The division of labor can only grow by freeing itself from this confining framework.

The net result is that a more potent narrative is distilled out of the “real story.”

If you emphasize the clarifying aspect of meditation, then you might actually take thought itself as your object of meditation. This means that you analyze thought into its components as they arise and observe these components with a hands-off attitude. In this case, you have no particular agenda to control or quiet the thinking process

f you've got the idea of god that comes from popular Christianity, God as the governor, the political head of the world, and you think you're God, then you say to everybody, 'You should bow down and worship me.' But if you're a member of Hindu culture, and you suddenly tell all your friends 'I'm God,' instead of saying 'You're insane,' they say 'Congratulations! At last, you found out.' Because their idea of god is not the autocratic governor.

Engaged Buddhism has to constantly invent “what the Buddha would have said” about them. Second, Engaged Buddhism inherits Mahayana’s weakness. Engaged Buddhism is all about having good intentions; it mainly fails to take effective action.

We want to change things; there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the universe, but specific circumstances can be improved.

In the interpersonal balance, relationships that nurture synchronous longings for intimacy and autonomy are sought and treasured. Such relationships nurture growth and exploration of that tension itself and the movement it generates, rather than protecting against that force.

Reciprocity now becomes a matter of at once mutually preserving the other’s distinctness while interdependently fashioning a bigger context in which these separate identities interpenetrate…are co-regulated, and to which persons invest an affection supervening their separate identities. Reciprocity now becomes a matter of both holding and being held, a mutual protection of each partner’s opportunity to experience and exercise both sides of life’s fundamental tension.”

Transcending identification with the product in favor of an orientation to the process that creates the product

A bigger context seems possible where we can seek out the experience by which we might continually alter our forms

As the institutional balance breaks, the person becomes more available to and interested in a kind of sharing and intimacy with others. But intimacy in the next balance is the self’s aim, rather than its source. It involves a self that travels between systems, or exists in the dynamism between them, not in the dynamism between individuals.

Postmodernism (or “poststructuralism”), in its denial of the possibility of judgement and rejection of all “metanarratives” (grounded systems), corresponds to the stage 4.5 nihilistic gap.

Fluidity understands that ethical situations are often inherently nebulous, and in such cases ethical anxiety is unnecessary and unhelpful. It takes ethics to be a matter of collaborative practical improvisation that is responsive to specific situations.

All ideologies are relativized as tools rather than truths. Fluidity treats rationality as a valuable tool that is not always applicable; non-rational ambiguity and paradox become non-problematic. Stage 5 can, therefore, conjure with systems, as animated characters in a magical shadow-play drama.

To stage 3, that sounds cold and distant, but for stage 4, it means seeing the other person for who they really are. Emotions are just something people have, from time to time. Those need to be dealt with, but should not be taken too seriously. Relating to the other person’s principles, projects, and commitments means supporting what they most care about in the longer run. A romantic relationship between systematic people not only tolerates, but respects, and actively supports, their differing values and projects. That is what it means (for stage 4) to be actually in a relationship with another person, rather than losing both your selves in a warm bath of shared feelings.

Legitimate peripheral participation is a more powerful motivation for accurate feedback than money. If a student’s labor contributes to the success or failure of your project, you want to be sure they are doing it right—and so you will scrutinize their work carefully, and give detailed corrective advice.

Networked

I write to make connections among worlds: my inner world, the world of others, and the World.