Posts Tagged ‘Agency’

About Enterprise 2.0 and the New World of Work

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

At this moment there is a lot of discussion going on about the New World of Work. In the New World of Work the new developments of the Internet 2.0 (Social Networks, Blogging, Twittering, etc) are used to Speed up the Work of the Knowlegde Worker. The infrastructure to make this possible is called Enterprise 2.0.

Enterprise 2.0 is : A System of Web (2.0)-Based Technologies that provide rapid and agile Collaboration, Information Sharing, emergence and integration capabilities in the Extended Enterprise. An Extended Enterprise is a Supply or Value Chain.

The definition of Enterprise 2.0 is constantly changing because Enterprise 2.0 is still a Concept. Many people are now struggeling to move from the concept/idea-stage to the realization-phase.

The main issue behind de term “Web 2.0” is the move from a Sender/Receiver-model, the One-Sided Website, to a more Collaborative use of the Internet (Discussions, Social Networks). According to the Inventors of the term Web 2.0 the “new web”, is a Collaborative Web.

For some reason they have forgotten that the World Wide Web (WWW) software of Tim Berners Lee was part of a Collaborative Platform to support the scientists that Participated in a Network called DARPANET. This network was created by DARPA, the Technological Think-Tank of the American Army in 1957!.

What is the definition of the term “Collaboration”?

The word “collaborate” comes from the Latin “Collaboratus” meaning “Work (Labore) together (Col)”. The term “to-gather” comes from the term “gadurojan” which means “in good fellowship” or “United“. When you Collaborate you are not working Alone but with Others United in Good Fellowship.

The Potential to Collaborate is an Aspect of the Personality.

The Personality Types of the Human Being can be described with two variables Agency and Communion. Comm-Union is the capability to Col-Laborate, to accomplish a Union. The variable Agency describes your relationship between the Self and the Other.

When you are High in Communion and Low in Agency you are suffering from a Dependent Personality Disorder. This disorder is characterized by a pervasive psychological dependence on other people. You always want to Collaborate and are very Emotional.

When you are High in Communion and High in Agency you are suffering from a Histrionic Personality Disorder. People with a Histrionic Personality Disorder have good social skills, but they tend to use these skills to manipulate other people to become the Center of Attention. They are very Imaginative.

According to Interpersonal Theory a “normal” person is able to Combine Two or More Interpersonal Faculties.

There are two Disorders left called Paranoid (High Agency, Low Communion) and Schizophrenic (Low Agency, Low Communion). Paranoid people have a big problem with their Expectation. They want to control the Future and Every Person in their Context. Schizophrenic people are completely influenced by their mostly Visual Senses. They See what they Want to See.

If you combine the Four Interpersonal Faculties (Emotions, Imagination, Expectations and Senses) Twelve Interpersonal, Collaborative, Patterns emerge. A good example is the Master(Paranoid)/Slave(Dependent)-Relationship (Expectation/Emotions). Some People Love to be Dominated by the Other.

Interpersonal Faculties can be combined into Collaborative Work Patterns.

In my blog about Vocation I showed that work is an Expression of the Personality. If you believe this is True and you believe Interpersonal Theory is True you have to admit there are Twelve Types of Work.

When you are highly Imaginative and Sensitive (You Believe Your Own Eyes, You are Realistic, Factual) you are an Entrepreneur, You want to bring An Idea into Reality. To Find the Facts you need an Information System to Investigate what is Happening. The Internet with all its Sources of Information is a beautiful tool to use.

To bring an Idea into Practice you have to Realize the Idea. In this case you need a Designer (Transform Ideas into Models) and a Maker (Bring Models into Reality). A Maker is not a Collaborative person (Low Communion). Makers want to work Alone.

When you create a Team of Makers to Realize your Idea the Team will fail. To avoid Competition the Designer has to define a Model (An Architecture and a Project Plan) in which all the Lonesome Workers are able to do their Specialized Job.

I hope you believe we are able to define a complete (meta)-Architecture and a (meta)-Plan to move around in the (meta)-Work-Space.

What is the Relationship between the Work Patterns and Enterprise 2.0?

An Enterprise is a combination of many people with many Collaborative Work-patterns. We could Specialize an Enterprise to perform one kind of Pattern. If we Specialize an Enterprise we have to combine many Enterprises in an Extended Enterprise to do Everything we Want to Do.

