small arcs of larger circles

(2016) by nora bateson [https://www.amazon.com/Small-Arcs-Larger-Circles-Patterns/dp/1909470961]:

This is a collection of essays, reflections and poems by Nora Bateson, the noted research designer, film-maker, writer and lecturer. She is the daughter of Gregory Bateson and president of the International Bateson Institute (IBI). Building on Gregory Bateson’s famous book Towards an Ecology of Mind and her own film on the subject, Nora Bateson here updates our thinking on systems and ecosystems, applying her own insights and those of her team at IBI to education, organisations, complexity, academia, and the way that society organizes itself. She also introduces the term symmathesy to describe the contextual mutual learning through interaction that takes place in living entities at larger or smaller scales. While she retains her father’s rigorous attention to definition, observation and academic precision, she also moves well beyond that frame of reference to *incorporate more embodied ways of knowing and understanding. These are reflected in her essays and poems on food, Christmas, love, honesty, environmentalism and leadership. [Subject: Systems thinking, education, social anthropology, environmentalism, Bateson, symmathesy]

gregory bateson.. symmathesy

*to me.. intellectness as cancerous distraction we can’t seem to let go of.. there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental expo labeling).. to facil a legit global detox leap.. for (blank)’s sake.. and we’re missing it

there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental expo labeling).. to facil a legit global detox leap.. for (blank)’s sake.. and we’re missing it

legit freedom will only happen if it’s all of us.. and in order to be all of us.. has to be sans any form of m\a\p

on entropy ness from small arcs of larger circles:

nora bateson (@NoraBateson) tweeted at 11:07 PM on Mon, Jun 25, 2018:
Thank you. https://t.co/7OsWaiBS8v
(https://twitter.com/NoraBateson/status/1011475973693497344?s=03)

“Mutual learning happens in the entropy; we need the confusion to release the new.” @NoraBateson #sustainability #leadership

notes/quotes from 159 pg ebook via hoopla:

4

‘you were once wild here.. don’t let them tame you’ isadora duncan

9

foreword

(by her daughter sahra brubeck)

in all respects she remains humble and open.. certain of her uncertainty.. raised in a fam that never placed a premium on rightness.. allowed for a larger internal questioning of the notion of authority

any form of people telling other people what to do.. any form of m\a\p.. embracing uncertainty.. socrates supposed to law et al

10

i imagine my thoughts hanging in the air for mere seconds before they become entangled in her legacy, and in that moment when *my words become neither mine nor hers, i am reminded of **how dangerous likeness can be

*beyond the monastic self.. i’m never just me

**brown belonging law.. maté trump law.. almaas holes law.. et al

11

if you knew me well you would know that i would give you everything

words are delicious, but cannot say much.. they often lose the water of meaning before it is delivered..

lanier beyond words law.. rumi words law.. language as control/enclosure.. et al

there is no language to define the spiraling processes of the vast context we are participants in.. *to lock down the delicate filigree of life in explanation is to lose it, but not to see it is disastrous..t words are what we have.. **the why, of why we do anything at all, matters..

*language as control/enclosure.. the little prince – see with your heart ness

**yeah.. i don’t think legit free people would be obsessed with why/knowing ness like we are .. as whales in sea world.. it’s like.. because we are in a non legit environ.. we have to scream some sort of (nonlegit) knowing ness.. ‘the way matters’ could be itch-in-the-soul ness.. but once we ‘naval gaze’ it.. that legit itch/why is gone/dead

the thing i want to say in this book is not in any of the pieces, but is woven by you in the way you make linkings and meta linkings..

in the *wake of human history thus far, devastation and destruction point to a misconception about the ‘way of things’ or as some might say the ‘order of life’.. whatever the errors are, they are brutal to our inner worlds and the larger ecology of which we are a part.. t**it might be that we are navigating w the wrong map.. the way in which sense is made of this smorgasbord of ideas today will differ from how that same sense making fits tomorrow.. unwritten, uncondoned..

