Sunday, 19 December 2010
Great talk by Ken Robinson on creativity and education
Excellent talk, here are a few most interesting and witty quotes from this wonderful, highly entertaining speaker.
- Creativity is as important as literacy
- If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original
- We are educating people out of their creative capacities
- All children are born artists (Picasso). The problem is that we are educated out of it.
- How annoying would that be, to have a 7 year old Shakespeare in your class : stop speaking like that, its confusing everybody!
- Our son had a girlfriend, Sara, a love of his life.. he has known her for a month. He said: “I will never find another girl like Sara”. We were rather pleased about it. Actually she was the main reason why we were leaving the country.
- Professors look at their bodies as transport for their heads. It s a way to bring their heads to meetings.
- We have to radically rethink our view on intelligence. 1. Intelligence is diverse – we think about the world in all ways we are experiencing it: visually, we think in sound, we think kinaesthetically, we think in abstract terms, we think in movement. 2. Intelligence in dynamic – intelligence is interactive: creativity (i.e. having original ideas that have value) comes through interaction of different disciplinary ways of seeing things.
- Women are better at multitasking. This is true: if my wife is cooking a meal, which is not often (thankfully), she is also dealing with things on the phone, she is talking to kids, painting the ceiling, she is doing an open heart surgery. If I am cooking, the door is shut, the kids are out, if she walks in, I get annoyed- I say, ‘Terrty, please, I am trying to fry an egg in here, give me a break’.
- If the tree falls in the forest, and nobody seen/heard it fall, did it actually fall. If a man speaks his mind in the forest, and no woman hears him, is he still wrong?
- Most people would describe her (Jilian Lynn) rather fugitive behaviour as ADHD nowadays, but it was in 30s, and ADHD was not invented yet, it wasn’t an available condition, people were not aware they could have that.
- The doctor said she was not sick but she was a dancer. She was taken to a dance school where she met people like her, who had to move in order to think. She entered Royal Ballet School, she graduated and had a wonderful dance career, she was involved in the world-known musicals. She is a multi-millionaire now. Somebody else might have put her on medication (when she was young), and told her to calm down.
- We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children.
- "If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life on earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the earth, within 50 years all forms of life would flourish." Jonas Salk
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Hermann Hesse
I just cannot get enough of him.. his mind is like mine.. for the first time in my life there is that feeling that someone might understand, might have same thoughts, feelings as myself. Deep down there, there is that desire to see it as a sign, as myself finally moving in the direction, making the right decisions towards finding the Self and maybe finding that happiness that all philosophers and thinkers seem to be talking about, and peace.
This is one of my favorite poems of his: beautiful, sensual and very close to my heart
Rain (from Wandering 'Farm')
Soft rain, summer rain
Whispers from bushes, whispers from trees,
Oh, how lovely and full of blessing
To dream and be satisfied.
I was so long in the outer brightness,
I am not used to this upheaval:
Being at home in my own soul,
Never to be lead elsewhere.
I want nothing, I long for nothing,
I hum gently the sounds of childhood
And I reach home astounded
In the warm beauty of dreams.
Heart, how torn are you,
How blessed to plow down blindly,
To think nothing, to know nothing,
Only to breathe, only to feel.
This is one of my favorite poems of his: beautiful, sensual and very close to my heart
Rain (from Wandering 'Farm')
Soft rain, summer rain
Whispers from bushes, whispers from trees,
Oh, how lovely and full of blessing
To dream and be satisfied.
I was so long in the outer brightness,
I am not used to this upheaval:
Being at home in my own soul,
Never to be lead elsewhere.
I want nothing, I long for nothing,
I hum gently the sounds of childhood
And I reach home astounded
In the warm beauty of dreams.
