Andrea´s Pensieve: From Workplace to Playspace

From Workplace to Playspace: Innovating, Learning and Changing Through Dynamic Engagement 
Author: Pamela Meyer

I have heard numerous reports of the ways people´s improvisation experience in the facilitated sessions spilled over into other areas of their lives. (Page xii)

What, I wondered, was actually happening for these people in this co-created space? And what, if anything, did their various stories of transformation have in common? What other spaces support this kind of engaged experience that delivers people to expanded creative capacities and new, more positive self-beliefs? (Page xii)

I was avoiding calling the space playspace for the very reason it had to be called that: the spaces we create that allow the play of possibilities, fresh ideas, perspectives, and emergence of new capacities as we play new roles are counter to our view of what the workplace is supposed to feel like. (Page xiv)

The organizations and the individual stories of transformation described in this book all have one thing in common: a shift in mind-set from workplace, in which the product is more important than the process, to playspace, where the lively, creative process of innovating, learning, and changing invites passionate commitment and enthusiastic participation (page xviii)

Playspace helps organizations get results. (Page xviii)

Responsive and innovative action is only possible where there is space for it –not constrained, routine, and habituated space but open, dynamic, and creative space. Playspace allows us to think creatively, question old assumptions, respond effectively to the unexpected, and engage all participants’ talents in collaboration (page xviii)

The idea that strategies that engage the whole person are soft, while those that target operational aspects of organizational life are worthwhile, overlooks the very core of organizational success –the living, breathing people who must fulfill its mission each day. (Page xix)

People do not challenge each other´s ideas, explore alternative scenarios, or persevere through complex issues and obstacles out of compliance; they do so out of commitment (senge, Roberts, Boss, Smith, Kleiner, 1994) (page xix)

Commitment is fostered by engagement, and engagement is fostered in playspace (page xix)

Organizational innovation, learning, and change also thrive when there is room for whole-person engagement (page xix)

While it is sometimes hard to draw a straight line between whole-person, whole-systems approaches to organizational development, we can link playspace to intrinsic motivation and engagement and, in turn these core dimensions to organizational success (page xx)

Playspace is most easily identified by the behaviors and experiences of those who co-create it; however those behaviors and experiences alone are not the playspace (page xxi)

Scholar-practitioners can locate playspace in holistic management approaches, where the organization is viewed as a complex social system (page xxi)

Social psychologist Karl Weick admonished that we “stamp out nouns” altogether and shift our conception from static organizations to human systems in a constant state of organizing (page 1)

Most of us have been socialized to devalue play altogether or to think of it as something we engage in after the zeros business of work has been accomplished. (Page 2)

Often is largely through play that we first develop our sense of ourselves, experiment with different roles, become socialized, build confidence, and explore our creativity. (Page 2)

Yet the obsession with learning outcomes and competition instills an orientation to activity as necessarily purposeful –one in which play for its own sake and for the intrinsic reward of engagement is son eclipsed by the need to demonstrate value. (Page 2-3)

When we praise someone´s work ethic, we are likely admiring her productivity, not her capacity for improvisation, creative collaboration, new learning, or ability to respond to change. (Page 3)

The legacy of the Protestant work ethic is a dualistic view of work that filters out information, emotions, and experience that are not immediately relevant to accomplishing the task at hand. (Page 3)

Not only does this playspace include apparent opposites, it thrives on them. Playspace can be free and structured, focused and dynamic, serious and fun. (Page 4)

When playspace is embraced as an organizational mind-set, there is, quite literally, play in the system. (Page 4)

There is also strong evidence that individuals and work teams are most successful when they have the flexibility to choose how to approach a problem or implement their plan (Zuckerman, Rorac, Lathin, Smith, & Deci, 1978) (page 5)

Shifting from a workplace to a playspace mind-set allows actors to become aware of what informs and motivates their performances, such as constraining self-concepts, beliefs, or habits, allowing them to discover those that are still serving them, and those that are limiting the possibilities for innovating, learning and changing (page 4)

Margaret Wheatley (2009) defines a leader as “anyone willing to help, anyone who sees something that needs to change and takes the first steps to influence that situation” (page 142) (page 7)

Playspace invites all organizational participants to identify and respond to leadership opportunities (page 4)

A facilitator is one who makes the creative process of innovating, learning, and changing easier (page 7)

Unless there is mindful cultivation of the space by all, there is little chance to create and sustain playspace where all are free to learn and grow, let alone collaborate and innovate (page 8)

Shifting from workplace to playspace means that the role of the participant is valued as much as that of the leader and facilitator (page 8) (and for a child that learns playspace would he be more inclined towards an egalitarian society if he sees everyone´s contribution as having the same value?)