*history ness.. (nothing legit to date).. sea world killing us softly w same song

**rather.. that we’re trying to ‘navigate’ w/any ‘map’.. supposed to’s of school/work et al..

to break away from the bricklaying of evidence-based strategic solutions is a *huge risk.. the loose threads of golden flexibility are a pirate’s booty of **unproven and mock able guesses.. this is not allowed, and i am not qualified.. interloping across disciplines and subjects, i am just here w two eyes to see the parallax, and to blindly feel for the hidden things in the bottom of a black handbag

*rather to not is hugely ridiculous.. for (blank)’s sake

**unjustifiable strategy ness.. .. with nothing to prove ness.. graeber can’t know law et al

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my father, gregory bateson a scientist of many shades and a thinker, has given me a great deal to work with ..i cannot know where his thinking ends and mine begins nor do i care to draw those lines.. both of us are here, *along w 3500 years of western civ and the long history of human evolution, wondering how to change the course of this story..

gregory bateson and science scientifically et al

*intellectness as cancerous distraction we can’t seem to let go of.. there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental expo labeling).. to facil a legit global detox leap.. for (blank)’s sake.. and we’re missing it

to be a participant in a complex system is to desire to be both lost and found in the interrelationships between people, nature and ideas..

written in geological calligraphy, we are swirled and looped into each other in movement and pattern.. cause and effect trade hats like a shell game, losing count on purpose.. the limbs of history and the future’s lust are always synchronizing..

graeber violence/quantification law et al

lit & num as colonialism.. of math and men et al

infinitesimal structures approaching the limit of structureless\ness and/or vice versa .. aka: ginorm/small ness

these are the dipping breadsticks, the stewing roots and the wild herbs of my unauthorized knowings.. there is *something holding all of this together.. all of us together.. there is an alive order that we are w/in and that is w/in us

*and we’re missing it.. ie: missing pieces

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mental mono-cropping

bush mono crop law et al

specialized and separated, the ideas that so badly want to twist and frolic around each other are captive.. held in hoarded holding patterns, the poor things are braced to fear thieves..

mumford non-specialized law et al

this language and culture favor singular focus, clear definitions, and linear narratives of causations.. a plus b equal c.. if you do not have enough data on a and b then you should see the authority of the experts of either a ness or b ness..

but the world is not made that way.. ideas live in the architecture of culture..

on a personal level, you and i together are much much more than one plus one.. we are less and more.. a single convo of a married couple is evidence of enough of the shortcomings of logic.. who speaks truth?

mental mono-cropping is imprisonment.. emancipate the ideas and.. they will bloom in a nearly unreadable knot.. they will be untidy in another way.. they will leak into each other

cancerous distraction

biology is history is communication.. anthropology is architecture is agriculture is what some old women have known all their lives..

but if expertise is specialized, then strangled, profiled ideas become the currency and i am broke and we are broken

hari present in society law.. hari rat park law

15

(inter)facing an ecology of mind

ecology: totality/pattern of relations between organisms and their environ – merriam webster dictionary

the man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and bred reptiles of the mind – william blake

find the bravery to change your mind ness et al.. the it is me.. i’m never just me

the idea that ideas are fixed or permanent is just an idea and it’s one that can change.. being stuck is a bad idea made of other bad ideas…t ‘an ecology of mind’ as a term, is a thinking tool that allows ideas to be flexible and alive in relation to one another and the outside world..

graeber make it diff law et al

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the term ‘an ecology of mind’ challenges me to ask myself: which thoughts are flourishing/composting/budding/ready-for-for harvesting.. also.. i might as.. is this idea a seedling for a future learning or a weed? what are the stimuli that came together to produce this idea

to me.. this isn’t what legit free people would be about.. again.. intellectness as cancerous distraction et al

thought patterns i assume to be permanent and pervasive.. like what is a circle, id, god, money, langue, dreams.. are not perceived same way from culture to culture.. or even gen to gen..

it is not the norm to celebrate the changing of position on an idea.. there are depths at which ideas of how the world is put together are so integrated into life that they have become invisible.. they seem unchangeable.. but.. pull a single thread loose and the whole tapestry can be reorganized.. tto begin to think differently at this level leads to rethinking everything.. t

need first/most: means (nonjudgmental expo labeling) to undo hierarchical listening as global detox so we can org around legit needs

to begin to think differently at this level leads to rethinking everything.. t

graeber rethink law et al

legit freedom will only happen if it’s all of us.. and in order to be all of us.. has to be sans any form of m\a\p

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identity with an i

identity ness et al

who am i? grammar incorrectly suggests that i am singular.. that singularity is a great violence, and silence to all that i am in plurals.. carries the suggestion that i am somehow individual, independent.. when interdependence is the law..

thurman interconnectedness law: when you understand interconnectedness it makes you more afraid of hating than of dying – Robert Thurman

‘we’ seems to be a more inclusive choice, but it erases the multiplicity of perspectives.. which ‘we’.. ? ‘you’ separates us, points a finger, sets us up for confusion.. ‘they’ is an illusion.. ‘us’ is somehow not ‘them’..t

need a means to let go of all the binary ness.. of all the borders.. all the label(s)..

infinitesimal structures approaching the limit of structureless\ness and/or vice versa .. aka: ginorm/small ness

perhaps using all the pronouns will generate a healthy confusion.. i am we are you includes they.. my childhood english teachers are rolling their eyes.. let them.. the world is burning..we are not seeing the integrity of life.. grammar needs to evolve..

billions in my gut.. 9 out of 10 cells in my body are inhuman and belong to the larger ecology.. all of those creatures live in and on me.. my health is their health.. their health is my health..

