not speak”   

The resolution for 2015

to continue going with the flow of stuff projected into the attention centre by the  unconscious. (But this leaves the door open for negativity bias. SO …)

to continue trying to influence the flow of stuff projected into the attention centre by the  unconscious. (But what is the agency for that intent? SO …)

to continue ‘as if’ (a) ‘I’ am the witness to what passes through the attention centre and (b) ‘I’ have the freedom to choose to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. (But this aspect of ‘I’ presupposes a judgemental agency separate from the unconscious. SO …)

to continue being aware of the limitations created by language – especially the ‘I’ concept and it’s link to the ‘as if’ ‘witness’. (But “the reality that can be described is not the real reality”. SO …)

to continue being sceptical about my World View and thus becoming non-attached to it and to its many ancillary points of view. (But this can give rise to the existential dis-ease that is cognitive dissonance. (SO …)

to continue remembering to let go of busy-ness (revel in the can’t be bothered (CBB) frame of mind and the release it brings from mundanity. (SO …)

to continue re-viewing the traditional and cutting edge thinking about living as a recluse as part of an action/ reflection spiral aimed at making the world a better place. “Let it begin with me!” (SO …)



To continue sometimes going with, and sometimes trying to influence, the flow of stuff projected into the attention centre by the unconscious; and thus to better understand and support the process of changing minds (mine and others)

To continue blogging about the above processes.

(Target = a short story every two days)

viral winds of change

Do I feel a much needed wind of change blowing through the globalised planet? The last four books that I have read suggest it; as does much of the traffic on the internet.

In essence it includes a move away from neo-liberal, freemarket fundamentalism towards a brand of green, social democracy.

The grass roots are swelling and replacing representative democracy with a more participatory variety. ICT allows the cream to rise and meritocracy to flourish amongst freelance philosophers and social activists of many persuasions and sizes.

The phenomenon of the crowd going viral with ideas and funding is now common place and often quite effective at changing minds, policies and activities.

The four recent books are available at low cost through Kindle:

• Chang, Ha-Joon (2010). 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism . Penguin Books Ltd.
• David Cromwell (2012) “Why Are We The Good Guys?: Reclaiming Your Mind From The Delusions Of Propaganda”. John Hunt Publishing.
• Jones, Owen (2014). The Establishment: And how they get away with it. Penguin Books Ltd.
• Klein, Naomi (2014). This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Penguin Books Ltd

Cromwell as rising cream

david cromwell

This morning I read some more David Cromwell (2012) “Why Are We The Good Guys?: Reclaiming Your Mind From The Delusions Of Propaganda”. John Hunt Publishing. Kindle Edition.

He is what I would call a freelance philosopher. He is a quality academic and corporation man but he gave up the formal institutions so as to be free to address the propaganda that serves to cover up the undesirable activities of the rich, powerful, global elite and their henchpersons. He could be thought of as a thinking person’s Russell Brand. There is a Wikipedia page about him and he has a website (Media Lens) and is part of the main social networks.

‘Media Lens is a British media analysis website established in 2001 by David Cromwell and David Edwards. The site is financed by donations from its supporters. The aim of the website is to scrutinize and question the coverage of the mainstream media of prominent issues and events to draw attention to what they regard as "the systemic failure of the corporate media to report the world honestly and accurately".’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Lens

What I save using Kindle can be contributed to the crowd funding of those websites that I reckon to be worthy of support. Thus does freelance meritocracy flourish by allowing the cream to rise to the surface.

Cromwell (born 1962 ) - User friendly writing style, fastidious research and passionate commitment to the common cause of changing minds. Excellent stuff.

Media bits for news needs

When I got up I set the laptop to boot while I washed my face, combed my hair and boiled the kettle for tea. There were no urgent emails so I moved quickly to Facebook which delivered a mix of local, national and international news. I gave more attention to the national (Scotland and the UK) media bits – both mainstream and alternative. There were lots of titillating media bits but what ‘truth’ lies behind them? Who is spinning and to what end?

Some mornings when there is appetite for more titillation I scan the epigrammic tweets in my Twitter list. But this morning, so far, Facebook has fulfilled what we might call the news need.

Several of the media bits held my attention for a few seconds but most of them have now faded from conscious attention – obviously I cannot speak for what they might or might not be doing in the unconscious.

I do, however, notice a smidgin of pride for having an enhanced capacity for spotting spin. But it is said that ‘pride comes before a fall’. But by being aware I might avoid the trip.

SO – at this moment, rather than surrendering attention to particular media bits, I am paying attention to the process of paying attention. So the news need is being fed by outputs from the unconscious churn that is my mindbrain. Another smidgin of pride – I am my own man?

As a human being I am a social animal and I thus have a news need so that I can fit in and keep up with others in my group.

However, IF I gorge exclusively on ‘external’ news THEN I will come to know my society and culture as it is portrayed locally in gossip and nationally in media bits. The system is open to abuse. Thus there is a need to pay some attention to my internal news. I develop my critical and sceptical faculties and use them often. It is a matter of balance.

The ancient Oracle at Delphi recommended that you, a free born citizen, should ‘know yourself’; the modern village gossips and the spin doctors at Westminster suggest that you, the workers and wage slaves, should ‘know your place’.

End of 2014 letter

End of 2014 letter – George Clark (1949 – xxx)

I enjoy reading other people’s end of year letters so I thought to write one. But what might it be about? Knowing me it will probably be intellectual stuff linked to its underlying practicalities!