We need a Designer Company, A Sales Company, Visionairs, Entrepeneurs and other Roles to cover the Complete Spectrum of Work. If We want to Produce we always need the Makers. The Makers need a well defined Structure (A Hierarchy), a Plan and an Architecture, to operate in.

At this moment Enterprise 2.0 is nothing but a Concept. Somebody of High Agency and High Communion (A Creator) has gotten the Idea that the new 2.0 Internet is able to support an Enterprise.

 He hopes that the new tools will break down the Hierarchical Structure of the Organization of the Makers. Creators don’t like Hierarchies. They love Networks. If Creators are One-Sided, Histrionic, they want to Stay in the Center of Attention of the Network.

What Creators don’t realize is that Makers, the Majority of the Human Beings,  don’t want to use Collaborative Tools. They want to work Alone in their own Specialized Compartment of the Beehive.

Enterprise 2.0 is a Concept to support Innovation. Someday the Innovation has to be Stabilized. If we want to do that we still need Enterprise 1.0, The Factory until we find another Solution (The Robots?).

Don’t forget the Worker Bees. They Bring in the Honey.

About Boundaries

Friday, December 5th, 2008

chinese wall

Our skin, the sea, rivers and mountains are natural boundaries. They are just there.

The sexes, borders, the social classes, age, color of the skin and educational levels are Imaginary Boundaries.

They move in Space and Time.

They exist because Humans believe they exist. Boundaries are often created to Protect a Territory from an Outside Enemy.

When you want to create a Territory you have to Split a Whole and Surround the Piece of the Whole you want to Protect.  When you are Self-Sufficient you don’t need the Outside. The Fence becomes a complete Closure.

When you have to cooperate with the Outsiders you need a Hole, a Gate, in the Boundary.  The Gate is the most vulnerable part of the protective Wall. To avoid big trouble you have to Protect the Gate.

court of the lions alhambra

The Center of Power, the Palace, was always surrounded with a Wall and a Gate. The palace was protected by a Capital with a Wall and a Gate that was finally protected by natural or human made Boundaries (Walls, Fences, Stories, and Myths).

The Romans Emperors went even further to create and support “in-dependent” States that surrounded the Empire outside of its Frontier. The most impressive example of a protective system of Walls within Walls is the Chinese Wall.

When you are Outside the protective boundary you to have take care of yourself. To do this you need a Portable Personal Boundary (an Armour).

Of course the best way to solve your problem is to find help, create a new distinction (The Outsiders) and organize your own territory.

You can even do this when you are part of the territory of the Others by creating an Imaginary Boundary, a Culture. If you keep quiet “they” will accept you until you become a Threat. At that time comes you are caught within the Walls. A Protective Wall can suddenly turn into an Offensive Wall when you want to get out.

A Boundary is named a Set in Mathematics and a Container in Linguistics. When we cut a Set in two pieces (Sub-sets), the Boundary is shared. The boundary belongs to both sub-sets and therefore shares the properties of both Sets. When you split a Whole (1) in two parts four parts are created: the distinction, two parts and the Whole.

The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things (Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 42).

The Boundary is not a part of the parts but it is a part of the Whole. When you investigate a Boundary you are able to find out what both sides of the equation shared before they were cut in to pieces. When we investigate the Reason behind a Boundary we are able to understand what happened a long time ago. When you combine all the Imaginary Boundaries you are able to detect the history of the spitting of the Whole of the Whole.

Two Bodies don’t share a boundary. Even when the Bodies are in close contact there is something in-between, the Skin. When the two bodies are in love, they are trying to find the closest contact that is possible.

Solid entities are unable to share a boundary. The best they can do is to create a close contact. Solid entities are their boundary. Your Body is what You are. Fluids and Gasses adjust to their Boundary.  In a fluid and a gas we are still able to detect distinct entities (molecules).

sufi2

In a fluid they are loosely connected. In a gas they are freely floating around. When you experience your Boundary as a solid, you are stuck. When you experience your Boundary as a Gas you have complete freedom to move.

It all depends on the Temperature of your Boundary. When you Interact with many People the Temperature will Rise. When you Isolate yourself the Temperature will Drop Down and your Boundary will turn into a Prison.