*surely then.. i must be what i know.. knowledge is how i can define and separate myself.. i am who i am because of what i know.. **however the clarity of what knowledge is is questionable.. my experiences are all framed/digested thru the particular lens that my culture/family/rears/breakfast have all helped to edit..my ed is the strange collection of tools that have been selected as important.. but ed now is not what it was 100 yrs ago.. ***what is it important to teach the young coming into a society.. well that depends on the society doesn’t it..? so the ed that has been chosen is fitted into what has been decreed as valuable info for our way of life.. yet, we seek to live differently than those who have come before

*oi.. intellectness as cancerous distraction.. graeber can’t know law.. et al

**rather.. even seeking that clarity is cancerous distraction.. oi.. we need to let go..

***need to let go of teaching.. of any form of people telling other people what to do.. of any form of m\a\p

who am i: is a question that contains a treacherous mistake: it presumes i am independent.. it is a lonely , lost question.. that ‘i’ can be isolate, insulated, ignored.. insignificant..

i am an integrating process of variable interacting.. integrating in integrity.. integrity w an i.. integrity is loyalty to the ambiguity of my own edges, and permission for you to be blurry too.. *i do not need precision to know myself or you.. i need room for all of our selves to hold counsel..

*rather.. don’t need to know self.. the it is me et al

policy for governance of the future

so the child who ed system fails him ends up w psych problems..

oh my.. any form of people telling other people what to do creates disturbance

how can we better prepare the political body to make decisions that are less destructive.. i see this need for info that is integral.. to provide a method for tending to this level of thinking.. to approach situations we face

oi oi oi

knowledge and complexity (from 2013 talk)

the problem of how to find a voce that has credibility on the topic of uncertainty is enough to keep a person up at night.. no one is qualified to talk about uncertainty.. how can i pretend to offer you any kind of lesson on what i do not know.. no hierarchy holds water in this discussion.. no one has to take notes.. be right.. remember what is said.. there will not be a test

while there will not be a test, it is probably true that our ability to know and to make sense of our world underlies everything we do.. in that sense there is a test, and it is measured by our capacity for getting from one day to the next.. it should be noted however that much of that knowledge and the knowing processes needed.. lie beneath our conscious states of awareness..

i think this is whalespeak

to walk across the room is quite a feat. it requires measurement in our muscles and alignments in our perception that merge w memory and movement to navigate a process of balancing into and between steps.. we must want to cross the room.. it requires a bit of chaos and it requires organizing our bodies, minds and emotions in the environ.. as well as all our perceptions and a hundred details of cognition.. it requires them all to come together to do this simple task and some of you will do it in high heels

yeah.. again.. to me this is whalespeak.. i think thinking all this comes from to much thinking/assuming.. too much having to be in control.. having to know things.. having to require/expect things.. rather than just being the dance..

computer ness has amplified that.. or at least shed a light on it.. in that we assume our living ness resembles algo ness.. oi

the complex system that is the body isa field of ways of knowing, all of which work together ecologically to provide the necessary info.. the body does so at such a deep level that we are not aware of even half the info we are utilizing.. in order to know

knowledge is a quest that has dominated our imagination for 1000s of yrs.. it is how we come to understand our world.. how we make sense..

rather.. how we think we understand sea world and how we seek control

warm data is a term we use in the international bateson institute to describe info about relationships rather than numbers..

warm data et al

need: self-talk as data

intellectness as cancerous distraction we can’t seem to let go of.. there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental expo labeling).. to facil a legit global detox leap.. for (blank)’s sake.. and we’re missing it

there’s a legit use of tech (nonjudgmental expo labeling).. to facil a legit global detox leap.. for (blank)’s sake.. and we’re missing it

legit freedom will only happen if it’s all of us.. and in order to be all of us.. has to be sans any form of m\a\p

if the terms of the communication are redrawn to seek consensus, not at the level of detail, but at the level of the rewards of the convo itself, a shift can happen.. the weight of the convo changes when we are not at risk of eviction from the temple of togetherness..

public consensus always oppresses someone(s).. need a diff way

my father used to say ‘the new comes out of the random’ mutual *learning happens in the entropy; we need the confusion to release the new.. this dance exists everywhere in nature.. it is the swarm of confusion that becomes the grace of the way things come together..