Heart, how torn are you,
How blessed to plow down blindly,
To think nothing, to know nothing,
Only to breathe, only to feel.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Two extracts from "Kierkegaard and Japanese Thought"
p.89. " The difficulty, however, says Kierkegaard, is that the wanderer, who has only accidentally come upon the quiet place, feels he is surrounded by a nature that does not understand him 'even though it always seems as f an understanding must be arrived at'. Therefore he says, the wanderer can see the stars, but the stars cannot see him, 'thus there is no agreement between him and the stars.' With the person who confesses, however, things are different: 'the environment knows well enough what that stillness means and that is asks for earnestness. It knows that it is its wish to be understood' (p.26 original text)
p.90 " For Dogen, our suffering stems not so much from the nature of existence as from a false perception of existence. That is, it stems from delusion. This delusional awareness then leads us to form attachments to non-existent or misconstrued objects, including the idea of an unchanging self, and ties us into a cycle of suffering when the world does not fit with our misperceptions and attachments. The way out of this cycle is to see through one's delusions and thus break these attachments.
This much of Dogen's thought is supported by the core of the Buddha's philosophy [...] Selfish desire is based on the delusion of a persisting self, which in turn leads to attachments to things which one misperceives as one's own or as having the potential for being one's own. The way out of this problem is to give up selfish desire."
p.90 " For Dogen, our suffering stems not so much from the nature of existence as from a false perception of existence. That is, it stems from delusion. This delusional awareness then leads us to form attachments to non-existent or misconstrued objects, including the idea of an unchanging self, and ties us into a cycle of suffering when the world does not fit with our misperceptions and attachments. The way out of this cycle is to see through one's delusions and thus break these attachments.
This much of Dogen's thought is supported by the core of the Buddha's philosophy [...] Selfish desire is based on the delusion of a persisting self, which in turn leads to attachments to things which one misperceives as one's own or as having the potential for being one's own. The way out of this problem is to give up selfish desire."
Thursday, 25 November 2010
PROVOCATIONS - Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard
Reading Provocations now- it is the book that is helping to find the true self, discover something that was always there, but was lost for a while somehow.. a possibility of the crazy city life? no, we are not blaming anyone and anything, it was purely out of our own weaknesses.. but now the time for the recovery has come.
While living in London, one day there comes the time for realization of how many are losing themselves in their own world of dreams, trying to be someone else - pity they do not realize how silly they look sometimes from an outsider's perspective. It is rather sad that most of them will never come to realization and will never have a chance to uncover the true self as they will always be too preoccupied with material and simplistic living. Well if you are one of them, and do not afraid to acknowledge that, maybe this chapter will lead you in the right direction. It definitely helped me.
As it was noticed by a good friend of mine the other day, it is enough to be loved and supported by just one other person, to feel that strength and peace inside of yourself. But this other person has to love the true you.
The Despair of Weakness
If you would like to read the book please download it here
The despair of weakness is the despair of not wanting to be oneself. This kind of despair amounts to a passivity of the self. Its frame of reference is the pleasant and the unpleasant; its concepts are good fortune, misfortune, and fate. What is immediate is all that matters. The determining factor is what happens or does not happen to oneself. To despair is to lose the eternal, but of this loss the one who despairs in weakness says nothing, it doesn’t even occur to him. He is too preoccupied with securing his earthly existence against unnecessary deprivation. To lose the earthly, however, is not in itself to despair, yet that is precisely what this person speaks of and calls despair. What he says is in a sense true, only not in the way he understands it. He is turned around and what he says must be understood backwards. In other words, he stands there pointing to something that is not despair (e.g. a loss of some kind), explaining that he is in despair, and yes, sure enough, the despair is going on behind him but unawares.
Therefore, if everything suddenly changes, once his external circumstances change and his wishes are fulfilled, then happiness returns to him, he begins life afresh. When help comes from outside, happiness is restored to him, and he begins where he left off. Yet he neither was nor becomes a self. He is a cipher and simply carries on living merely on the level of what is immediate and of what is happening around him. This form of despair consists of not wanting to be a self, really. Actually, it consists of wanting desperately to be someone else.
Such a self refuses to take responsibility. Life is but a game of chance. Hence, in the moment of despair, when no help comes, such a person wants desperately to become someone else. And yet a despairer of this kind, whose only wish is this craziest of all crazy transformations – to be someone else – is in love with the fancy that the change can be made as easily as one puts on another coat. Or to put it differently, he only knows himself by his coat. He simply doesn’t know himself. He knows what it is to have a self only in externals. There could hardly be a more absurd confusion, for a self differs precisely, no, infinitely, from those externals.