If we look at the history of the splitting process it looks like the wholes were splitted without any reason. It just happened. When we analyze the process a pattern emerges. This pattern is cyclic, leveled and self-referential. The process is almost invisible because every word (or name) we utter directs attention and carves out a portion of the world, a Boundary.

When we stop talking and erase the many imaginary named boundaries things become very clear. The world becomes just what it is.

When we use mathematics (no words, only symbols), things become much simpler (or more difficult for You).

Spencer Brown (About the Law of Forms) created a new Fundamental Mathematical Theory called Boundary Mathematics. In this theory he uses two concepts Empty Space, the Void, Non-Existence, and Boundaries or Distinctions. Boundaries are the result of a merger of boundaries or are created by splitting a higher level boundary.

When we split a boundary into two boundaries or merge two boundaries new forms are created. A splitted circle becomes two lines. A splitted Klein Bottle becomes two complementary Moebius Strips.

When we split the dimensions decrease. When we merge the dimensions increase. Merging and Splitting are fundamental forces of nature. When we split our possibilities decrease. When we merge our possibilities increase.

sunset3

Two forms merge when they get into close contact (Communion, Love). A form splits when it is hit by another form (a Collision). When you cooperate the amount of opportunities will increase. When you compete the amount of opportunities will decrease.

When You create a Boundary there is always an Inside and an Outside. The Inside is the Indentity, You. The Outside are the Others. When we consider the Inside as the Protective Part, the Outside becomes its complement, a fearfull place. When we move Up and reflect we can see that there is no reason to fear the Outside. When we move Up we are always able to see the Whole. There is no need to create an Inside because of fear of the Outside.

A boundary is a closed surface. There are four basic closed surfaces, the Torus (a rotating circle), the Moebius Strip (a twisted circle), The Real Projective Plane (a merger of two Moebius Strips) and the Klein Bottle (a different merger of two Moebius Strips).

When you want to leave the rotating Cycle (Torus) of everyday Life and move into a higher dimension (more possibilities, more perspectives), you have to Twist Yourself and Merge with Yourself. You Twist when you Cross the Cycle of Life and Enter the Cycle of Death. You Merge with Yourself when you integrate the Inside and the Outside, the Up and the Down, the Male and the Female.

“If we then become children, would we thus enter the kingdom?” Jesus said unto them, “When ye make the two one, and when you make the inside like unto the outside and the outside like unto the inside, and that which is above like unto that which is below, and when ye make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male no longer be male nor the female female; and when ye fashion eyes in place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will ye enter into the kingdom.” (Gospel of Thomas, Logion 22).

GalahadGrail

In the beginning was the Void. If was full of Potential, Closed in itself, Totally Aware, Nameless, just a Boundary. The first split was the creation of the split. The Split immediately created its complement, The Merge because the Void is the Union of Complements. The next split created the Inside and the Outside.

The Void retreated in the Outside, the Darkness of Darkness, and gave the Inside, the Protected Boundary, permission to split again and again and again knowing that it would finally return to the Outside. The Splitting and Merging (Communion) of a Boundary and the movement of the Protected Inside (Agency) to the Dark Outside are all part of one movement, the final return to the Void.

The Tao that can be told

is not the eternal Tao

The name that can be named

is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.

Naming is the origin

of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.

Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations

arise from the same source.

This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.

The gateway to all understanding.

First Line of the Tao Te Ching 

lancelot

You are protected by a personal boundary, Your Personality. The personality behaves in the same way as other Boundaries. You, Your Consciousness, is able to Commune (Split and Merge), move to the Inside (You) and the Outside (the Other).

When you Protect the Inside with an Armour you will always be Alone. To communicate you have to create a Hole, A Gate. You often look through this tiny Hole into the Dark Outside World hoping someone is there to help You.

What You don’t realize is that The One is always waiting in the Darkness of the Darkness to open the Gate to the Void that contains the Infinite Potential, that is You.

LINKS

Why an Event is not a Collision

Images of Splitted Boundaries

About The Law of Forms and Mysticism

About the Midlife Crisis

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

bankersThe Amount of Trust you are able to give to an other is based on your experience with others. During his life a human develops a Trust-Pattern.

Every time when something goes wrong this pattern is evaluated and adjusted.

 When the pattern is highly predictable it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. The prophesy controls the behavior of a person. This behavior is called the personality.

