Religious discussion here LO15069

braun (cbraun@v-wave.com)
Sun, 21 Sep 1997 17:08:59 -0600

Replying to LO15053 --

I agree wholeheartedly with the notion that without addressing the
spiritual dimension, the possibility of arriving at the high functioning
and synergy anticipated and sought in the learning community will elude
us. It takes a humble posture to truly learn, and an unselfish way of
behavior to make systems work (with each participant giving up something
of their own to enable themselves in concert with others to each become
more fully themselves). These are but two of the secrets of the learning
community. For most of us to approach these characteristics takes some
dicipline and focus, usually intentional and quite often through some form
of spiritual seeking. The notion of shared meaning as being the strange
attractor for the chaos in human learning community systems gives rise to
the point that for shared meaning to truly work the values and beliefs of
participants must be held in common. For many people these include some
spiritual dimension components. The act of deep listening in dialogue
calls for an attitude of bridging differences, welcoming diversity and
being open to alternative perspectives. Those who participate in such
exchanges must find the place within themselves that creates space for the
other. Such a posture is one that calls for caring and even charitable
qualities that are frequently considered to be sourced in the spiritual.
The list of links can be extended I am sure.

Can someone grow continuously in these qualities, characteristics and
postures and display the accompanying behaviors without intentional
spiritual seeking or the modeling of those who are intentionally spiritual
seeking? I do not know, but at this point from personal experience and
the experiences of those from whom I have heard, I highly doubt it.

I believe that in our pursuit of the learning community dynamic, we are on
the threshold of major new discoveries in the areas of human interaction
and relations and that the inclusion of the spiritual dimension as an
integral part of the journey will be the critical facilitative feature.

Cheers, Conrad Braun

-- 

"braun" <cbraun@v-wave.com>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>