Richard C. Holloway wrote:
> Thanks, Patria, for your contribution. I've worked with many such people
> (and have some working for me now) who are there to "schlep" only. Life
> begins away from the workplace, they say (though their friendships with
> coworkers are frequently deep and longlasting).
>
> I have found, though, that when properly coached and encouraged, many of
> these folks begin lookng for training and educational opportunities in
> order to keep up with their peers.
Doc,
This is the last undoing of the old "hired hand" on the assembly line that
Henry Ford instituted. Ford used Buddhist and Reincarnation metaphors for
his workers. "Work" was to hire the hands, home was for the mind and
family values. "Put in the time." Mike Hollinshead, my co-author on a
book that we are researching and an economic historian has noted that the
time spent on the assembly line may very well constitute an alpha brain
meditative state of heightened awareness. An artist friend of mine, who
was losing her eyes, used the job of "short order cook" to work with the
issues of "letting go" of her work. She told me that at a certain point
she also entered into a meditative flow where she had heightened awareness
and attention but a calm, contentment and relaxation. If work for these
people constitutes what is called a "Peak Experience" or "one's best
experience of performance in terms of feelings of ease and mastery of
execution, joy in working, confidence, loss of ego, and a sense of oneness
with the job" which is what the Ford assembly line had, then you might
have a problem that only the military educational solution would solve.
I simply raise the question.
Ray Evans Harrell, artistic director
The Magic Circle Chamber Opera of New York
mcore@idt.net
(formerly Spec. 6, U.S. Army Chorus of
Ft. Myer, Va. assigned to the White House
nice to know we both "worked" in the Army)
--Ray Evans Harrell <mcore@IDT.NET>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>