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Thoughts on how Development occurs...

Posted August 29th, 2008 by jseav19 in Managing Development

I've been thinking alot about the question of how and why development occurs and these are my insights:

The physical body (i.e. upper-right quadrant) is the model that can inform the other three quadrants and lines of development.  Physically, we build our muscles by breaking down the fibers and then resting to let them rebuild stronger.  The same goes for other areas of growth, whether it be spiritual, cognitive, emotional, artistic, etc.  The growth happens when we push to the edge of our capacity in any of these areas and then give ourselves time to rest, recover, and rebuild. 

Particularly interesting to me is thinking about this occuring in the we-space as it relates to conflict and its resolution.  I sometimes feel interpersonally lazy and avoid a conflict by keeping my disturbance to myself.  Just like I might feel physically lazy and avoid doing the dishes or laundry, or daily practice.  Anyhow, when I do actually go into the conflict willingly, I sense a breakdown of the emotional bond just like a muscle fiber, for instance.  When the conflict is carried out, usually the relationship needs a period of recuperation within which the social bonds are rebuilt and strengthened. 

Conflict is the opportunity for cultural growth and devleopment.  If the conflict is too great or extreme, this is like overly straining or even tearing the muscle through exercion.  In these cases, injury occurs.  Injury happens whether a social bond is overly strained or a physical/muscular feature is overly strained. 

Highly developed individuals on the kinethetic line understand that physically, there are optimal amounts of exersion and recovery.  The perfect balance of these two variables lead to the highest levels of physical performance and growth.   Within the cultural, lower left quadrant the same is true.  Break the rapport with your loved one, or anyone else for that matter, and then relax and rebuild it.  The perfect balance of this strain and rebuild rhythm will generate the best cultural growth and performance. 

Stress and Recovery in AQAL generates development.  This is the basis of the Integral Life Practice, to deliberately stress ourselves out and then recover in the areas of life that have the deepest meaning for us. 

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Growth and Surrender

Posted August 29th, 2008 by Timothy J Melody

I appreciate your thoughts, and I definitely think there's something to this.

I have found many times in my life that genuine growth to a new level of something occured after a major moment of surrender, that is, a major moment of reaching a point and saying "no way, I can't do this, this is impossible." And then, after a little recovery, suddenly it becomes possible . . . and looking back, I think it's true, at those moments, whatever it was was impossible at that point. And then . . .

This is certainly very much like exerting "to failure" in body building . . .

Like the time I stupidly and ambitiously volunteered to play the paino for a Gilbert and Sullivan opera, having mastered the art of "dabbling" after about a year. "I can do this. I can do this" and then "oh my god, what was I thinking . . there is no way . . . I am going to have to quit." And then . . . after a little recovery, it suddenly started to be possible, and my playing and musicianship was most definitely now at a whole new level.

Inspiring!

 

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Stress and Recovery

Posted August 30th, 2008 by Helen Davis

Your post is extremely interesting. You may be aware of a model used in management theory developed by Tuckman. Tuckman maintains that there are three stages a group of people who wish to work as a team has to go through before it can perform effectively. The first is 'forming' when the group first comes together, and people tend to try not to rock the boat, while they can get a handle on everybody else. Many have commented that at this stage members of the group are giving priority to their 'inclusion' needs. The next stage is 'storming'. This may be a big deal, or be over in a matter of minutes, but for this stage to be successful each member has to feel that they are recognised and respected. At this stage members start to assert themselves, and disagreements and arguements may result. Some groups blow themselves apart at this stage, others lose members, and some groups don't even know they've done it and only a trained observer would have noticed it! Some groups negotiate their way through storming successfully, and  move on to the next stage of 'norming' ("this is the sort of team we are, how we operate, and what we stand for"), so that they can then go on the succesfully 'perform'. The stage of storming, which has to do with individuals establishing whatever amount of power they feel they need to operate, reminds me of your 'stress' stage. As a leader of a degree course which organises students into 'Learning Support Groups' and sets group assignments, one of the first skills we teach those students are for surviving the storming stage. Nevertheless, about one Learning Support Group a year (out of about ten) damages itself to the extent that it needs a lot of outside facilitation to get through to 'norming'.

What also interests me is how resistant students are to the idea that there WILL be storming at some level, and how determined they are that they are going to be the ones to disprove Tuckman's theory. I suppose this is staying within one's comfort zone but, as you say, stops any progression.

Anyway, thanks for your post. I will use the 'building muscle' metaphor with future students.

