The development of human consciousness requires that the minimum elements of survival and self worth to be met. If these are not met then engaging in even the most basic human interaction is difficult if not impossible. Decision making, let alone informed values-based decision making, is primitive at best. How can you be in a position to demand a minimum of change for the better if you do not have a good sense of self.This is a minimum requirement for learning! In order for the student to engage in comprehensive, values-based decision making, requires that the lower stages be met. What would it take to create an environment that was not just desired by most but a moral requirement. What we are talking about is installing a world-wide, educational meaning system. Some places it may be easier than others. But it can be done. Sustainable change takes time. Values-based decision making is worth it.
For this, we need to look at the development of the human being. The levels of consciousness of the human being are going to get mirrored in the way weorganize.The decision making is usually going to be done in the context of a group of some type. Both in the educational institution, as well as any other social grouping the student may encounter.In some ways, we need to imagine what does the basic sustainable human being look like, what is the meaning system that puts this person in the best place for accessing their potential for fulfillment.
From Survival to Self Worth to (Being) Self
Being is about arriving at a place where a person has the best understanding of how to actualize their own personal fulfillment. Developmentally, this not an easy place to get to. However, there are basic components that must be in place before we can even think about this. A totally evolved planetary consciousness would have all the people in the world with the potential of getting access to their own being. But we are still talking about baby steps, in an educational setting this can likely be accelerated.
The cornerstones of this journey are Survival, Self Worth and Being (Self). One cannot hope to progress as a human being if one cannot get basic needs met. But one cannot progress if they do not feel that I am worthy of something better. It is these two items (survival and self worth) that must be part of the foundation values-based decision making.
Creation of a comprehensive educational deployment requires that we build up the self worth of the individual. They must feel that they are worthy of the respect of being provided. This is easier said than done. Self worth is often expressed culturally. Therefore, their needs to be a common framework for establishing self worth but it should take into account the issues in a given culture.
Awareness is also important. If I know what is going on around me, I can make informed decisions. If I know how friends and peers feel, I will likely not feel alone.
Leadership and Accountability (Mutual)
Awareness is important for the person. But awareness is also about being explicit. When things are no longer hidden, when they are explicit, it is harder for those in power to ignore the needs of the many. Being explicit about the needs and desire of the populace is an important way for leaders to be held accountable. Their actions are measured against the wishes of the people and culture. Leadership without accountability creates a misuse of power. This brings values-based decision making to the forefront. The global consciousness needs to create a leadership environment that focuses on leadership and not on management. There are plenty of people that that are good at deployment. However, creating an effective, and yet collaborative leadership environment is needed and imperative. Telling others in the world what to do will not work, but creating the environment where the vision can be accomplished is imperative. Leadership and decision making go hand in hand.
This awareness also creates a framework of systemic ethics. When intervening to create a new consciousness, the development of this system needs to provide for the needs of the whole. Awareness is essential to this.
From Clan to Global-State
Throughout history, man has had a tendency to create relationships in order to get more and more complicated things done. One started with the family or the clan (or in more modern terms a team or group). Man had to learn how to best organize this to accomplish goals such as killing a mastodon. As these tribes grew, and people became more specialized, cities and towns developed. Each time these occurred, it took time for the man to adapt and work these relationships. These groups would also get a sense of self. A sense of ownership of and for the group. You progressed to the city-state and then to the nation-state. The sense of self at the level of the nation-state is what we call patriotism. It is good for creating a sense of group-self but it can create differences with other such groups. Andconflict and war can arise from this. Using a values approach as students move into the world is imperative.
Educational institutions would find the possibilities expansive, as well as the research that could be done and shared inter-institutionally that would give invaluable knowledge of values-development globally.
Verb Decay
Interesting how there is a mathematical relationship between how the more a verb is used, the less likely it will change. Or at least it will change at a much smaller pace. I had not really thought about this as much but if you are going to do document analysis of documents over time, there will be differing degrees to which they will change. You get wedded before you get thinked. When doing values analysis it makes me wonder if nouns change at a similar rate. The article that I linked above suggests that there is a mathematical relationship to the degree to which something decays. Some thing that is used 100 times less frequently will decay or change 10 times as fast. Quite fascinating.
Tags: document analysis, verb, decay
Powered by Qumana
Martin Hall on October 11, 2007 at 09:48 AM in Behavior, Commentary, Culture, Meaning, SysVal | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)