I wrote:
> As individuals we WANT stability, but I do not know that we a) NEED it, or
> b) would be healthy within it. Stability is stagnant, and much closer to
> death or strangulation than the actual world we live in. instability is
> anxiety-producing, but I am not at all convinced it is bad.
To which John Constantine wrote a valuable response beginning with
> With all due respect, stability does not equal stagnation.
Of course, John is correct. When I wrote that I was being unduly
influenced by thoughts about effective learning environments. Stability
by itself is neither good nor bad. Nor is instability either good or bad
until we understand more about what system we are discussing.
I was commenting on other thoughts which said that capitalism did not work
because it did not provide us the stability that we as individuals want in
our lives. One can argue whether or not capitalism works or not from many
perspectives, and I am not suggesting that it works or is particularly
good. I do, however, wonder if the stability we crave would be
particularly good for us as individuals.
I know only for myself that my greatest growth occurred in situations in
which I substantially changed my career or living circumstances. My most
important learnings occurred under painful and very unstable
circumstances. I would not give these learnings up despite the 'price'
paid in pain and anxiety. Many other learnings occurred in what can only
be called unstable situations. As a consequence of those learnings I have
priceless perspectives that I do not believe can be duplicated in a stable
living situation -- ie a corporate profession providing security and
guaranteed lifetime income.
Of course, these are not intellectual learnings. They are learnings of
the heart and soul. Intellectually, one can learn a lot in, for example,
the stable, guaranteed-lifetime-income world of the university. But that
environment will not provide the stimulus for the kinds of learnings I am
referring to.
--Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc. 76234.3636@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>