Playful describes an engaged, embodied, and lighthearted state. Artists, inventors, and high-performance teams are playful with purpose (page 8)

Humor is a sign that there is room to experiment with unexpected combinations (page 8)

University of North Carolina psychology professor Barbara Frederickson (2001) theorizes that positive emotions broaden our access to our intellectual and creative capacities. (Page 8-9)

All efforts at deep change are efforts in improvisation; there is a commitment to an important purpose, but there is no prior knowledge of how to get there (Quote from Robert Quinn (2000 p.168)) (page 9)

Today managers must support collaboration like never before, and they must learn to improvise (page 10)

People in organizations are often jumping into action without clear plans, making up reasons as they proceed, discovering new routes once action is initiated, proposing multiple interpretations, navigating through discrepancies, combining disparate and incomplete materials and then discovering what their original purpose was. To pretend that improvisation is not happening in organizations is to not understand the nature of improvisation (Frank Barret (1998 p617)) (page 10-11)

The MFA is the New MBA… An arts degree is now perhaps the hottest credential in the world of business. (Daniel Pink (2006 p.21) page 11)

This capacity, when developed, consists of three key facets (improvisation capacity): competence, consciousness, and confidence. (page11)

Three Dimensions of Improvisation Capacity

The competence dimension –the ability to respond to the unexpected and unplanned using available resources –is core to innovating, learning, and changing, while consciousness is essential to see the innovative opportunities that emerge from the unexpected and unplanned or as old assumptions and habits are questioned. (Page 14)

In other words, in order to step into the unknown, and uncomfortable, risk looking foolish, and experiment with new ways of thinking and being, we need a playspace that will hold us. (Page 14)

Frequently the first response to organizational innovation, learning and change is resistance, either tacit or explicit, because each requires us to step out of our comfort zones, away from the familiar. Each also potentially threatens our well-developed personal and professional identities and challenges us to play new roles in which we may not feel as confident and competent. (Page 15)

To engage in any of these processes without consciously creating the playspace that both stretches and supports its leaders, facilitators, and participants is to ask individuals to unreasonably risk their emotional, psychological, financial, and even physical well-being (page 16)

Innovating cannot function without new learning. Similarly, the learning process cannot thrive without the spirit of discovery and openness to new perspectives and possibilities essential to innovating. Changing is also symbiotically connected to both the innovating and learning process; neither can come to life without a willingness to change. (Page 17)

Whatever an individual´s talents, domain expertise, and creative thinking skills, that individual´s social environment –the conditions under which he or she Works- can significantly increase or decrease the level of creativity produced. (Teresa Amabile (1996p17) page 19)

Most formal education and training, especially in organizations, do not make space for the play of new possibilities; it focuses on two types of learning: skills (know-how) and knowledge (know-what). Relative to together forms of learning, skills and knowledge are easier to organize, communicate, and measure. (´page 20)

Less attention and value are given to two additional types of learning that are harder to design but essential to the life and success for any dynamic organization: relational and transformative learning. (Page 20)

Even in the most cutting-edge sessions, I consistently see evaluations in which the chance to get to know colleagues outranks the content, facility, meals, and other bells and whistles of many such experiences (page 21)

In crafting a supportive context, it is critical to bear in mind that knowledge-intensive work is largely emergent. Instead of attempting to design for an unknown future with great precision, managers are advised to create a context that supports effective innovation and collaboration. (Cross and Parker 2004 p129)(Page 21)

