Golden Rule LO8526

W.M. Deijmann (winfried@universal.nl)
Wed, 17 Jul 1996 16:31:52 +0200

Replying to LO8510 --

While reading Bruce Winston's reply I suddenly had a kind of Flash Back
where I heard my grandmother saying something to me with her forefinger
lifted in the air. This made me write this reply.

It's interesting how one can interprete and translate a quote into another
language in such a way that the containing message changes completely. For
instance in Holland we have this old dutch saying which is directly
related to the Greek Golden rule we are discussing here on the list. You
find it still on many walls in dutch houses, ( Including my grandmothers
house, yes!). In dutch it says: "Wat gij niet wilt dat u geschiedt, doet
dat ook een ander niet!". When this is translated directly into english it
becomes: "What you don't want to happen to you, don't do that to others!".
To me this doesn't feel any more like a Golden Rule with a positive value,
but it feels like a commandment made by a teacher or a priest with his
warning forefinger up in the air. And this is again typical old fashioned,
traditional dutch attitude towards the way we treat and teach eachother.
Instead of using the saying and its containing wisdom "as a concept of
treating people with an attitude of love and concern that you would desire
to be used toward to you" (quote from Bruce Winston (LO8510) it is - under
the influence of traditional christian religion - reduced to a cheap
warning that can prevent you from being punished. Looking at
Organizational Develoment and Learning Organizations: Am I wrong when I
state that it are these kind of purposefull misinterpreted Golden Rules
that stands in between the development of meta-learning, creativ
flexibillity, personal mastery, authenticity and mutual respect?

- --

<winfried@universal.nl> (Winfried Deijmann)

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Winfried M. Deijmann bc. Dipl.Eur.
Deijmann & Partners
tel.: +31 (0)575-522076
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Netherlands Email: winfried@universal.nl
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"An educated mind is useless without a focussed will and dangerous without
a loving heart" (unknown source)
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-- 

winfried@universal.nl (W.M. Deijmann)

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