And what if such a person was able to become somebody else, could put on a new self? There is the story of a peasant who had come barefoot to town but who made enough money to buy himself a pair of stockings and shoes and still have enough left over to get himself drunk. On his way home in his drunken state he lay down in the middle of the road and fell asleep. A carriage came along, and the coachman shouted to him to move aside or else he would drive over his legs. The drunken peasant woke up, looked down at his legs and, not recognizing them because of the stockings and shoes, said: “Go ahead, they aren’t my legs.” So it is with the immediate person who despairs in weakness of being a true self. It is impossible to draw a picture of him that is not comic.
While living in London, one day there comes the time for realization of how many are losing themselves in their own world of dreams, trying to be someone else - pity they do not realize how silly they look sometimes from an outsider's perspective. It is rather sad that most of them will never come to realization and will never have a chance to uncover the true self as they will always be too preoccupied with material and simplistic living. Well if you are one of them, and do not afraid to acknowledge that, maybe this chapter will lead you in the right direction. It definitely helped me.
As it was noticed by a good friend of mine the other day, it is enough to be loved and supported by just one other person, to feel that strength and peace inside of yourself. But this other person has to love the true you.
The Despair of Weakness
If you would like to read the book please download it here
The despair of weakness is the despair of not wanting to be oneself. This kind of despair amounts to a passivity of the self. Its frame of reference is the pleasant and the unpleasant; its concepts are good fortune, misfortune, and fate. What is immediate is all that matters. The determining factor is what happens or does not happen to oneself. To despair is to lose the eternal, but of this loss the one who despairs in weakness says nothing, it doesn’t even occur to him. He is too preoccupied with securing his earthly existence against unnecessary deprivation. To lose the earthly, however, is not in itself to despair, yet that is precisely what this person speaks of and calls despair. What he says is in a sense true, only not in the way he understands it. He is turned around and what he says must be understood backwards. In other words, he stands there pointing to something that is not despair (e.g. a loss of some kind), explaining that he is in despair, and yes, sure enough, the despair is going on behind him but unawares.
Therefore, if everything suddenly changes, once his external circumstances change and his wishes are fulfilled, then happiness returns to him, he begins life afresh. When help comes from outside, happiness is restored to him, and he begins where he left off. Yet he neither was nor becomes a self. He is a cipher and simply carries on living merely on the level of what is immediate and of what is happening around him. This form of despair consists of not wanting to be a self, really. Actually, it consists of wanting desperately to be someone else.
Such a self refuses to take responsibility. Life is but a game of chance. Hence, in the moment of despair, when no help comes, such a person wants desperately to become someone else. And yet a despairer of this kind, whose only wish is this craziest of all crazy transformations – to be someone else – is in love with the fancy that the change can be made as easily as one puts on another coat. Or to put it differently, he only knows himself by his coat. He simply doesn’t know himself. He knows what it is to have a self only in externals. There could hardly be a more absurd confusion, for a self differs precisely, no, infinitely, from those externals.
And what if such a person was able to become somebody else, could put on a new self? There is the story of a peasant who had come barefoot to town but who made enough money to buy himself a pair of stockings and shoes and still have enough left over to get himself drunk. On his way home in his drunken state he lay down in the middle of the road and fell asleep. A carriage came along, and the coachman shouted to him to move aside or else he would drive over his legs. The drunken peasant woke up, looked down at his legs and, not recognizing them because of the stockings and shoes, said: “Go ahead, they aren’t my legs.” So it is with the immediate person who despairs in weakness of being a true self. It is impossible to draw a picture of him that is not comic.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Kierkegaard and Japanese thought
Currently inspired by Kierkegaard and the book on him and the connection between his and Japanese thought.
Danish Philosopher Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is an enigmatic thinker whose works call out for interpretation. One of the most fascinating strands of this interpretation is in terms of Japanese thought. Kierkegaard himself knew nothing of Japanese philosophy, yet the links between his own ideas and Japanese philosophers are remarkable. These links were spotted quickly by Japanese thinkers and Japanese translations of Kierkegaard appeared long before English translations did. Yet, strangely enough, the Japanese relation to Kierkegaard has been all but ignored in the West.