As Peter Senge (1990) noted, “At the heart of the learning organization is a shift of mind from seeing ourselves as separate from the world to connected to the world, from seeing problems as caused by someone or something “out there” to seeing how our own actions create the problems we experience… A learning organization is a place where people are continually discovering how they create their reality… and how they can change it (p12-13) In this way , individual and organizational learning are relational; we become aware of and shift or expand our relationship to our familiar ways of thinking, being, and interacting. (Page 22-23)

Transformative learning is learning that may shake our core beliefs and familiar ways of thinking and being and requires playspace both to hold the discomfort and realize its possibilities. (Page 23)

 

As we enter the 21st century, organizations ´scarcest resource has become their dreamers, not their testers (Nancy Adler (2006 p493) page 25)

Playspace comes to life when the whole person is engaged and engages with awareness. In playspace, awareness extends beyond the cognitive (our thoughts and mental processes) and includes the entire scope of our experience, thoughts, feelings, sensations, sense of well-being, and intuition. (Page 26)

This is the embodied awareness, and through it we expand our capacity for and Access to the sources of creative inspiration, improvised action, significant learning, and capacity for changing (page 26)

It is highly possible that what is called talented behavior is simply a greater individual capacity for experiencing (Viola Spolin (1999, p3))

Such disembodiment can leave us numb to our gut feelings and insights and lead us to miss errors, as well as opportunities, and even abandon deeply held convictions. (Page 29)

At its essence, every organization is a product of how its members think and act. Once we become conscious of how we think and interact, and begin developing capacities to think and interact differently, we have already begun to change organizations for the better (Peter Senge, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B Boss, Bryan J. Smith, and Art Kleiner (1994, p.48)) (page 29)

Conversely, when people feel constrained in the workplace when they do not feel they will be accepted if they bring their authentic self to work, they censor out dimensions of their life that are significant and energize them, as well as their fresh perspectives and ideas, for fear they may not fit the perceived norms. (Page 30)

The consequences of such tacit non acceptance are significant and immeasurable. It is not possible to constrain the space in some ways and expect free-flowing creativity and engaged participation in others. (Page 30)

When people feel acknowledged, accepted, and treated with respect, their feelings of worth are enhanced, and the possibility that they will contribute actively to the work of the group is maximized. (Ernest Stringer (1999, p.34)) (Page 30)

As people experience increasing acceptance of themselves and freedom from judgment in playspace, they become increasingly accepting of their colleagues, diverse perspectives, provocative ideas, and an ever-changing work context. Acceptance and freedom from a climate of evaluation (at best) or surveillance (at worst) have been shown to have a significant impact on creative output and participation. (Amabile, Goldfarb, & Brackfield, 1990) (Page 30)

What we appreciate increases in value. Through growing awareness and acceptance, people naturally start appreciating. They begin to appreciate what they are experiencing and find value in their insights, as well as in the frustration and discomfort that come with innovating, learning, and changing. They appreciate their own and others ‘contributions and find ways to build on them. (Page 31)

Unlike acceptance, which is necessarily value free, appreciation is shamelessly value rich. (Page 31)

As people experience more acceptances, they come to appreciate themselves and others; as they experience appreciation, their ability to accept themselves and others increases. The play of these two dimensions of experience creates a wonderfully amplifying loop where people experience themselves at their best. (Page 31)

While the experience of playspace is described here in sequence, it most typically comes to life as each dimension reinforces the others in action. (Page 32)

Well before they could articulate the significant transformation and learning that they experienced, participants were enacting new, more dynamic, courageous, and engaged versions of themselves (page 32)

Playspace values both the insight and learning that translate into language, as well as those that are embedded in action itself and are played out in shifted self-concepts and new ways of thinking, perceiving, or being. When we value innovating, learning, and changing, we must make space for both their explicit and tacit dimensions and trust that they can come to life in the midst of engaged action. (Page 32-33)

Beginning with individual intuition, often bubbling up in the midst of action, organizational learning occurs as people play with and make sense of, or interpret, what they are doing, seeing, and experiencing. Only then can the intuition become integrated and finally institutionalized as a new innovation, learning, or change. (Page 33)

