Replying to LO29762 --
Andrew proposed, and At recounted a tale about, this idea:
> "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against
>forgetting."
Some of us like to pick things apart, asking, "What IS this power you
speak of?" or, "Struggle at a personal level? societal level? Is there a
difference?"
H.G. Wells created a society where forgetting everything inappropriate to
society's status quo proves a positive activity or trait. The Grand
Inquisitor berates Jesus for returning to Sevilla's plaza where the
returned Savior turns the masses' eyes away from the Church's physical
bread toward...something else, something in memory.
Every day someone somewhere may likely say that we humans have no memory
except as it serves our personal survival in the moment. And even then,
Jews who suffered intermittent pogroms for hundreds of years believed they
were headed "East" to "relocation". And so many of their prayers are about
remembrance!
Someone, somewhere, said that life is the struggle, terminated at death,
of separation of the conscience from the physical reality. At best, a
striving to a higher octave. At worst, the implosion of conscience into a
black hole such as that which replaced soul in Stalin, the greatest
historical hater of humankind. Ah, and how he manipulated forgetting, how
individuals became 'non-people' in the middle of the breathless night.
The likes of those who "led" Enron and other organizations believed that
forgetting would also be the forgiving. Such profound immorality, such
vigor in their base behavior, that the matter of their learning
organizations exploded when pressed close to the anti-matter of their
misdeeds. Supernovae leaving us with more black holes.
Is the nature of commerce such that the moment-of-truth contact between
giver and taker hides, erodes or erases memory's possibilities? Well,
clearly, some organizations learn to function, to produce, to serve, at
ever-increasing levels of identifiable competency. you say 'change is
good'. May be, considering how few organizations survive only a decade of
discernable form. I think the oldest company in the world can be found in
Japan - a metal fabricator? Sword smith?
History teaches us everything and nothing. Perhaps the questions is where
do we stand in relation to events, their planning, execution and outcomes?
Warmest regards for health and peace in the New Year,
Barry
-- Barry Mallis The Organizational Trainer 110 Arch St., #27 Keene, NH 03431-2167 USA voice: 603 352-5289 FAX: 603 357-2157 cell: 603 313-3636 email: theorgtrainer@earthlink.netLearning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
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