Replying to LO29026 --
Dearest Andrew,
The broadsword has essentially two edges, the epée one, although the few
of the latter I have hefted in fencing class were actually triangulate
affairs coming to a point ;-). I have seen life as the two-edged variety,
but prefer the epée -- three edges, a contraption of Mobius' lunge and
parry.
I'm thinking that there is a great learning organization of humankind
pitted with outstanding success against our learned subterfuge, which
constantly evokes a subtle, positive outcome for man's and woman's
endeavors. The Pavlovian learning organization of homo sapiens, where our
basest instincts, along with those more 'developed', create the he(a)rd
mentality. Majorities, tribal leaders notwithstanding, flow like schools
of fish, clouds of starlings, seas of caribou, with their protection or
self-preservation in mind.
We are the Anti-Learning Organization, an aloe to spread upon the scars we
leave on ourselves and our surroundings in the increasingly crowded
environment where we stomp and snort. The other LO is greater, profound in
its power but not in its creativity. By "anti-," please do not understand
"against" so much as juxtaposed. We are quanta at least part of which is
ineffable, indefinable.
Read if you have not already Rushdie's 2001 book "Fury." He writes of
"Othello himself, obviously,...not a black man but a 'Moor': and Arab, a
Muslim, his name probably a Latinization of the Arabic Attalah or
Ataullah. So he's not a creature of the Christian world of sin and
redemption but rather of the Islamic moral universe, whose polarities are
honor and shame."
Someone tell me. Some Muslim among you readers, tell me. Is there
resonance in this for you? Are these Learning Organizations, these
Christians and these Muslims, so different and relatively ancient that our
A-LO impact cannot, despite its intentions at least, moderate the
incomprehension, the hatred, the hostility, bigotry?
Not far from my home is a summer camp for musicians, appropriately named
Apple Hill (there are many orchards in this part of New England). Here
Azeri, Armenian and Georgian chamber music players speak music;
Palestinian and Israeli pluck strings. An A-LO in action. There are
hundreds, perhaps thousands at work across the planet. Are they working
against the tide of humanity, though, against our learned, organizational
behaviors?
Yes, yes, I understand that I have moved beyond a sense of "organization"
to which most of us have adhered in our dialog. I think, though, that I
cast another edge, casting from that edge, too.
Warm regards,
Barry
Keene, New Hampshire
--Barry Mallis <theorgtrainer@earthlink.net>
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