According to Interpersonal Theory there are two variabels that explain a person’s personality. These variables are called Communion (Connected vs Disconnected) and Agency (I vs the Other(s)). Psychopathologic Behavior occurs when a Human reacts according to only one variable. You are Paranoid (Extremely Dominant) when you always react out of High Agency. You want to Control everything and everybody.

Agency generates Correspondent behavior. A highly Dominant person is not able to create a fruitfull relationship with another Dominant person. They always end up in a Conflict. Low Agency (Friendliness) invites Friendliness. Friendly people always Avoid a Conflict.

Communion generates Reciprocal behavior. Disconnected, Low Communion, Humans, Love to be Dominated (High Agency) and Connected, High Communion, Adults love to Care for Humans with a Low Self-esteem (Low Agency).

bank clerkThe level of Communion and Agency changes with Age. A child starts its life with a high level of Communion. It is highly dependent on his parents.

In the phase of Puberty the Agentic variable rises. The child wants to explore the Self and disconnects the relationship with the Caretaker(s) and starts to Explore the outside world.

At the end of this phase Adulthood is reached. Later in life the level of Communion rises again and the level of Dominance lowers again. Old people become dependent on the help of others and are mostly more tolerant.

When we combine the waves of Communion and Agency in Life, we are able to define the Four Stages of the Human Life Cycle.

tellerbankThe first stage (Childhood) ends when the Down path of Communion crosses the Up path of Agency.

The second stage (Adulthood) ends when Agency is Up and the Communion is Down.

In the third stage (MidLife) the second crossing appears (Down Agency, Up Communion). Life ends in the same state it started (High Communion, Low Agency, Old Age).

Humans apply the concepts of Personality and Life-Cycle to Everything that is Acting (Organisms (Cat, Cow, ), Organizations,  and Forces (Sun, Wind))).

So Let’s apply these Concepts to the Financial Industry.

The Agency of the Financial Industry is High so they must have passed the state of Childhood, Puberty and Adulthood. The Communion of the Financial Industry is very Low. If we look at the Life Cycle Model we must conclude they are in or have entered the Stage MidLife.

What Happens when You Enter MidLife?

capitlistPictSome people experience a so called Mid-Life-Crisis.

Individuals experiencing a Mid-Life Crisis know that the Downfall is going to happen soon. They are unable to confront reality and Regress to the State of Puberty.

They start to gamble, abuse alcohol or drugs, buy unusual or expensive items, are depressive and pay special attention to their physical appearance. They want to be Young again.

Bankers are Gambling with Your money, aquire many unusual and expensive items (Cars, Clothing) and pay a lot of attention to their physical appearance (Buildings). They do Everything to Impress their Customers.

Why has the Financial System moved into a Midlife Crisis?

When you enter a Midlife Crisis you suddenly come aware of the fact that Life is very Boring. You are doing the same thing day after day. Normal Banking is boring. Its about moving money that is saved by people to people who need money. When Bankers found out Banking is really a simple process they started to invent exiting processes to become Young again.

bankerYou have to admit that gambling is very exiting when you discover a Way to Gamble and Never Lose called Financial DerivativesForex Academy has a whole course dedicated to that these days, for those curious, this is a godsend. The knowledge to make money from betting on financial markets is out there.

What to do with a person who is in a Midlife Crisis?

The only way to move out of a Midlife Crisis is to Accept Life As It Is. If you are bored in your work find something outside your work (a hobby) or look for another job.

What Has to be the Next Step?

Banks have to return to their Core Business. They have to Accept Savings and give Credit in a Predictable Way. This is the only way to give people and companies the feeling they are able to Trust a Bank. Life is really Simple.

LINKS

A Website about the MidLife Crisis

How to solve an Addiction to Gambling

About Financial Risk Management

How to Solve the Banking Crisis

About Ponzi Schemes in the Financial Industry

About Financial Bubbles

About the Games Played in the Financial Industry

Why the Financial Crisis is still not ended 

About the Left and the Right Brain

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

The human brain is divided into two, distinct cerebral hemispheres connected by the corpus callosum.

The sides resemble each other, and, generally, each hemisphere’s structure is mirrored by the other side, yet, despite the strong similarities, the functions of each hemisphere are very different.

Linear reasoning and language functions such as grammar and vocabulary often are lateralized to the left hemisphere of the brain.

In contrast, holistic reasoning language functions, the transduction of visual and musical stimuli, such as spatial manipulation, facial perception and artistic ability are functions of the right hemisphere.