*i’d say life/aliveness happens in entropy.. we obsess about learning because it’s part of that control ness..

carhart-harris entropy law et al

where does the change come from? to accommodate the possibility of change, the intellect must grow two sizes.. but it is also a matter of the heart. there is no potential for a formula of communication.. there is not script or vocab that will unlock the doors of understanding..

ugh.. so many red flags: intellectness as cancerous distraction; must grow; unlock doors of understanding;

tears at the bus stop

the machine that seems to swallow up children at 5 and spit them out at 18.. pattern deeply into the social system.. the crisis we face now in ed is not really about what is or is not provided in the curriculum; it is not about test scores, not about which unis are most prestigious.. it is not even about knowledge.. the issue is more diffused..acute.. though nearly invisible to most eyes.. the problem lies at the level of thought patterns.. the prescribed mode of thinking that is generated by our ed system is not conducive to the sort of thinking that new generations should have access to.. the convo about ed that is needed starts w the relationship between the generations: a sacred territory between present, future and past

oh my.. we need to go so much deeper than that.. ie: present and past both in sea world.. oi

to me.. legit free people.. not about thought patterns.. about being

all too familiar is the *bright child who after exhibiting original thinking in school and being chastised for it has chosen not to try to succeed at the game.. many find that dignity can only be preserved if they don’t try to please the system.. **a skill they probably do not have..

? what child is not *bright? .. what makes them ‘bright’.. exhibiting original thinking in school ? (don’t think anyone has been able to to date.. or could)..

**rather perhaps.. only thing we do have.. just very buried.. brown belonging law et al

the wealth they will never have because they refused to drink the kool aid when they were 14.. most rebels are eventually broken

yeah.. but to.. all of us are already broken/scrambled.. need to get back/to not yet scrambled ness

i was in between.. not willing to comply not willing to fail.. ed was marching me toward an indoctrinated adulthood but i was headed elsewhere.. i had a secret weapon.. protection.. i had the tears of my father.. i could see from my seat (on school bus) .. he would say to my mother ‘they are going to ruin her mind’.. but they never did

but all in sea world.. so already scrambled.. not ruined.. but not legit free.. still blinded

contrast between home and school was extreme.. all of us were of the understanding that the objective of our interactions was not to prove anything or to be stroked for being knowledgeable .. but rather to learn something.. perhaps even stumble together into a new understanding

to me.. that’s a sign.. a red flag that already scrambled.. again.. don’t think legit free people would be about objectives.. esp about needing to learn/understand something.. rather.. just about dancing..

the world fr me was delivered un separated.. so .. clearly .. school was hell.. the were asking the wrong questions.. good questions don’t have answers at all.. let alone right/wrong ones.. ‘what is the patter that connects the crab to the lobster, the orchid to the primrose and all four of them to you and you to me?’.. this is a good question.. that question alone is grounds for an entire education

oh my

i am not sure exactly how to alter the ed system to incorp a study of the overlapping patterns in life.. ed is of course, part of a large context of culture, including econ, language, politics, science and so on.. we are normalized into an unworkable imbalance.. forever tearing the world into pieces and reifying the need to grasp each answer, each ‘solution’ and freeze it.. this is wildly out of keeping with the dance of life..

as is any form of people telling other people what to do

so.. no ed.. no prep.. no train.. no intellect ness..

the ambiguity we need is unacceptable to the req’s of notions such as authority, credibility and expertise

unjustifiable strategy ness et al

what is the restorative? is there a prototype or a structure for another concept of ed?

need 1st/most: means to undo our hierarchical listening to self/others/nature as global detox/re\set.. so we can org around legit needs

imagine if we listened to the itch-in-8b-souls 1st thing everyday & used that data to connect us (tech as it could be.. ai as augmenting interconnectedness as nonjudgmental expo labeling)

findings:

1\ undisturbed ecosystem (common\ing) can happen

2\ if we create a way to ground the chaos of 8b legit free people

there is much we cannot teach.. they need skills we do n have to offer.. advice we cannot give.. they need elders who are willing/able to think in new ways, and admit when they are wrong..

since we cannot supply this for them, our secondary task is simply to get o of the way..

