[Neurons] 2010 Meta Reflections #1

[Charles DesJardins]

From- Charles DesJardins Ph.D.

E-mail  cfsas_org at yahoo.com

 

After reading the post about collaboration, it really got me thinking about
collaboration, which got me thinking about collaborating with others who
have thought about growth through collaboration.  I went on a search for
quotes of others who believed in the expansion of knowledge and the
collaboration of ideas and people, and thus, I decided to write this in
collaboration with those same people.

 

Einstein

Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death

How do we grow on an intellectual basis if we do not open our maps up to new
ideas - when we realize that the map is not the territory and that to learn
we must think and do knowledge at the upper levels of Blooms taxonomy and
use analysis of ideas, an evaluation of ideas, and a creation or synthesis
of ideas - a collaboration of ideas and thus a collaboration of those who
have those ideas.

 

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/whoever_undertakes_to_set_himself_up_as_a_j
udge/12650.html> Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth
and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

This one seems quite self-evident to the discussion.  Basically anyone who
thinks they have the truth and own the truth are laughed at by the gods.
Every time we update our map or model, we do so through  neuro-plasticity
and we experience opportunity for new ideas because of these new extensions
of our maps - 

 

Plato

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/wise_men_speak_because_they_have_something_
to_say/218003.html> Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools
because they have to say something.

When people speak of ownership of truth or methods and there is no growth or
new knowledge but a static model that is soon to be an old saw, then the old
ideologies supports the austere doctrinaire attitude of speaking to be
heard, and not hearing so as to be able to speak.

 

Nietzsche

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/you_have_your_way-i_have_my_way-as_for_the_
right/296207.html> You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way,
the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

Ah, sounds a bit like the territory/map distinction. This quote could
inspire collaboration of ideas and methods between peoples and groups, where
there is no ownership of ultimate truth, but a collaboration toward an
ideology, and a semblance of truth that engenders the pragmatic end that we
so desire.

 

Voltaire

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/prejudices_are_what_fools_use_for_reason/29
8498.html> Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

Einstein

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen

When we do not collaborate because we think we have the handle on truth it
shows our prejudice toward that truth. When we identify truth with self, the
challenge of that truth becomes a challenge to the self and is defended as
if the self is itself in danger- prejudice is when this common sense (our
truth) is so metabolized and then becomes part of the self, the ego.

 

Plutarch

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i_don-t_need_a_friend_who_changes_when_i_ch
ange/217916.html> I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who
nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.

Even though we need collaboration, we also need to analyze and evaluate
ideas, knowledge, models, and the application of those models. Collaboration
is not necessarily inclusion of all ideas and thus the dilution of all
ideas, but it is working together with others who offer new shoulders in
which to stand, who can use our shoulders in which to stand, and who
together, we both offer a shoulder for others to stand.

 

Newton

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/if_i_have_seen_further_than_others-it_is_by
/220369.html> If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the
shoulders of giants.

We throw out this idea of Newton's if we do not collaborate. If we do not
collaborate we cannot see further, we can only see as tall as we are, for we
cannot stand on rocks, but we stand on people and look further into the
territory, and together, we have 4 eyes instead of two and thus maybe the
map gets a bit closer to the territory.

 

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/we_build_too_many_walls_and_not_enough_brid
ges/220098.html> We build too many walls and not enough bridges.

A bridge is collaboration, a wall locks us in and locks others out. A wall
then not only hinders us from receiving what others have, but it keeps us
from sharing what we have.  A bridge allows for the transfer of goods from
one side to the other, a mutual exchange - collaboration is that bridge, a
wall is the seclusion of knowledge to furtherment only of those who hold
such, not to a greater knowledge, but to false ego strength, built on faulty
scales and weights.

 

Ellison

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/education_is_all_a_matter_of_building/18268
0.html> Education is all a matter of building bridges

Education gives information, information can give knowledge, knowledge if
applied becomes pragmatics, and pragmatics can bring about physical change.
The sharing of this information is the means toward the end of positive
physical change. Education, or information, is not meant to be a wall to
keep some in and keep some out, but to build bridges.

 

Twain

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/great_people_are_those_who_make_others_feel
_that/346308.html> Really great people make you feel that you, too, can
become great.

Hall wrote about living with the attitude of abundance. If we can have the
hope and courage to stand on the shoulders of other greats (lest we fear of
falling and bumping our heads), then we too can become great, and as we
become great, we have strong shoulders for others. 

 

Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech

"
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/our-deepest-fear-is-not-that-we-are-inadequ
ate/397505.html> Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest
fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our
darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be
brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There
is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure
around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within
us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own
light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates
others."

Self explanatory!!!!!!!!!!

 

Reagan

 
<http://thinkexist.com/quotation/there_are_no_constraints_on_the_human_mind-
no/337367.html> There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around
the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves
erect."

And thus we end this string of quotes from those I just chose to collaborate
with. Now, I could have gone this alone and strove to write some wit and
some wisdom, but I thought it apropos to collaborate as we are discussing
collaboration. Self-Actualization is a journey that we take with others. We
are not on it alone - all growth is the results of how we map others maps,
it is an interaction. The lower deficiency needs in Maslow's Hierarchy are
met through other people - we need others for our physical needs, for our
safety needs, for our social needs and love needs, and even in part for our
esteem needs, for without others, there is nothing to esteem - thus it takes
collaboration for our self-actualization - so, as for me, I want to
collaborate with others in this system of a journey, a journey that is mine,
but is often traveled with others.  May we all collaborate, as those who
give and those who receive - a mutual self-actualization reciprocity. 

 

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