Composition of the Spiritual World (LeSage)
1923 (aka Heaven) is one of two animation loops directed by Max Hattler, inspired by the work of French outsider artist Augustin Lesage (1876-1954). 1923 is based on Lesage’s painting A symbolic Composition of the Spiritual World from 1923. Hat tip Meathaus Cartoon Brew
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A recruit was asked by a training instructor, “Give me an example of how to fool the enemy.”
The recruit answered, “When you are out of ammunition, don’t let the enemy know — keep on firing!”
(Idries Shah)
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[An archival post carried over from the defunct Transformative Tools blog] If this looks like a version of the medicine wheel, know the medicine wheel expresses the archetectonic fundamental; is the archetypal template for the matrical model and heuristic learning process. This tool was profoundly influenced by the work of Little Bear and Hummux, their investigation following the work of the great process theorist, Arthur S. Young. The matrical form is encountered as descendent of the sacred hoop in Young’s book, The Geometry of Meaning.)Another way to look at it is to think of the simple “four square” matrix, (well known as the Johari Window,) as another kind of depiction. Going farther, these kinds of matrices also formulate compasses and mandalas.The learning principle is straightforward: plotting positions on the form articulates a positions with respect to the arrangement of opposed categories. In turn, each categorical pair expresses a dichotomy or pair of opposites. Any position or relationship between two or more positions encompasses a critical tension betwixt and between these dichotomies. The result is a way of plotting and learning about the tension of opposites. Obviously, this process is explicitly dialectical.
Here’s a simple example:
It could address an inquiry based on the question, If happy or sad, how sensitive is this mood to being changed?
Here’s a richer matrix upon which is set two pairs from Baxter’s Relational Dialectics. It’s more abstract yet it could yield a lot of data in response to a concrete and practical question.
I’ve most often intuited a set of two dichotomies in response to the process I’m engaging with learners. There’s no normative aspect to setting up a given matrix. In effect, they can be conjured as a matter of feeling what the critical tensions in a situation seem to be. Alternately, by drawing two cards from the deck of opposites, (another tool,) the matrix can be randomized. Here’s the result of drawing two cards right now:
Hmmm…good draw. Any matrix given through any procedure is employed against the, hopefully, already critical inquisitive intention of the learner.
As a learner, you can put together, ad hoc, your own 4 square matrix.
Here’s an example of a political self-test using this format.
Filed under adult learning, experiential learning
A student approached a Zen master and asked, “What happens after we die?”
The master answered, “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” exclaimed the student. “But you are a Zen master!”
“That may be true,” the master said, “but I’m not a dead one.”
—
A zen master lay dying. His monks had gathered around his bed, from the most senior to the most novice monk. The senior monk leaned over to ask the dying master if he had any final words of advice for his monks. The old master slowly opened his eyes and in a weak voice whispered, “Tell them Truth is like a river.”The senior monk passed this piece of information in turn to the monk next to him, and it circulated around the room.
When the words reached the youngest monk he asked, “What does he mean, ‘Truth is like a river’?”
The question was passed back around the room to the senior monk who leaned over the bed and asked, “Master, what do you mean, ‘Truth is like a river’?”
Slowly the master opened his eyes and in a weak voice whispered, “OK, Truth is not like a river.”
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For Love of the Game, Rick Reilly, espn.com
Great, feel good story about two softball teams–one superior, one inferior, and both willing to invoke the deeper game. Many years ago I coached for two seasons mens and womens college club volleyball teams, My division III ladies took some serious lumps against two division I opponents in a tournament. We scored something like 18 points in losing four games. Ouch. However, afterward we were invited to participate in a joint practice, a magnanimous gesture offered by the host team’s coach.
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The CEO of British Petroleum says he believes the overall environmental impact of this oil spill will be very, very modest. Yeah. If you live in England!” – Jay Leno
Note the date of the archival clip Ms. Maddow uses here:
In a cultural retrieval now making the rounds, a BP ‘branding’ piece from 1999.
With libertarianism, (a horrid and irrational pseudo-philosophy,) somewhat the rage in untutored circles these days, the gulf spill has me wondering how the destruction, (er, ‘moral hazard,’) is to be priced. I would offer that BP isn’t going to make the gulf whole, yet from the libertarian perspective, my hope is that the ultimate pricing does come to be embraced by the Randian/Rothbardian tribe.
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nogutsnoglory blog IO9 Flowing Data Make Blog Weird Universe