primary task.. for an undisturbed ecosystem

context produces possibility (zombies & hitchhiker)

hari rat park law et al

dignifty vanquishes zombies

this is one ie where we, my son and i.. found a trapdoor that led to a systemic shift for both of us.. (12 yrs old in middle school).. emails that he needed more discipline.. adhd meds et al

56

(his defn of zombie) – ‘people who can’t think for selves.. they want you to be like them.. if you do what they say, your dignity flies out the window‘.. i have never heard a more succinct description of the cultural stranglehold of wester civ.. in that moment i realized there were 1000s of trevors .. derailing classroom activities.. they were fighting zombies.. engaged in perhaps the noblest battle there is: the battle to protect one’s dignity.. they are willing to risk everything for this cause.. get in trouble, lose privileges.. labeled ‘bad’ spend hrs w counselors.. given meds.. sabotage their college entry.. lose the proud love of their parents.. but will not submit to the zombies..t

olivier wrong about you law et al.. revolution of everyday life.. khan filling the gaps law.. et al

supposed to’s of school/work ness

trevor and i were now off script.. the counselors and diagnoses were no longer on the table as remotely relevant.. now an entirely unwritten convo lay in front of us.. clearly he needed to do something to reclaim his dignity.. changing schools was one option.. but there were sure to be zombies at the next school too.. so it was my turn; i took a risk and made a deal w trevor

trevor is an actor, and he was already studying performance at that time.. so i offered him his first paid acting job.. i promised him 100 dollars to play the part of the straight a student until the end of the school yr.. (it was feb).. if he could play that part the zombies would be fooled into thinking they could stop trying to control him.. hopefully he would have some peace.. but, i had one caveat; that he never, ever, ever believe that he actually was that straight a student the world wanted him to be.. i said, ‘play the part, but i want my trevor for a son.. not a zombie’..

i wanted him t know that he had an advocate.. it was important to me for him to see there are times in life we do not have a prefab answer/solution.. and that i would be there to experiment w him until we found a way thru, together.. i wanted him to know that even parent do no know how to deal with people trying to control them.. besides that, i only wanted him to know that his fear was real and beautifully articulated..

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the school admins would never have discovered that particular med for my son.. i don’t blame them.. but i do want to shatter the accepted normalcy of their response.. to ‘fix’ a child’s expression of anger/fear is a horrible thing to do.. they are not broken; they are navigating cultural, physical, emotional, and intellectual terrains that are overpopulated with false authority and hypocrisy.. the only tactics i can advise are respectful patience, affection and playfulness..

after reading my version trevor added:

i can recall a time when no matter what i did i felt i had to appeal to an authority outside my own.. failing to please means some form of punishment.. if you put a 12 yr old under constant surveillance, and write home about his progress or lack thereof, do you think he will feel at peace.. or alienated..

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hitchhiker

his curiosity in the young man was piqued (how he fond himself in such a muddle) .. he did not see a knife.. he saw a person w a story

so often we make more of a mess .. by seeking direct solutions..

45

transcontextuality

i’m giving up on interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity and eve meta disciplinarity.. the world is not made of disciplines.. i’ve come to realize that even context is not enough.. living systems esp require more than one context of study if we’re to get a grasp of their vitality

rather.. perhaps we let go of trying to grasp

the lens (transcontext) opens up entirely new dimensions of info where the data has otherwise been flattened

49 (just noticed the inconsistency.. oh well)

am i saying that there is no room for teachers/expert? no.. but a good teacher/expert knows that they are in a process of learning themselves.. they are not leaders.. they are not making seeds grow.. they are fertilizer, tending to the soil

oi.. any form of people telling other people what to do

by defn, leadership is needed when something has to be done that has never been done before.. meeting unknown circumstances requires rapid and spontaneous learning.. in the case of today’s leadership needs, that learning is mutual

and again.. oi .. leader\ness et al

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practicality in complexity

the quandary i often hear is that complexity takes too long.. and it is impossible to ever understand all of the infinite interrelationships.. how do we use it? we can’t sit around and contemplate these ‘abstractions’ of swirling variable forevers.. it is true; it takes longer to consider complexity.. it is true also that we will never understand.. ‘can we afford the time/effort to try? is a good question.. my only response is ‘can we afford not to’

oh my.. taking long and taking longer.. makes no diff.. all are intellectness as cancerous distractions.. oi..

what we can’t afford.. is to try something legit diff.. for (blank)’s sake

legit freedom will only happen if it’s all of us.. and in order to be all of us.. has to be sans any form of m\a\p