I am now retired from paid work in part because of my Parkinsons. But I still spend time studying and writing which is what I did when I was working.

The ‘writing’ comes in three forms and includes (a) the unedited scribbles which form my daily diary, (b) various bits for voluntary groups – especially articles for the local newspaper, and (c) edited blogposts for which the aspiration is one every other day; but so far there are only 124 for 2014 – there were 299 in 2013. (Note: I have made several themed compilations of blogposts which are freely available online.)

The blogposts are rooted in the concept of ‘changing minds’ which includes (a) education as part of enculturation, and (b) the role that mindfulness might play in altering personal and thus cultural world views. This is a long standing theme of mine but it has been seriously shook up by recent thinking about evolutionary psychology, neurology and Big History.

Initially the thinking about mindfulness was linked to Buddhism but it has now been Westernised (eg a la Jon Kabat-Zinn et al), and I do not sit with the Northern Lights Sangha as often as I used to – even although Thich Nhat Hahn has been absorbing much of the cutting edge scientific stuff.

We were thinking of shutting down the Caledonia Centre for Social Development but, after the Scottish referendum, the topic of land reform is back on the cultural agenda and the idea now is to renew support for the work of Andy Wightman – including popularisation. From my perspective there is a vague sense that mindfulness might be a useful part of the participatory politics that are emerging in Scotland. It adds an extra dimension to Hemmati’s work on Multi Stakeholder Processes (MSP). The flourishing of the grass roots.

I continue to be reclusive. There is no desire to travel or to meet new people. I can’t be bothered (CBB) with the mundane and pedantic. It is as if the unconscious is setting an agenda that prevents me from getting lost in busy-ness; it prompts the ‘witness’ to be aware of, and awake to, what passes through the attention centre ie to be mindful. The key task is to go beyond intellectual understanding such that the thing as it is in itself might be intuited.

By way of staying grounded in what passes for a cultural reality I belong to the ‘Portsoy past and present community group’ (PPaP), the ‘Northern Lights Sangha’ based in Findhorn, and a local Parkinson’s Disease Support Group. Most Wednesday mornings I hitch a ride to Inverurie with a pal (Anne) who goes for music lessons. While she plays a piano I experience shops bigger than the Coop in Portsoy and am receptive to the vibes of people taking coffee in restaurants.

Most Tuesday mornings in the far kitchen there is a music session with the Dutch lady (Paulina) from the antiques shop – she plays whistle and flute. We both write tunes and our immediate task is to make recordings that are good enough for better players to copy. The loss of fine motor control in my fingers means that I can no longer play guitar effectively. But I can still manage the one note accompaniment facility on the Yamaha keyboard. Eventually we will have quality soundtracks to put behind slideshows on the PPaP website.

2014 has been the year of much needed renovations and extensions to the house. Today Bertie the flooring man put the carpet in the new sun room and he will be back next week to put vinyl in the renovated kitchen and bathroom, and in the expanded utility room. The lighting changes the ambience during the course of the day and I am spending a lot of time on the kitchen sofa absorbing the heat from the wood burning stove. All the work was done by local, freelance tradesmen who provided an excellent service and were a joy to behold. It is an old house and there is still much to be done but I have called a halt till the Spring so that I can have peace to enjoy the fruits of the first phase.

The agency for the CBB mood remains a mystery. What drives and prioritizes the thoughts and feelings that turn up in the attention centre? Is it the meditation, the mentation, the medication, the Parkinson brain damage, or just the onset of old age? The agency will vary with the topic and several of them may be active at a given time.

But anyway, most often these days, the thoughts, feelings and moods are positive. The reading and writing is non-egoic – no self, no problem! There is also numinous appreciation of little things – the weather and the light – the ridiculously easy availability of food and fuel – the ‘miracles’ of emerging technology, especially ICT – the emergence of participatory democracy in the new Scotland – and the burgeoning of mindfulness.

Plans for 2015 involve little more than feeding the blog with largely subjective ideas about the process of changing minds – both personal and cultural.

www.easyintro.co.uk

Fast change of mind

Lately the mindbrain has been occupied with local, social and logistical ‘stuff’. Quiet time has not, therefore, been set aside to convert the informational churn into potentially interesting and useful gobbits of knowledge.

That said, over the last few weeks I have read three books that are being justifiably hyped for the way they dissect out and shine a spotlight, or is it a microscope?, on neo-liberalism and freemarket fundamentalism. All three books are fastidiously researched, presented in a user friendly way, and make the case for more social democratic ways of thinking and doing.

A gobbit of knowledge seems to emerge:

In the 60s and early 70s those few advocates for free-market fundamentalism were thought to be unhinged academic geeks and nerds. Then there was the Thatcherite embrace of the concept; so greed was good, the only measure of success was profit, and the income disparity gap widened: but some of the wealth would trickle down to the workers so that they might better cope with austerity.

SO - in less than 20 years the idea went from the lunatic fringe to a status quo for which there is no alternative. Game set and match. Changing minds is easy.

The three books:

• Chang, Ha-Joon (2010). 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism . Penguin Books Ltd.
• Jones, Owen (2014. The Establishment: And how they get away with it. Penguin Books Ltd.
• Klein, Naomi (2014). This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Penguin Books Ltd