[Ailist] Re: Connecting with Others

Mon Mar 17 17:46:20 MST 2008

 Michael, thank you so much for posting this clip here.  It's the last line
in that clip that stays with me, as Dr. Bronowski walks into the water,
kneels and scoops those ashes  "...we have to touch people."  We have to
touch people.  We cannot stay insulated, separate, apart; we cannot continue
to perpetuate the myth of a self as separate from other.  We "touch people"
through listening, through witnessing, through holding each other in love,
and with the courage to share our deepest aspirations for what this world
can be.  Dale Adams Segal (writer/teacher) teaches a path to peace that
looks very much like what Jacob Bronowski did in this clip--reaching in to
those murky depths to grab hold of the remains of human suffering, longing,
and hope, and then holding it up to the light.  

We have to touch people...

Kathryn Thomson
Proteus Communications

-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Michael Newman
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 7:57 AM
To: Harry Bury; Capela2 at aol.com; kervick at comcast.net;
ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: RE: [Ailist] Re: Connecting with Others

Dear Harry et al,

One of my several personal breakthough points in my own development
were:

1. reading Stephen Jay Gould's 'Ever Since Darwin' when I was 17 and then
sharing it with my school, 700 academic grammar school boys during a week of
school assemblies. This was the idea that science linked to who I was and
how I precieved who I was - and that history could be contingent with many
humerous asides and that science was and is a human endeavour...

The other, more relevant point, which is why I am writing this, is Dr Jacob
Bronowski's TV series 'Ascent of Man', in which there is an incredible
episode called 'Knowledge: certainty and doubt'. In it he explores the
nature of knowledge and truth in science...

As Bronowski squats next to a pond at Auschwitz, he scoops from it a handful
of ashes and muses:
"Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people.And that
was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was
done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge,
with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when
they aspire to the knowledge of gods."

http://www.youtube.com/wtheatch?v=8mIfatdNqBA

I just think those words, and that image are great starting points for
thinking about how we see the world and how we see our own vision of it.

Best wishes
Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Harry Bury
Sent: 17 March 2008 03:51
To: Capela2 at aol.com; kervick at comcast.net; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: RE: [Ailist] Re: Connecting with Others

Dear Appreciative Colleagues,

I appreciatiate Steve's, Jane's, and Lionel's recent comments, and I find
them indeed interesting, Jane.
It occurs to me, we would be more "appreciative," Steve, if we could
"reconstruct"our worldview and  instead of assuming  we can know the truth,
assume knowing absolute objective reality is impossible. We could assume
just as well all we have is perception;  studied perception or studied
opinion, but not absolutely true reality.( In other words, what if we did
not assume that Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were correct in assuming
humans could know truth and assumed Pythagoras was not correct, but on to
something in assuming truth was unknowable? Then, the word "skeptic" would
not be a pejorative term,  as it seems to have been down through the ages.

 It has been my experience when I believed I was right and you seemed to
disagree with me, I concluded you were automatically wrong. As a result, my
mind closed and it was difficult, Jane, to even find what you said to me to
be interesting, let alone encourage my appreciation. I have come to assume
no one knows THE Truth. It enables me to APPRECIATE what others say with an
open mind which results in dialogue and greater creativity and greater
APPRECIATION for one another.

Living in Thailand, Lionel,it is much easier to now APPRECIATE the cultural
norms of this nation which results, not in frustration because they do not
do things the way we do( which I use to think was the Right and True way to
behave), but results in peacefulness of soul.

Warm Regards,
Harry J. Bury
Chair, Doctoral Program in Business Administration (DBA) Graduate School of
Commerce, Burapha University Silom, Bangkok 10500 Thailand AND Professor
Emeritus Baldwin Wallace College Berea, OH  44017 USA
440-826-2395 Office
440-336-2801 Mobile
Explore Dr. Bury's website http://homepages.bw.edu/~hbury
________________________________________
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Capela2 at aol.com
[Capela2 at aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 4:09 PM
To: kervick at comcast.net; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: Re: [Ailist] Re: Connecting with Others

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