People who were more active in the left frontal brain (right handed) deal with a stressful situation with continued optimism. Right brained (left handed) people are much faster at recalling memories of negative events. They’re more prone to depression.

Left frontal person are a little more extroverted, more willing to take social risks, because they’re driven by the opportunity for positive things. Where the person who’s right frontally activated are more driven by avoiding more negative things.

 The winner of The Nobel Prize in Medicine 1981, Roger W. Sperry made some of the most profound discoveries in neuroscience when he showed that the two sides of our brain can be independently conscious.

 In the 1960s, surgeons developed a procedure to cut the nerve bundle that normally connects the two hemispheres as a last resort to control difficult cases of epilepsy.

Before this, the classic view of the brain was that the left brain dominated thinking and was primarily the seat of language, analysis, and high-level learned motor skills. The right, or “minor,” hemisphere was considered less highly evolved and unable to understand reading or speech.

When Sperry started testing patients with split brains, he and other scientists were surprised. He found that not only could these patients continue to carry on most everyday functions after the two hemispheres were disconnected, but that the right brain wasn’t as word-deaf and word-blind as once thought.

It wasn’t as advanced in language skills as the left, but patients using only their right brains could recognize such sophisticated spoken phrases as “a measuring instrument,” and could spell three- and four-letter words.

Also, in split brain patients, both sides of the brain were clearly conscious, even when they weren’t aware of what the other side was seeing, hearing or thinking. While the two sides of the brain obviously worked in tandem when they were connected, they could operate independently if necessary.

When Children are born without a corpus callosum the hemisphere is able to divide itself in a right and left function.

Lesley J. Rogers and Gisela Kaplan (Comperative Vertebrate Cognition (2004, Kluwer)) show that the specialisation of the left hemisphere is highly conserved throughout evolution. On an evolutionary scale, this anatomy can be traced from primates to birds, rodents, reptiles, amphibians and fish and even insects.

Across the animal kingdom, the left brain processes complex tasks, like collecting food. It’s the side of the brain that gets animals out and doing things. The right brain deals with threats, like predators. It’s the defensive side.

When we zoom into one hemisphere we see a fractal pattern emerge. The hemispheres are divided into lobes that are focused on the right or the left.

Left Thread Right Thread
Particular General
Local (but to achieve the precision we need a single context, we move to the UNIVERSAL to recruit universal constants) Non-Local (BUT context sensitivity is local and so very diverse)
Objects Relationships
The ONE The MANY
Precise (quantitative precision) Approximate (qualitative precision)
What (Who,Which) Where (How, When)
Tonic Harmonic
Internal Linkage (within) External Linkage (Between)
Syntax/Semantics Semantics/Percepts
Single Context Multi Context
Exagerate, Distort, AS INTERPRETED AS-IS
Known Unknown
Ordered Disordered (or loosly ordered – the ‘everyday’)
Non-Change (need stability for high precision) Change
Ordinality (emphasis on directions – vectors) Cardinality (emphasis on magnitudes – scalars)
What IS What IS NOT
delusion illusion
repression supression
What WAS What COULD HAVE BEEN
What WILL BE What COULD BE
+1/-1 zero/infinity
Text Context
Foreground Background
Quantitative Qualitative
Expression Behind Expression
Self Others
The Dot The Field
Particle Interpretations Wave Interpretations
Metonymy (part-for-whole) Metaphor (whole-for-whole)
Axon-like (pulse, FM = SEQUENCE, Ordinality) Dendrite-like (wave amplitude, AM = SIZE, Cardinality)
neuron synaptic ‘soup’
dopamine biased (internal linkage emphasis, internal integrity) serotonin biased (external linkage emphasis, social integrity)
psychosis, schizophrenia neurosis, depression
identify re-identify
blend, bound (feeling terms for whole, parts) bond, bind (feeling terms for statics, dynamics)
Vectoring Waypointing

The divide between the Left and the Right can also be found in psychopathology. According to Interpersonal Theory all pyschological problems can be explained by two factors called Communion (Right) and Agency (Left).

Interpersonal Theory explains all the extremes in the human personality with ease.

I started my research for this blog because I wanted to learn more about MU.

Mu was according to legend the original home of mankind. All subsequent civilizations descended from it. The Pacific islands and their inhabitants are supposed to be the last survivors of this primordial motherland. Most of the time Mu is related to the Pacific Ring of Fire.

