Replying to LO30699 --
Dear Organlearners,
Leo Minnigh <minnigh@dds.nl> wrote:
>But I think only few will know that the cashew tree has other
>unexpeted shoots. In the coastal zones of NE Brazil, where it
>is slightly less dry than the nearby interior I have seen the
>largest cashew tree of that part of the world (according to
>local people). This tree covered an area as large as an acre
>(about half hectare). And one could make a small walk
>underneath through a maze of strange bended branches.
>These branches grow in all directions, also towards the ground
>and in the ground. I suspect that there, they prossibly form new
>roots (I have not checked this), but anyway, these branches
>reappear again several metres further to grow in air again.
>I guess that tree was far more older than a century.
Greetings dear Leo.
We have in the northern part of Pretoria exactly the same phenomenon, but
it involves a wild fig tree. It is the only one of the species doing it.
It also has grown to immense proportions. It is here known as the
"Wonderboom" (miracle tree). The tree is about a thousand years old.
>Could the cashew tree also serve as metaphor for a LO? Has
>a LO the quality and ability, and moreover, the guts to generate
>outshooters, or outshoots?
What an interesting question! Yes, i have experienced that it can have
outshooters. The most important kind among them is what Senge calls
metanoia -- "outshooter thoughts". It is these "outshooter thoughts" which
make it so rewarding to belong to a LO (Learning Organisation). Artur da
Silva made us aware that far too little emphasis is given to the metanoia
of a LO.
The metanoia -- "outshooter thoughts" -- of a LO is most important in
guiding the progress of the LO. The LO's metanoia "pull" whereas the LO's
system thinking "pushes". Together they form a powerful "push-pull" pair.
Think about audio amplifiers in which far greater amplification is
possible using transistors as push-pull pairs. Are our organisations not
in need of greater amplification in their efforts?
I have had the rare opportunity to taste the fruit of a cashew tree and
not merely its nuts. It is wonderful to think of metanoia as a delicious
cashew fruit with its nut protruding at the front.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@postino.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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