Helen

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Posted August 30th, 2008 by admin in response to Stress and Recovery
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The journey, not the destination

Posted August 31st, 2008 by Helen Davis in response to [Comment Deleted]

Reading what you've written, I wonder about means and ends. Maybe, in this life, it's not about arriving (transcending), but the struggle that goes into constantly becoming. When I was younger I wondered if the process of humans struggling to get closer to /become one with God was what fuelled creation itself. I now see that point of view as my own attempt to give meaning to a seemingly random universe, (then I went through existentialism etc. etc. and I now think I'm at the stage, intellectually anyway, where I'm struggling with the fact that the Universe probably has a meaning I'll never be able to grasp with the limited cognitive capacity I have.) I've only had two sartoris in my life, (both in the shower interestingly!) both lasting only a few seconds, where I did 'get' it, suddenly understanding all with my heart, but I can't even tell you now what I saw, and it didn't make the everyday struggle any easier. And, as we know, enlightened beings still continue to struggle- with their shadows, the everyday hassle of daily life. It is the most basic fact of life. It can give us a personal meaning even if we don't get the bigger one. And I really connect to your joy when Chopin fell into place. I remember such a thing happening when I took up horse riding when, quite frankly, the first 18 months were pretty unconfortable and frightening - but then came the day and a long gallop across Chingford Plain where the horse and I acted as one. I fell off shortly afterwards, getting concussed and several broken ribs, but I'll never forget that wonderful moment of 'flow'. "How Alexander wept when he had no more worlds to conquer". Maybe the good life is to constantly find new worlds, but satisfy our need to conquer them while simultaneously actively enabling, or not actively preventing, others doing so too?

Helen

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Validation

Posted August 31st, 2008 by jseav19 in response to Stress and Recovery

Thank you for your response, everyone,

This is the first time I've used the forum, or any forum online for that matter.  Integral Life is the first one that I've actually found to be worth the time.  My first experience definately was a good one.  Thanks!

So, I guess as I develop into this online IL forum culture the next stage is storming where I'll have the opportunity to say some things that people will disagree with, then we'll recover.  Wow, what an adventure this life is!

Helen, I especially appreciate your grounding this insight I had in this subject in the research that you're familiar with.

--

Jesse

 

"What did the Buddha say to the hotdog vendor?.................

........................Make me one with Everything!

 

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Predispositions to Storming

Posted August 31st, 2008 by jseav19 in response to [Comment Deleted]

Great questions!

Hmm...Where to start?

I'd have to say that my most likely place to storm and take up dissagreement is with statements that say something is flat out wrong.  I'd prefer to stretch my mind and my capacity to take perspectives until I can see the truth in it.  If a statement is coming from a place of pathology or unhealthy unproductive thought processes then I'd prefer to acknowledge that before saying that something is wrong.  I feel to affectively diagnose an unproductive thought pattern or communication is to begin down the path of healing and is therefore more imbued with compasssion for the source.

I know that's pretty vague, but I must say that your question found me somewhat reeling and this is the best I can do to anticipate the nature of my propensity to disagree.  I'd say that for the most part, I definately seek combination and communion of ideas to find out what happens when we combine the partiality of my node of conscious searching with yours and his and hers. 

Also, for the sake of lower-left quadrant intentional development and practice, I do enjoy a certain playful interaction of perspectives.  I particularly like the literal and metaphorical application of capoeira, the Brazilian martial art.  In capoeira, a pair of people will enter a circle of other capoeiristas who are singing and playing music.  The two will compare skills and abilities, use trickery and distraction in an attempt to get the best of the other.  There is no score keeping or actual physical contact in general, simply a beautiful graceful dance-combat commonly referred to as play.  "Would you care to play?" is the non-verbal invitation for a contest.  There is no winner or loser simply a shared interior understanding of joy and competition and cooperation.  Usually there is a shared interior understanding of who got the best of who this time.  Usually, there is a master/teacher who facilitates the cultural communion. 

I think this is a model that can inform a graceful approach to development in the lower-left quadrant.  Just like high performance athletes have taken athletic performance to a science and simultaneously an art, I think capoeira captures a spirit of disagreement and storming within a group that is wonderful.  It has a remarkable capacity to stress and recover relationships.  Also, non-violent communication, I feel, provides a healthy method for stress and recovery within the LL Quadrant.

I'm straying a bit from the initial question perhaps, but this leads me to another compelling idea that I've recently discussed with a great friend of mine.  He went to live in the wild for a year with a primitive survival shcool in Wisconsis and learned customs and skills from Native American traditions.  One of the rituals that he most valued learning was the "truth speaking circle."  Once a week the participants in the school, eight in all, would sit in a circle and get whatever beef they had with one another off their chest.  The discussion was facilitated and intentions were to establish and restore harmony to the group. 

The thought I had was, wouldn't it be cool if organization would do this or something like it on a regular basis.  We contest in basketball games and soccer games and card games and video games all the time.  In the process we experience intense states of flow, exersion on multiple levels, and our capacity to perform in the chosen endeavors develops significantly.  Couldn't we use our natural propensity to play and contest each other to grow interpersonally?  Could we set up a safe environment, emotionally, to contest one another's ideas and interpersonal skills and abilities, similar to the rules in a basketball or soccer game?  Or could we even design something as loose as a capoeira circle where we would encourage the players in the center of the circle with love and song to chanllenge one another as fully as possible and then shakes hands honor each other and then retreat and recover?  Could we design rituals for storming that would allow us to collectively practice development in the LLQ with joy and efficiency?

Thanks for getting me going on all this.  Any comments or counter punches are most welcome.

--

Jesse

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Thanks

Posted September 2nd, 2008 by jseav19 in response to [Comment Deleted]

Schalk Schalk,

Sounds good.  I like your points and will keep them in consideration as I grow into this new culture of discussion.

I feel like you've extended me a nice welcome and guidance service as I stretch my cyber wings here.  I look forward to more stimulating discussion, with you and others.

 

Thanks,

--

Jesse