One of the most interesting books about Mu were written by James Churchward. Chuchward served with the British Army for thirty years. He claimed that, while posted in India, he befriended a priest (‘Rishi’), who revealed to him ancient tablets written in an otherwise unknown language.

The Rishi taught Churchward how to read this language, Naacal. The tablets described the land of Mu. He also claimed that he was able to discern writing from Mu on a mysterious set of tablets discovered in Mexico by an explorer named William Niven.

What is the relationship between Mu and the Left/Right-division in our brain?

Churchward has spend most of his life collecting symbols and comparing these symbols to find the root, Mu. He explains his research in The Sacred Symbols of Mu (1933).

 If you study the “symbolism of Mu” you will find the Left/Right-division and the Left/Right-fractal everywhere. It was called Male and Female in every culture he researched.

 The second level of the fractal (2×2. LR, LL, RR, RL) were called the Four Forces and they were combined with the Union (a small circle) in the middle. The second level generates the symbol of the cross and the swastika.

If we translate the Left and the Right into a zero and a one the fractal generates on the third level the patterns of the I Ching.

He ends his book with a citation of his Rishi Master: “My son, the brain of man is his storehouse for knowledge, but the holding capacity of this storehouse is limited.

Therefore, never put anything into it that is not valuable for your spiritual progress, or that which is not absolutely necessary for the development and continuance of your material body to the end of this incarnation, in order to prepare for your entrance into the world beyond.

Learn and store the wisdom of the teachings of nature, for nature is the great school house for attaining wisdom, nature is God’s voice speaking.

Materialism, generally, is not worth storing, only that which appertains to the elevation of your mind and soul, that which will raise you to a higher plane, thus preparing you for the continuance of your life in the world beyond, a step in your eternal life.

And remember, that when you enter the world beyond, you will leave all materialism behind. You can take nothing with you, nor will you remember anything about it, only Love you will remember, for Love, like your soul, is everlasting, it cannot die.

Approach the Heavenly Father with full confidence and love. His loving arms are always stretched out to welcome you. If you slip or fall by the way, yet approach Him in confidence and penitence, He will forgive and welcome you because He, Himself, is all Love“.

This is exactly what Roger W. Sperry tried to explain to the world when he reflected on his own discovery.

Do you want to know more about the Right Brain view this video:

LINKS

The Sperry Lecture

How the US could Move Out of the Drama Triangle: About Games People Play

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

George Lakoff wrote very interesting books about Metaphors. At this moment Lakoff his main subject is US politics. In an article called the Metaphors of Terror he analyzes the “framing” of the US Government in his “battle” against Terrorism that started at 9/11.

The initial framing was as a “crime” with “victims” and “perpetrators” to be “brought to justice” and “punished.” The crime frame entails law, courts, lawyers, trials, sentencing, appeals, and so on”. Later “crime” changed to “war” with “casualties,” “enemies,” “military action,” “war powers,” and so on. Later “Evil” was added. “To stand up to evil you have to be morally strong. If you’re weak, you let evil triumph, so that weakness is a form of evil in itself, as is promoting weakness. Evil is inherent, an essential trait, that determines how you will act in the world. Evil people do evil things“.

The most important change in the framing is the move to Religion. I think and many people with me this was a very dangerous move. It revived the time of the Crusades. The move to Religion correlates with the strong influence of the Conservative Religious movement in the US. They were already for a long time in the “Crusade Mode”.

Lakoff shows that the role of the parent in childhood determinates the distinction between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans are in favor of the Strict Father (or Parent). Democrats like the Nurturing Father.

Parents were born as Children. Children often take over the behavior of the parents when they raise their own children even when the children did not like this behavior at all. The first reason is copying but there is more at stake.

When you look at Interpersonal Theory (Why a Slave needs a Master) the Strict Father is high in Agency (the Self) and the Nurturing Father combines Agency and Communion (The Other). He is able to create an “internal” bridge. The Strict Parent is unable to commune. He is unable to give intimacy, warmth, closeness, social support and love to the Child. The child is “left Alone“.

The Child has to start his life high in Communion. It needs to be Taken Care of. When the Parents are unable to give Intimacy the Child cannot receive Intimacy when he is an Adult. He or She is unable to create a stable relationship of Compassion.He or She moves from relationship to relationship or when he/she is living in a Strictly Moral Environment sustains a relationship that is not “Taking Care” of the Children. History repeats itself.

