Dear John,
I am just back from a three weeks journey and one of the first mails I
open is yours. Thank you, it feels very close to me.
"the map is not the territory" - When I first heard the saying "a painted
cake can not be eaten" (which I think is about the same) I was so
impressed that I never wanted to forget it again. Therefore I painted a
cake ate the paper and after that a real piece of cake. The effect was
that whenever I am in danger to mix up map with territory I have this
feeling of eating paper in my mouth again.
"he lifted the boy high into the air. At that exact moment, I thought to
myself "no one needs to explain this to anyone." You can't explain life.
It is! We can experience it and learn from it -- but model and explain
it?"
You cannot explain the experience by using the language of empirical
science. But there are things in life that can be expressed by lifting a
boy high into the air. And this can be explained by making a movie
creating a fitting context and using the symbol of lifting a boy high into
the air. And this movie obviously explained perfectly because, changing
your words a little bit, "there is nothing left to explain this more to
anyone". - An example for adequate language.
Whenever I experience life very closely and strongly, I want to express
and understand and explain to others. Sometimes by sharing the cake,
sometimes by painting the cake and sometimes by using more abstract
symbols like words. May be some time by writing a poem.
Winfried
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>