Disappointment -- No soul? LO12294

ray evans harrell (mcore@soho.ios.com)
Fri, 31 Jan 1997 03:41:59 -0800

Replying to LO12278 --

Kevin,

I agree with you on most of your post. One area where I think you should
explore a little more is the area of what it will mean when there are more
LEAN (robotics type) and AGILE (flexible systems). (I hope I'm not
embarrassing the people who have been talking to me about these systems)

If the performing arts are any indication of the future of these systems
in the society. In the Performing Arts all but 2% of the workforce is
flexible temporary even though it is the highest skilled workforce you
could ask for. (Many have literally studied their profession since
childhood.)

In the not to distant future the whole concept of company, work,
remuneration and learning intent are going to have to be re-evaluted.
Otherwise the distance between earners and non-earners will become the
grist of revolution. All you need is a very highly skilled out of work
group that has nothing to lose by creating chaos. The artists in the old
Soviet Union who could not get their works published started the
underground Samizdat which more resembled the coming information
revolution than the societal structures. They rotted from the inside out.
Poor ignorant people may (I'm not so sure) make poor revolutionaries but
when educated, imaginative people like Ed Brenegar move to another town
and their network comes up empty because the core personnel are
entrenched, the flexibles are fighting for crumbs with the robotics and
micro- technologies serving the role of slaves to the society, then the
whole idea of work and what it means to be a citizen and even human will
begin to change. I'll bet Ed will lead the charge.

It is in these areas of vision and imagination where the change will
either be rough, ala Boshivik or not so rough ala FDR. The beginning is
to see the big picture and to lower this terrible rhetoric where we have
the old "evil empire" transfirred to our competitors in order to motivate
production. This "game" stratagy IMHO is what I call the NERO solution
and you had better have Christians to blame if you try to do it.

I think the beginning of changing this is to realize, as we are on this
list, that there are aspects, like the artistic aspect, to all of the
professions but that we need the expertise, more than the aspect. Art has
a business side (I'm working on a post on that one) but its basic thrust
must be not for profit but for exploration. Business has a healing aspect
but "to heal" is not the point of business, profit is. Education has a
scientific side but it is not science (speciality) but pedagogy (holistic
skill). Medicine has a business side but the purpose of medicine is not
the generation of profit but the creation of a healing atmosphere within
the society where people stay healthy. Right now in politics the
economists are trying to say that politics is economics, and what they
ultimately end up saying is that the richest nation on earth is too poor
to have a society. God protect us from amateurs!

Amateurs are successful in one area and carry that success over into
another and create chaos. You can either be an amateur for pleasure
(recreation) or for power. Personal power for the evolution of one's
consciousness is good for all. Personal power to create a sphere of
influence to salve one's psycho-spiritual insecurity is the beginning of
tyranny. We need to respect each other's expertise (yes, to my mind even
the most needy in society have experience and expertise) and to work
together from those expertises and enjoy them like I am enjoying the
non-performing arts business world on this list and other's are enjoying
learning to sing or play the piano.

Thomas Stewart asked me a year ago about Peter Drucker's use of the
Orchestra as a model for American business, and I now have an opinion on
it. I believe that the model has to do with the different uses of the
different instruments. They are all a part of the orchestra but a
Clarinet is not a Trombone and to treat it as if it were is a failure.
For the violins to consider themselves at war with the brass is also
silly, however they can, within the rules of acoustics and music have a
dissonant conflict, but at the end, everyone gets paid and goes home to
their families. I'm not so sure that that is the end result of what is
happening in our culture at this time in history.

But how is that different from overall vision and imagination? To the
outside world, the conductor is a great leader, a prototype for a tyrant.
In the musical world he is the generalist who will be tested constantly by
his orchestra and will only be given respect if he truly has the skills.
If he is a great conductor for the strings but destroys the brass with his
tempos the whole orchestra is a failure. Humility, the willingness to
admit failure and to learn how to include the entire compliment if the
society, (company whatever you wish to call it,) of the orchestra is
necessary to survive. If he leaves learned, skilled wonderful people in
poverty and is unwilling to be responsible by sharing that failure out of
his own pocketbooks, his orchestra will read the newspaper in his
rehearsals.

regards

Ray Evans Harrell, artistic director & conductor
Magic Circle Chamber Opera of New York
mcore@soho.ios.com

P.S. In all cultures, results define worth. The distinction
has to do with the depth of culture as to what results
they value above all others. REH

Murphy wrote:

> It appears to me "It is all connected" and humanity often trudges or
> panics down the wrong road, because we have become so highly specialized
> that too many simplistic answers, turn out to be greater problems in the
> long term.
>
> In this culture where results define worth, often the specialist becomes
> king while the generalist is left searching for an audience.
> Unfortunately people search for short term concrete answers when the real
> answer takes a longer time and a wider scope of action.
>
> As an example: For this individual to find their own physical, mental,
> emotional and spiritual would require wider and wider vision and more time
> to solve not only the immediate problem but the long term impacts of the
> catalyst.
>
> The scientist believes he has found the exact chemical which alters brain
> chemistry, so he innovates Prozac. Not enough time is spent searching for
> how this affects the complete person in the long run, but its placed on
> the market because people want results. In the long run many individuals
> suffer from social complications because no one had a wide enough vision
> to take that limitation into account. For this individual to find their
> physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance would require time,
> effort and long term change. The family physician knows they can offer the
> person short term "feel better", so they prescribe and often everyone wins
> but the patient.
>
> I am trying to say, "science is a business." Also, until we can
> intuitively grasp the connections -Art-Science-Business-Spirituality-the
> Four Winds, we will continue to grab the wrong brass ring.
>
> Sincerely,
> Kevin Murphy
> kcmurph@ptialaska.net

-- 

ray evans harrell <mcore@soho.ios.com>

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