When thinking is disengaged from the whole person, knowledge is reduced to data and people are reduced to data processors. (Page 33)

Beginning with the embodied awareness invited in playspace, individuals become more attuned to all of the dimensions of their experience and forms of knowledge, tacit and explicit. (Page 33)

As individuals engage in playspace, they also expand their individual capacities for innovating, learning, and changing as they experience increasing awareness, acceptance, and appreciation of themselves, their colleagues, and their context in action. (Page 34)

Relational space values the way we relate to one another and acknowledges that we make meaning in relationship. The individual experience of awareness, acceptance, and appreciation in action also come to life in relational space (page 39)

I am linked therefore I am. (Kenneth Gergen (2002, p.110)) (Page 39)

Playspace is dynamic and relational, it is dynamic because it is relational (page 42)

We cannot separate individuals from the relational context within which they experience, make meaning, position themselves, observe, and are observed. The process of innovating is by its very nature relational, relying on the free exchange of ideas, encouragement, and provocation. (Page 43)

In a playspace some of the most significant learning, creative discoveries, and transformation emerge from the group´s shared experience. (Page 43)

This means that playspace is both local and relational: we create it in each interaction, conversation, and collaboration. (Page 44)

Many people can develop their emotional intelligence by simply slowing down enough to notice what they are feeling and how others are expressing themselves (page 45-46)

Cary Cherniss (1999) from Rutgers University compiled nineteen research studies showing that those who had, or developed, higher degrees of emotional/relational awareness were much more likely to be top performers, exceed sales goals, increase profits, and rise to leadership positions. (Page 46) (So this is providing significant skills to kids in Colombia)

  The neatly constructed organization chart of any business tells only a fraction of the story of how things get done. (Page 48)

The earliest social science studies linked our very sense of well-being to belonging and connectedness (Durkheim, 1997) Even more important than the number of people in one´s social network is the emotional state of those people.  (Page 50)

Well-being is relationally based, and, not surprisingly, the health of organizations, as human systems, is also relationally based. (Page 50)

The risk of innovating, learning, and changing can be heightened or lowered in relational space. (Page 53)

I have seen how the “fear of looking stupid” in front of peers keeps individuals from exploring unfamiliar territory to build new skills and capacities. (Page 53)

With this encouragement, they begin to experience themselves as increasingly spontaneous and creative, which generates more positive feedback. This relational learning cycle can be set in motion when there is space that allows the initial risk taking and experimentation (page 53)

Relational knowledge, unlike skills (know-how) and representational knowledge (know-what), cannot be transferred from person to person; the knowledge is embedded in the relationship itself. (Page 55) (Then each individual becomes valuable to the system, irreplaceable)

The brain is a social organ, innately designed to learn through shared experiences. (Louis Cozoline and Susan Sprokay (2006, p.11) page 55))

Transformative change is relational change. It calls us to change (or at least become aware of and reflect on) our relationship to our beliefs, ways of thinking, and habitual responses, as well as our role in the organizational system. (Page 56)

It is also in relationship that we are reflected back to ourselves through people´s responses to our presence, behavior, and ideas. Transformative change, then, includes a shift in our relational dynamic as well. (Then it already changes the structure of the system??) (Page 56)

To achieve our desired outcome, we must let go of control of the outcome (page 56)

Peter Senge (2003) “The fantasy that somehow organizations can change without personal change, and especially without change on the part of people in leadership positions, underlies many change efforts doomed from the start” (page 57)

For it is through patterns of discourse that we form relational bonds with one another; that we create, transform, and maintain structure; and that we reinforce or challenge our beliefs. (Frank Barret, Gail Thomas, and Susan Fann Hocevar (1995, p.353) (page 57)

The turning point from self-interest to community focus, or from “I” to “we”, happens when individuals realize that the two are linked. (Page 58)

When statements such as, “I am noticing…” or “I wonder…” become common practice, all are invited to attune to both the process and product of their collaborations, inquiries, and learning. (Page 66)

