Complexity and Values LO8165)

Michael McMaster (Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk)
Wed, 26 Jun 1996 11:21:57 +0000

Replying to LO8107 --

Rol, I hesitate to respond to your post. It's beauty of expression,
integrity and authenticity deserve the accolade of "just being with them".
You lay out the real concerns of a human being who is awake and concerned.

I fear that the above might be taken lightly or considered to be
sarcastic. It is not. It is heartfelt.

My response, then, is after such a period of "being with" for myself and
after sufficient time for others to be with it as well. (One of the
advantages of this time-bound method of dialogue.)

> Values co-exist in networks, not as individual entities. I
> would even go further, and say that even once we have identified a value
> -- say love of the environment -- we still do not know what that means
> when professed by different people. Again, we need to understand the
> whole context to understand the contained meaning in the phrase, "love of
> the environment".

I agree. What I'm suggesting by values existing in networks rather than
individually is that, to understand (better) what a person means by an
expression of value, understanding more of their networks of value would
help immensely.

Also observing their actions in relations TO THIS NETWORK is powerful.
Too often, we make the assessments of what values mean to people by
observing their actions in relation to a single value rather than this
network. As you go on to demonstrate in such a real, everyday way,
observing behaviour against a single value expression will get us very
confused. We can't really manage this well for our own values and actions
let alone those of another.

> Having agreed with you, I now check in with my feelings, and they tell me
> that my values are in conflict. I FEEL conflicted because my value of
> loving other people conflicts with my value of protecting my organization
> from a destructive person (for example).

Here's where I don't want to distract from your authentic expression of
experience - which is shared by us all at least at times. The feeling of
conflict is information about the values and their relationship but not
necessarily about values conflicting.

If values are "possibilities of action which one strongly favours" (or
some such formulation) then they are not absolutes that come into conflict
but possibilities to be worked out. This is the sense where I think we
have a great deal of power and personal growth without an inordinate
amount of self-doubt, internal conflict, etc. (I don't expect these ever
to disappear nor would I want them to.)

> So here I am, on the one hand loving someone, on the second hand being
> protective of my organization, third, etc.

> I can refer all this back to my western civilization or to my family
> upbringing. I still feel conflicted, and it is the feeling that I must
> struggle with.

Here is where I'd say that feelings are information and that they are also
part of mind, values, intelligence. That is, they are not separate from
these other "things".

"Conflicted feelings" are indicators that there is integration work to do
and that it may not be with the events or values themselves but in their
relationship to larger networks - including the deepest level of networks
which arise from otherwise unconscious enculturation into ways of
thinking, automatic ways of acting, inherited "mental models", etc.

> Why am I struggling? Because I know that many people can be impacted by
> my actions, and I am genuinely concerned to make that impact as positive
> and useful as possible.

Yes, this is the human existential dilemna - for which we might be
eternally gateful. It keeps us awake, alive and always seeking the
greater intelligence of the universe.

> I agree with you that 'clash' in values forces thinking and clarification
> of values. However, in addition to the thinking, I have to deal with my
> feelings and the feelings of others, and this is where it gets
> complicated.

My major point is that the "however" of feelings opposed to thinking is a
significant part of our problem and one which is worthy of the struggle of
personal transformation. That is, feeling is a form of "thinking" and the
two are completely integrated. It is our conscious and western traditions
that prevent us from access to the level of their integration and have
them appear as mutually exclusive and, in many cases, unrelated.

I hope that I did not destroy any of your intention or misread you in ways
that take away from your expression. I honour the clarity and humanity
demonstrated and love that it can be done in the context of an
organisational conversation.

Michael McMaster : Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk
book cafe site : http://www.vision-nest.com/BTBookCafe
Intelligence is the underlying organisational principle
of the universe. Heraclitus

-- 

Michael McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>

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