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!