You have experienced generative space when you leave a meeting more excited about what is possible than when you arrived; you have experienced generative space if you find yourself settling back into your body with optimism, even in the midst of chaotic times; you have experienced generative space when you rediscover your sense of humor while exploring alternative perspectives; and you have experienced generative space when you become energized through your participation. (Page 71)

Cate Creede (2008) found that the most generative interactions “energize and enhance our sense of who we can be –as singular self or as a collective- and what we can do as a result” (page 32)(page 72)

An individual, team, or division that operates from a rigid framework, mental model, or belief system has difficulty accepting (collaborating with or being influenced by) others whose ways of thinking and awareness of their frameworks can be open to, influenced by, and creatively provoked by others, making for an evolving context in which all have the opportunity to transform and be transformed by and within the system. (Page 72)

The highest performers were those who served as energy hubs for others. An energy hub in a social network is someone whom others identify as energizing them when they collaborate. People seek out such attractors when they have fledging ideas of a new insight, or they are looking for a collaborator on a new venture. (Page 74)

Rate-Solutions and Google have created playspace by making room for the generous sharing of new ideas and by making the sharing playful and engaging. (Page 78)

Many organizational change initiatives fail not because of poor strategy, but because they have not attended to the capacities and space necessary for positive change to occur. (Page 80)

By fostering the generative capacity of aspects and participants in the system, organizations can support the success of both planned and unplanned experiences of changing. (Page 80)

Increasingly practitioners are employing approaches that engage the life, passion, and positive lived experiences of organizational members (appreciative inquiry) (page 80)

When leaders think of their role as the secretary of energy, like their government counterparts, they take responsibility for monitoring and supporting the development of new sources of energy. To play this role, they pay attention to the energy hubs and match people, projects, and passion. (Page 82)

If we are to break the deadly cycle of escalating violence –of strike and counter-strike, atrocity and enraged reaction- we must listen intently to what everybody, even our enemy, is saying, and be sincerely ready to let it change us; to get beyond the rhetoric, decode the imagery, and hear the subtext of rage, grief, fear, pain, hatred, and despair. (Karen Armstrong 2006) (Page 89)

By not speaking up, sharing your ideas, or playing out alternative possibilities, you may inadvertently be responsible for some of the degenerative space in your organization. (Page 91)

A study in Scarlet: The Gulliver Project (info & examples)

• Started on the school year of 2005-2006
• With the aim of strengthening poetic sensitivity in of children attending public schools on marginalized sectors; also it seeks to scape the traditional view of education, incorporating laughter, creativity and a way to exorcize fears and the wounds inflicted by violence.
• First Round sponsored by: Fundación Frances Libertés.
• Things to do: contact the sponsoring organization and discuss my views/questions/take on the poems with someone in the project.

Examples of works created in the Gulliver Project:

Si la luna pudiera hablar…

ella me diría que la noche es tan hermosa.
le diría a los lobos que no aúllen y silencio
ella me diría en cuales estados me gusta más.
me preguntaría que si quiero que hable
o si no que calle para siempre
que si yo tomaba decisiones malas
o buenas
que nosotros deberíamos guardar
la pena y demostrar lo que somos
que aceptara las diferencias.  

Juan Fernando Rojas. 8 años.

Here it is interesting because of the degree of sensitivity shown in the poem but also the last lines when she speaks the moon asking her opinion, does this relate to her wish to be listened to? the line about accepting the decisions you have taken, showing who you are and embracing diversity. all of this things show a high degree of emotional intelligence which is outstanding.

Bobo: es alguien que se queda mirando lo que la persona le hace..

Duvan Stiven Cuartas. 9 años.

This one is also interesting because it expresses how they perceive being passive with stupidity, then taking action is seen as a positive trait even at this young age, but the way it is frased what someone does to you seems to have an implication of dominance, injustice maybe violence?
 Infierno: es cuando nos mandan los adultos con rabia.

Carlos Alberto Londoño. 10 años.

Same here how can a 10 year old understand that is the anger of the adults that transforms authority into hell?
Cuerpo: el cuerpo es lo que nos sirve para encontrarnos con el mundo.
Matar: matar una persona por gruñona.
Morir: es algo que uno tiene en el corazón.
Yo juego con mis amistades. Hay veces me quedo quieto, hay veces lloro, hay veces hago silencio y me coloco el sombrero de papá.

