This-essay is a9708111.htm which is available at the
web-site www.essayz.com. See more notes at the bottom.
Previous-Essay <== This-Essay ==> Following-Essay
By-Months By-Years By-Words
Webs of Like-&-Un-Like ESSAYS <==> Like-&-UN-Like This-One
==========================================================
%DYNAMICS PERSONAL COMMUNAL DISINTEGRATION 970811
Scientists often seek to understand the "dynamics"
of processes --- meaning that they try to understand how
the parts of processes inter-relate to each other; often
in terms of chains of events which are related to each
other in a cause-and-effect manner. To understand the
"dynamics" of processes, scientists often analyze the
processes into separate parts and then seek to see how the
parts are inter-related --- and describe what they have
found in "objective" terms.
We may be able to come to understand the "dynamics"
of personal and communal disintegration and integration in
a manner which is similar to, but not identical to, the
"objective" way in which traditional scientists seek to
understand the "dynamics" of processes. To do so we need
to recognize the ways in which coming to such a new
understanding must be different from the way to the
traditional kinds of "objective" understanding.
1. Traditional scientists deal only with objective
processes; i.e., with ones which can be studied adequately
from a distance, in a detached manner, objectively. This
traditional manner of analysis was devised to avoid the
introduction of "subjective" biases and prejudices. Only
"objective" evidence is admitted; i.e. reports of what
was: seen with eyes, heard with ears, felt through
touching, smelled with noses, tasted with tongues --- or
gotten with measuring instruments which constitute
extensions of these five senses. By extension ---
instruments which measure weights, lengths, distances,
time intervals, temperatures and various wavelengths of
light and sound, etc. have become regarded as proper
"objective" measuring devices. The instruments are
themselves "objective things" which are regarded as
giving "objective measurements" because they have been
found to be reliable through studies which have entailed
the rigorous use of just the five senses.
2. To understand the dynamics of personal and
communal disintegration and integration, requires the use
of a non-objective paradigm --- because it is impossible
to be "objective" about personal and communal
disintegration and integration. Here the new focus of
attention must include the people who are seeking some new
understanding --- because they are trying to understand
processes in which they, themselves, play essential roles
and processes which will play essential roles in their own
lives. It is dishonest to pretend otherwise. Any
dishonest pretense will lead to personal and communal
disintegration --- not to any reliable new understanding,
and so not to personal and communal integrity.
3. To understand the dynamics of personal and
communal disintegration and integration requires the
acceptance of "evidence" which transcends the traditional
five senses; and transcends the measurements of scientific
instruments which are themselves objective "things". Such
understanding requires a new paradigm which is not a
simple incremental extension of the objective paradigm of
traditional scientists. The new evidence must include
"reflexive" reports of:
a. Personal emotions as experienced,
b. Other's personal emotions as perceived,
c. Personal insights and perceptions,
d. Descriptions of personal exchanges,
e. Descriptions of personal relationships,
f. Descriptions of ideals, values, desires,
g. Descriptions of anxieties and fears,
h. Descriptions of hopes and aspirations,
i. Descriptions of motivations and intentions,
j. Descriptions of joys and pleasures,
k. Descriptions of pains, hurts, misery, etc.
l. Descriptions of anger and resentments.
m. Descriptions of many other personal "things".
Such reports are essentially "reflexive" because they
reflect back upon the reporter personally --- in that they
are reports on matters about which the reporter cannot be
honestly indifferent. Indifference about such matters
cannot be honest; true detachment is impossible. Thus to
accept any understanding which is based upon objective
detachment from that which is ostensibly being described -
-- is dishonest and bound to be disintegrative; lacking in
integrity.
4. Traditional scientists deal with cause-and-effect
chains of events and relationships --- and are suspicious
when such chains cannot be identified. To understand
personal and communal integrity, integration and
disintegration --- we must transcend any compulsions we
may have about identifying uniquely determinative cause-
and-effect relationships between parts of the process.
We will often have to be content to observe and report
correlations between, and intuitions about why some
behaviors follow other behaviors.
5. Reflexive reporting of mistakes, errors, improper
behaviors, disintegrative actions, "sins" and "evil deeds"
must play a significant part of any effort to develop a
true understanding of personal and communal integrity,
integration and disintegration. Such honest reporting
will not occur in the absence of the regular giving and
accepting of free gifts of the freedom to be safely
vulnerable in open and honest dialogue within intimate
personal relationships. Thus such exchanges of such gifts
will be an essential aspect of the whole endeavor to reach
new integrative understandings.
6. The kinds of insights and understandings to be
sought often come first in inarticulate ways which must be
discerned and internalized within a secure environment ---
before it is possible to articulate the insights and
understandings. There must be secure gestation times
which are free of external expectations, threats and
distractions --- else the insights and understandings will
slip away before they can be articulated in any way which
can be shared with others.
7. Desires to discern, apprehend and articulate new
integrative insights and understandings --- are likely to
be killed by collusive games of mutual self deception,
personal addictions, and organizational addictions. Thus,
part of the effort must be to transcend such deadly
inhibitions of fearful articulations which will threaten
the collusive games of mutual self-deception and their
related addictions.
8. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to
isolate simple causes and effects --- because there is
such a complex web of inter-connections and inter-
dependencies in regards to personal and communal integrity
and disintegration. Manipulative attempts to isolate and
identify individual cause/effect relationships within the
context of personal relationships are bound to engender
separations, alienations and estrangements --- and so to
engender personal and communal disintegrations. That
would not be success!
(c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in
www.essayz.com Search for Integrity and Honesty
(On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)
==========================================================
Lines beginning with a percent sign are KEYWORDS for use
in ESSAY-System Searches. Their terminal digits are dates
of writing in the format @yymmdd#, where @ = a means 99,
@ = b means 20, and # = is a within-date essay-count.
Links to date-adjacent essays are near page top & bottom.
Find the following links by clicking on CENTER when CENTER
near the top or bottom of a web page of essayz.com
1. Go to HOME PAGE of essayz.com
2. Find brief-essays via keywords
3. Find brief-essay about ADDICTION
4. Search-Helps related to ABOVE-LINK
5. GoTo Action & Information Center
6. Find Regular-Essays via Year/Month
7. Find Regular-Essays via Word-Starts
8. Find Regular-Essay about LOVE
This-essay is a9708111.htm which is available at the
web-site www.essayz.com. These 5 lines echo top lines.
Previous-Essay <== This-Essay ==> Following-Essay
By-Months By-Years By-Words
Webs of Like-&-Un-Like ESSAYS <==> Like-&-UN-Like This-One