This book seeks to remedy this by bringing the Japanese interpretation to the West. Here, both Japanese and Western scholars examine the numerous links between Kierkegaard and Japanese thought while presenting Kierkegaard in terms of ShintÅ, Pure Land Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, the Samurai, the famous Kyoto school of Japanese philosophers, and in terms of pivotal Japanese thinkers who were influenced by Kierkegaard.
Danish Philosopher Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is an enigmatic thinker whose works call out for interpretation. One of the most fascinating strands of this interpretation is in terms of Japanese thought. Kierkegaard himself knew nothing of Japanese philosophy, yet the links between his own ideas and Japanese philosophers are remarkable. These links were spotted quickly by Japanese thinkers and Japanese translations of Kierkegaard appeared long before English translations did. Yet, strangely enough, the Japanese relation to Kierkegaard has been all but ignored in the West.
This book seeks to remedy this by bringing the Japanese interpretation to the West. Here, both Japanese and Western scholars examine the numerous links between Kierkegaard and Japanese thought while presenting Kierkegaard in terms of ShintÅ, Pure Land Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, the Samurai, the famous Kyoto school of Japanese philosophers, and in terms of pivotal Japanese thinkers who were influenced by Kierkegaard.
Friday, 22 October 2010
New Book by Don Tapscott: MacroWikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World
Don Tapscott is an internationally renowned authority on the strategic impact of information technology on innovation, marketing and talent. He is a hugely successful author whose books include the international bestseller, Wikinomics. He will be in the UK for the release of his new book MacroWikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World|.
Don Tapscott explains how the current economic crisis is transforming society, business and markets, and where the opportunities are for thriving in the face of the downturn.
The global economic crisis is a wakeup call to the world: we need to rethink and rebuild many of the organizations and institutions that have served us well for decades, but now have come to the end of their life cycle. The financial services industry, for example, does not just need fresh infusion of capital or some new regulations; it needs a whole new operating model - one based on transparency, sharing of intellectual property and global governance.
As the crisis has spread to other sectors in the economy and even other sectors of society, it is exposing structural weaknesses and modes of operation that no longer nurture social and economic growth. The recent collapse of many newspapers is just one storm-warning of more to come: conventional wisdom isn't going to cut it for success in this century. We need to reinvent our institutions.
The most compelling issue: We face no challenge today that is more important than creating a green energy grid and reindustrializing the planet for sustainability. And for the first time in human history, the peoples of the world are building a global movement to solve this problem - a movement in which everyone is on the same side. So while the burning of the global economic platform is propelling change, simultaneously the digital revolution is driving new opportunities and a new generation of digital natives is entering the workforce, people who think differently and bring a new and much-needed set of skills to our problems.
Don Tapscott has unique insight and bold proposals for how to transform these institutions to meet the challenges posed in the new century by new media, a new generation and a new economy.
Don Tapscott explains how the current economic crisis is transforming society, business and markets, and where the opportunities are for thriving in the face of the downturn.
The global economic crisis is a wakeup call to the world: we need to rethink and rebuild many of the organizations and institutions that have served us well for decades, but now have come to the end of their life cycle. The financial services industry, for example, does not just need fresh infusion of capital or some new regulations; it needs a whole new operating model - one based on transparency, sharing of intellectual property and global governance.
As the crisis has spread to other sectors in the economy and even other sectors of society, it is exposing structural weaknesses and modes of operation that no longer nurture social and economic growth. The recent collapse of many newspapers is just one storm-warning of more to come: conventional wisdom isn't going to cut it for success in this century. We need to reinvent our institutions.
The most compelling issue: We face no challenge today that is more important than creating a green energy grid and reindustrializing the planet for sustainability. And for the first time in human history, the peoples of the world are building a global movement to solve this problem - a movement in which everyone is on the same side. So while the burning of the global economic platform is propelling change, simultaneously the digital revolution is driving new opportunities and a new generation of digital natives is entering the workforce, people who think differently and bring a new and much-needed set of skills to our problems.
Don Tapscott has unique insight and bold proposals for how to transform these institutions to meet the challenges posed in the new century by new media, a new generation and a new economy.