Daniel Fernando Orozco. 10 años.

Here is also interesting, first how he focuses on his senses as the door into the world, very in line with the intuitive mind but also how he views that complaining is something that will get you killed, how you can die inside, and how he talks about being quiet and crying. definetly a portrait of a different reality.

Gobierno: algo que está lleno de hombres armados

Lizett Saldarriaga. 9 años.

Again the reality of goverment being made by armed men
 
Mi dulce flor llorando en silencio con un sombrero jugando quieta sin hacer daños.

Marlon Andrés Tabera. 10 años.

 Here as in a previous one its interesting the mentioning of crying quietly and trying not to be noticed
Rostro: es algo que queda al frente de la cabeza o sea la cara. Es nuestra identidad y una sombra que nos persigue adonde vayamos.

Oscar Daniel Rivera. 9 años.

Here it is interesting how they already understand the core of marginalization, of a stigma, why would they define identity as a shadow that will always chase you?

Silencio
Un día conocí a una chica
Y hay mismo me enamoré y quería
Expresar lo que sentía por ella y no
Podía era que la pena no me dejaba
Y yo seguía en silencio sin saber qué
Decirle y la voz no podía salir,
No podía hacer bulla y me quedé
En silencio y así permanecí.
.

Jhon Alexander Torres, 9 años

Here what is interesting is the clarity of the turmoil of emotions of having a crush, how well he comes to terms with it and expresses it, again a great tool for dealing with E.I.
La tripita de mi abuelo (cuento)
Había una vez una niña de 5 años. Ella era muy bonita, de pelo largo y liso, con ojos azules, muy tierna y se llamaba Ana.
Ella vivía con su mamá y su papá y la querían mucho. Un día el papá y la mamá se fueron a bailar y dejaron cuidando al abuelito a la niña. Entonces pasaban las horas y no venían, pasaban las 12, 1, 2, 3 y nada que venían, después se acostaron y al otro día dijeron que dos señores se accidentaron pasando la calle y esos eran los papas, entonces la niña se puso muy triste y se tuvo que ir a vivir con su abuelo, pasaron los años y cuando la niña tenía 15 años, el abuelo también se accidentó y la niña se puso muy triste y dijo: “¿ahora quién me querrá?” Y la niña se puso por dos años a trabajar de prostituta y cuando la niña tenia 17 años se casó con un muchacho y la volvió rica y con esa plata pudo enterrar al abuelo en un sitio especial.
Entonces le sacaron todo lo de adentro y a la niña le brincaba algo en su ropa y era una tripita, la niña se llevó la tripa para su casa y todos los días habla con él, por medio de la tripa.

Laura Ríos Gutiérrez. 10 años.

Here although the story itself s quite strange it is very interesting how the obvious choice is for the girl to become a prostitute, an being only 15 years old.

A study in Scarlet: Some words on Goethe (Visualization)

Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.
                                                      Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Goethe´s Science in Respect to Art and

Sustainable Social Change (Visualization)

In my visualization we have the phenomenon in the center, as all the other elements are either paths towards the phenomenon or resultant from our interaction with it. However the phenomenon is not simply known via means of, or defined by all those elements; rather the whole of the phenomenon is in each of them. This is represented by the phenomenon´s hands that reach out; it signals the relationships that constitute the phenomenon.

On the top left corner we have represented the “Analytical Mind[i]” that gives birth to the “Quantitative Science”. This is the mode of consciousness that through our physical evolution and interaction with the solid objects of the world constitutes our default mode of consciousness. It is an extension of the “Logic of solids”[ii], that deals with the world around it by means of abstraction, replacing the phenomenon with a mathematical formula that allows its classification, measurability, predictability, and control. To do this it must separate itself from the senses and everyday experience (page 18). Its premises are from the parts to the whole, generalization, deduction, systematic thinking.

