The right question, continued
Maybe Jim got it said (below) In a message dated 7/16/2012 6:50:19 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time, jfwiegel@yahoo.com writes: Maybe the question is, how are we as a human species, going to generate a level of courage, wisdom, care and creativity that is more than adequate to meet the challenges of this new century? Because it deals with the human dimension, which is what, as EI and ICA, that is what we have recognized. Karen Bueno
Here's another take on the "right" question for our time: The function of technology is to expand human potential. Current research and inventions seem to offer undreamed of possibilities. Virtual meetings, satellite radio, microwave meals, robotic surgery, online shopping with digital assistants, self-driving automobiles, self-diagnosing body parts, space travel even avatar immortality are all either currently available or in pilot stages. The interior crisis occasioned by all this possibility is bewildering potential. We face a paralyzing complexity of possibility. Clearly the old structures are past their usefulness as we saw in the past decade. Now we are bewildered by pure potential for creating a new functioning civilization. Technology is no longer a constraint: we can do even more than we can imagine. Our imaginations, however, seem constrained by established images of systems and structures that no longer work. We dont know how to think in new categories, or even what those categories might be. People often speak of this as a digital generation gap, and to be sure there is one. But I suspect even the brightest young geeks havent set themselves to thinking of new ways to operate as a global society. Pure potential is an abyss a gap with no place to stand, no security, and no certainty. Thats the situation in which we find ourselves. Our existential question is How can we operate? that is, How can we be in this world together? and even the we is not clear. At one time it could refer to the family or our network of friends or colleagues or the community or the state or party or nation or race or even in our more generous moments, humanity as an inclusive whole. Now even that seems inadequate. The environmentalists have expanded our horizons. All flora and fauna now seem to have a claim on us. Even the mineral resources which weve extracted and manipulated with abandon seem to be crying for attention. Neither our economic, political nor cultural systems are equipped to address those cries. John Epps At 09:38 AM 7/17/2012, you wrote:
Maybe Jim got it said (below)
In a message dated 7/16/2012 6:50:19 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time, jfwiegel@yahoo.com writes: Maybe the question is, how are we as a human species, going to generate a level of courage, wisdom, care and creativity that is more than adequate to meet the challenges of this new century?
Because it deals with the human dimension, which is what, as EI and ICA, that is what we have recognized.
Karen Bueno _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net
These two questions create a clearer context in which my question ("who are we companioning and mentoring?") is revealed as one approach to creating provisional answers. On Jul 17, 2012, at 4:42 PM, jlepps@pc.jaring.my wrote:
Our existential question is “How can we operate?” that is, “How can we be in this world together?” and even the “we” is not clear. John Epps
In a message dated 7/16/2012 6:50:19 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time, jfwiegel@yahoo.com wrote:
Maybe the question is, how are we as a human species, going to generate a level of courage, wisdom, care and creativity that is more than adequate to meet the challenges of this new century?
My answer to John's and Jim's questions is: We might all find a person(s), at least a decade younger than ourselves to journey with: living the questions, mutually mentoring each other, co-creating strategies of engagement. I think my approach is something like: find a "we," settle in for the long haul, and co-create a new way of being together in mission. This has been Karen Bueno's strategy (or so it seems to me) at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Thornton, Colorado, for a very long time. David David Dunn 740 S Alton Way 9B Denver, CO 80247 -- dmdunn1@gmail.com 720-314-5991
Just two points from what John has said that I would highlight or expound on. One is that complexity need not be chaotic or exasperating. It can be seen as an opportunity borne of abundance. Certainly John does not say otherwise. Second, it would be interesting if it were possible to map out all the interdependent pieces and entities within our universe and somehow depict the interactions and their influence and effects. That would perhaps help answer the question of who is the "we" that must learn to be together. Randy "Listen to what is emerging from yourself to the course of being in the world; not to be supported by it, but to bring it to reality as it desires." -Martin Buber (adapted) ________________________________ From: "jlepps@pc.jaring.my" <jlepps@pc.jaring.my> To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 5:42 PM Subject: Re: [Dialogue] The right question, continued Here's another take on the "right" question for our time: The function of technology is to expand human potential. Current research and inventions seem to offer undreamed of possibilities. Virtual meetings, satellite radio, microwave meals, robotic surgery, online shopping with digital assistants, self-driving automobiles, self-diagnosing body parts, space travel – even avatar immortality – are all either currently available or in pilot stages. The interior crisis occasioned by all this possibility is bewildering potential. We face a paralyzing complexity of possibility. Clearly the old structures are past their usefulness as we saw in the past decade. Now we are bewildered by pure potential for creating a new functioning civilization. Technology is no longer a constraint: we can do even more than we can imagine. Our imaginations, however, seem constrained by established images of systems and structures that no longer work. We don’t know how to think in new categories, or even what those categories might be. People often speak of this as a digital generation gap, and to be sure there is one. But I suspect even the brightest young geeks haven’t set themselves to thinking of new ways to operate as a global society. Pure potential is an abyss – a gap with no place to stand, no security, and no certainty. That’s the situation in which we find ourselves. Our existential question is “How can we operate?” that is, “How can we be in this world together?” and even the “we” is not clear. At one time it could refer to the family or our network of friends or colleagues or the community or the state or party or nation or race or even in our more generous moments, humanity as an inclusive whole. Now even that seems inadequate. The environmentalists have expanded our horizons. All flora and fauna now seem to have a claim on us. Even the mineral resources which we’ve extracted and manipulated with abandon seem to be crying for attention. Neither our economic, political nor cultural systems are equipped to address those cries. John Epps At 09:38 AM 7/17/2012, you wrote: Maybe Jim got it said (below)
In a message dated 7/16/2012 6:50:19 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time, jfwiegel@yahoo.com writes:
Maybe the question is, how are we as a human species, going to generate a level of courage, wisdom, care and creativity that is more than adequate to meet the challenges of this new century?
Because it deals with the human dimension, which is what, as EI and ICA, that is what we have recognized. Karen Bueno _______________________________________________ Dialogue mailing list Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net
Dialogue mailing list Dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net
participants (4)
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David M Dunn -
jlepps＠pc.jaring.my -
KarenBueno＠aol.com -
R Williams