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Russia an its folklore
From: Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 211–220, 2008
Russia: A Work in Progress - Transcending the Fifth ‘‘Time of Troubles’’
MANFRED KETS DE VRIES, KONSTANTIN KOROTOV, STANISLAV SHEKSHNIA
Russian folk tales are all infused with the rich and varied cultural identity of Russia and the historic events of its past. One of the most enduring images found in Russian folklore is the symbol of the Firebird (0aD BH4Pa, zhar-ptitsa, from BH4Pa bird Old Russian 0aD fire), a magical bird from a faraway land. During the centuries, the Firebird has been an icon for Russian peasants, revered as the herald of both blessing and doom for its captor. The Firebird is always depicted with majestic red, orange and yellow plumage, glowing like a fire after the first turbulent flames die down. The Firebird resembles the Phoenix and, like that bird, is heavy with symbolism representing the rising and setting sun.
In Russian folklore, the Firebird is the object of a difficult quest that the hero must undertake, and plays a role in determining his eventual fate. The quest is usually initiated by the hero finding one of the Firebird’s tail feathers, upon which he sets out to capture the live bird, sometimes of his own accord, but usually on the bidding of a father or king. These Firebird tales follow the classic scheme of fairy tales, with the feather serving as a premonition of a hard journey, magical helpersmet on the way, and returning from a far-off land with the prize. It is a tale of a hero overcoming impossible odds. The most popular version of the Firebird is in the tale Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf. The composer Igor Stravinsky first found international fame with his composition of a ballet called The Firebird for Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.
In many ways, the Firebird can be seen as representing the mystery of the Russian soul. The Firebird is the symbol of Russia; it is a representation of its people’s resilience; it is an icon of rebirth, resurrection, and transfiguration. The Russian people have always had a remarkable capacity to rise from the ashes
of their history. As the tales of the Firebird suggest, they are tough; they are not easily defeated; they have always been a very strong and resourceful people. In spite of all the hardships Russians have been exposed to throughout the ages, they have been able to succeed due to their incredible stamina, a quality that distinguishes them from many other people and nations. In spite of chaos, misery and hardship, they have always been able to overcome times of trouble.
Russia: A Work in Progress - Transcending the Fifth ‘‘Time of Troubles’’
MANFRED KETS DE VRIES, KONSTANTIN KOROTOV, STANISLAV SHEKSHNIA
Russian folk tales are all infused with the rich and varied cultural identity of Russia and the historic events of its past. One of the most enduring images found in Russian folklore is the symbol of the Firebird (0aD BH4Pa, zhar-ptitsa, from BH4Pa bird Old Russian 0aD fire), a magical bird from a faraway land. During the centuries, the Firebird has been an icon for Russian peasants, revered as the herald of both blessing and doom for its captor. The Firebird is always depicted with majestic red, orange and yellow plumage, glowing like a fire after the first turbulent flames die down. The Firebird resembles the Phoenix and, like that bird, is heavy with symbolism representing the rising and setting sun.
In Russian folklore, the Firebird is the object of a difficult quest that the hero must undertake, and plays a role in determining his eventual fate. The quest is usually initiated by the hero finding one of the Firebird’s tail feathers, upon which he sets out to capture the live bird, sometimes of his own accord, but usually on the bidding of a father or king. These Firebird tales follow the classic scheme of fairy tales, with the feather serving as a premonition of a hard journey, magical helpersmet on the way, and returning from a far-off land with the prize. It is a tale of a hero overcoming impossible odds. The most popular version of the Firebird is in the tale Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf. The composer Igor Stravinsky first found international fame with his composition of a ballet called The Firebird for Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.
In many ways, the Firebird can be seen as representing the mystery of the Russian soul. The Firebird is the symbol of Russia; it is a representation of its people’s resilience; it is an icon of rebirth, resurrection, and transfiguration. The Russian people have always had a remarkable capacity to rise from the ashes
of their history. As the tales of the Firebird suggest, they are tough; they are not easily defeated; they have always been a very strong and resourceful people. In spite of all the hardships Russians have been exposed to throughout the ages, they have been able to succeed due to their incredible stamina, a quality that distinguishes them from many other people and nations. In spite of chaos, misery and hardship, they have always been able to overcome times of trouble.
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