However to truly know the phenomenon we must understand that the relationship between the whole and the parts is so that the whole is present in the parts while simultaneously the parts emerge through the whole[iii]. This is why a knowledge that has been accessed through generalization will remain incomplete. In order to know the hidden aspects of the phenomenon we must access it through a different mode of consciousness: The “Intuitive Mind[iv]” that brings forth the “Qualitative Science”.

This is represented on the top right corner of the visualization; this mode of consciousness interacts with the phenomenon by dwelling in it, immersing the subject in the object to look for an instance worth a thousand, bearing all within itself”[v] that unlocks the core of the primal phenomenon in us[vi]. This allows the phenomenon to be its own theory[vii]. This mode of consciousness is a particular way of seeing; it restores the mind as an organ of perception providing a pathway to understanding the phenomenon.

Goethe´s “way of seeing” referred to as “Intuitive seeing”[viii] is in actuality a change in consciousness[ix] (represented in the bottom left corner); this consciousness is non linear, simultaneous, intuitive, and relation focused. It gives thinking the quality of perception, recognizes the power of ideas as actions, as the act of organizing[x], made explicit in the concept of organizing ideas which dictate our perception and therefore create actuality. It enables us to distinguish elements without separating them, but rather recognizing their relation and significance[xi] via the act of identifying their existence and their boundaries.

This way of seeing requires the subject to engage actively[xii] in the process of cognition, with tools that allow the cognitive process to be slowed down, or stopped so that we may glimpse not just the conclusions resultant from our organizing ideas (which we may mistake for the phenomenon) but to experience our organizing ideas as well, so that we may challenge them, deautomatizing our cognitive process, being participants in the phenomenon. In my visualization Art is presented as a tool that teaches the mind to go into the two stages of contemplative Meditation and Exact Sensorial Imagination[xiii] that Goethe requires in its method for qualitative science. Art then, will be the bridge to identify our ideas and their connections, to achieve harmony with the phenomenon and access its intrinsic Knowledge (necessity[xiv]).

This knowledge is represented on the top right corner of the visualization, said knowledge understands the phenomenon´s own language, it is intuitive, meaningful, is the result of Awe (and as such connects us to the phenomenon and fosters a relationship to grounded on concern, respect and responsibility); and in this way of understanding the phenomena we access its last stage, the phenomenon is changed, it is now complete[xv]. In other words, the primal phenomenon inhabits the subject, there is a relation that empowers the subject, who has been changed by said knowledge, and it changes the actions (aka ideas) of the subject and therefore would by means of those actions change the social structures that constitute our phenomenon[xvi].

Specific to the Gulliver Project

1)      We need to understand both the elements of the system as well as their relations; the analytical mind is good for the first task, but misses out on the second one, which might explain why social models/theories seem so tricky to transfer from one case to another. For this we need the intuitive mind.

2)      In order to steer the change we want in the system we need to understand not just the relations as a causality that is contingent, but we need to identify the primal phenomenon of the system that enables us to understand the necessity of those relations, the language of the system, its logic.

3)      But according to Goethe we cannot be external to the phenomenon, and know it; as the instance of being known is part of the phenomenon, it´s the phenomenon coming into being inside the mind. Then it comes to conclude that we need all stages of the cognitive process (including being known) in order to have adequate knowledge of said phenomenon.

4)      If that is the case it comes to reason that we should:

·          

• Promote processes that enable this shift of consciousness (Art)

• Seek to include all sectors of the system, (as they are all part of the phenomenon and we do not know where the primal phenomenon might be, hence children´s way of seeing becomes highly relevant)

• Promote participatory processes, as someone that cannot see the phenomenon  will not be able to speak its language (chessboards, giraffes, etc. you need to have the idea of the phenomenon to be able to see it, therefore it follows that a degree of familiarity is a requisite but also that probably given that they are able to shift consciousness to get out of their previous mental constructs it is possible the inside individuals would be of immense value)

• For now it seems that this project could be seen beyond a way to empower citizens and promote participatory processes and social change; but rather why participatory processes, a holistic education (both modes of consciousness, and respect for the diversity of the culture [phenomenon]) is a requisite for sustainable social change.

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[i] Often what is called the stream of thought is in fact the stream of language, and the process of thinking is none other than the flow of linguistic associations. The analytical mode of consciousness, therefore, corresponds to the discursive thought of what, for completeness, should be called the verbal-intellectual mind. (Page 63)

[ii] Psychologists have discovered that there are two major modes of organization for a human being: the action mode and the receptive mode. In the early infant state, we are in the receptive mode, but this is gradually dominated by the development of the action mode of organization that is formed in us by our interaction with the physical environment. The internalization of this experience of manipulating physical bodies gives us the object-based logic which Henri Bergson called "the logic of solids"- (page 15-16)

[iii] The hazard of emergence is such that the whole depends on the parts to be able to come forth, and the parts depend on the coming forth of the whole to be significant instead of superficial. (Page 11)

[iv] Etymologically “intuition” means “seeing into”, which clearly expresses the fact that it is the experience of seeing the phenomenon in depth. (page 68)

[v] Goethe´s method was to extend and deepen his experience of the phenomenon until he reached that element of the phenomenon which is not given externally to sense experience. This is the connection or relationship in the phenomenon which he called the law (Gesetz), and which he found by going more deeply into the phenomenon instead of standing back from it or trying to go beyond it intellectually to something which could not be experienced. (page 21)

[vi] In a moment of intuitive perception, the universal is seen within the particular, so that the particular instance is seen as a living manifestation of the universal. In terms of the category of wholeness, the primal phenomenon is an example of the whole which is present in the part. (page 22)

[vii] Goethe was especially scathing towards the kind of theory which attempted to explain the phenomenon by some kind of hidden mechanism. (page 21)

[viii] It is perceived by an intuitive experience-what Goethe called Anschauung, which "may be held to signify the intuitive knowledge gained through contemplation of the visible aspect" (page 21)

[ix] The experience of a relationship as such is only possible through a transformation from a piecemeal way of thought to a simultaneous perception of the whole. Such a transformation amounts to a restructuring of consciousness itself. (Page 63)

[x] Since the time of Kant’s philosophy there has been a growing recognition of this active role of the mind, and of the tendency to mistake our won intellectual constructs for “the way things are”. (Page 57-58)

[xi] When the phenomenon is seen intuitively, it has a further dimension to it, but this does not change the particular elements in the phenomenon. It changes the way that the elements are related, and hence their significance, but they remain the same elements so far as the senses are concerned. (page 68)

[xii] Experiments with guided imagination indicate that a frequent result is the extension of feelings, whereby the student experiences a deeper, more direct contact with the phenomenon imagined. In this way, a more comprehensive and complete encounter with the phenomenon results, and aspects of the phenomenon otherwise unnoticed often come to light. In addition, students feel themselves to be more in harmony with the phenomenon, as if they themselves were participating in it. This leads to an attitude toward nature more grounded in concern, respect, and responsibility. (page 22)

[xiii] The attempt to think the phenomenon in imagination, and not to think about it, is sensory and not intellectual, concrete not abstract. Attention is thereby further withdrawn from verbal associations and intellectual reasoning. This, therefore, is a deautomatization exercise. But at the same time it is an exercise in trying to see the phenomenon in the simultaneous mode, i.e., all at once. Hence, as well as undoing the usual construction of consciousness by the redirection of attention –which by itself can be sufficient for the other mode of consciousness to emerge- this exercise actively promotes the restructuring of consciousness into an organ of holistic perception. (Page 66)

[xiv]Scientific knowledge is not knowledge of what happens to be true –since this would not be “knowledge” for Aristotle- but of what cannot be otherwise and hence must be true. (Page 104)

[xv] Goethe, saw the knowledge of the phenomenon as being intimately related to the phenomenon itself, because for him the state of “being known” was to be understood as a further stage of the phenomenon itself. It is the stage which the phenomenon reaches in human consciousness. (page 108)

[xvi] He realized that different Vortstellungsarten would result in the world being illuminated differently, and hence being disclosed in different modes. (page 120) (the German Word means ways of conceiving or seeing, then this different knowledge’s would indeed affect action and structure, i.e. the system)