The next move in Life is the state of the Senses (Communion/Agency). This state ends in the Ego-State (Puberty). Many people don’t want to leave this state because they don’t like the Responsibilities that are connected to the next State.

When they become a Parent they have to move. They can move to the Nurturing State (Communion, Self AND Other) or to the Strict Parent State (Agency, Self). If they don’t know how to Commune there is only one state possible, The Strict Parent. Again History Repeats itself.

The Adult State is the State in the Middle or the Center (Balance, Harmony, Conscioussness). It can be reached when people Take the Time to Reflect (Look Inside).

At this moment almost everything we do is directed at the opposite, Look Outside (TV, Movie, Games, …). The Media take so much time that many people have no time left to “Observe” or “Step Out of” their own situation.

Children and Adults are always Playing Games. One of the psychologists that has analyzed Adult Games is Eric Berne. He created Transactional Analysis.

Berne presented his theories in two popular books: Games People Play (1964) and What Do You Say After You Say Hello? (1975). The most famous book was I’m OK, You’re OK (1969) written by Berne’s longtime friend Thomas Anthony Harris.

Will McWhinney analyzed Two Persons games. Berne discovered also three person games (Triangles).

One of the most dysfunctional triangular games is The Drama Triangle (Stephen Karpman).

Each point on the triangle represents a common and ineffective response to conflict, one more likely to prolong disharmony than to end it. Participants in the Drama Triangle create misery for themselves and others.

Each player in this particular mind game begins by assuming one of three archetypical roles: Victim, Rescuer, or Persecutor.

  • Victims are helpless and hopeless. They deny responsibility for their negative circumstances, and deny possession of the power to change them.
  • Rescuers are constantly applying short-term repairs to a Victim’s problems, while neglecting their own needs.
  • Persecutors blame the Victims and criticize the enabling behavior of Rescuers, without providing guidance, assistance or a solution to the underlying problem

The ‘switch’ is then when one of these having allowed stable roles to become established, suddenly switches role. The victim becomes a persecutor, and throws the previous persecutor into the victim role, or the rescuer suddenly switches to become a persecutor (“You never appreciate me helping you!”).

It is not difficult to see that the Persecutor plays the Strict Father Role. Most of the time the Mother plays the Victim and the Child acts as the Rescuer (The Nurturing Child).

Later the Model of Berne was extended into a Five Factor model (The Tokyo University Egogram). It contains the Nurturing Parent, the Critical Parent (Strict Father), the Adult, Adapted Child (Victim) and the Natural Child (Nurturing Child).

According to my insights A Five Factor Model is a complete model. According to Berne the Adult is “in the Now”. This proves to me that this part could be called Consciousness.

Now it is time to move back to US Politics.

I am convinced The US is Playing Roles in a very complicated Drama Triangle. In this triangle all the players are constantly switching roles.

The Role of the Victims is played by the PEOPLE of the Islamic Countries. The US is constantly switching between the role of the Rescuer AND the Persecutor (“You never appreciate me helping you!”).

The US as a Rescuer implements Short-Term Repairs, ”Capitalism”. Capitalism destroyes Islamic Culture based on the Nurturing Father metaphor (Family, Taking Care of the Other) . Kapitalism stimulates Individualism (Ego). It dis-connects people from a Whole.

Not everybody in the Islamic Countries applies the Nurturing Father Metaphor. The Islamic Conservative Religious Movement has a lot in common with the US Conservative Religious Movement. They are the people that want to fight the Holy War again. I don’t think both of them really see that the (poor) People are always the victims.

As a Rescuer the US helps Islamic Strict Fathers (Iraq, Saddam Hoessein) but it also acts as a Persecutor when it destroyes the same Strict Fathers. The US helped Saddam Hoessein and later destroyed him. They also helped the Taliban and is now destroying them.

All the time the People that lived in these countries were and are the real Victims. Some of them Move into a very Special Victim State, they Kill ThemSelves (Suicide Bommers). When you want to Kill Your Self you are really desperatly asking for Communion.

The People in the Islamic Countries believe that when you Offer Your Self you will reach the Ultimate Place of Communion, Heaven. The Strict Islamic Fathers confirm this believe. The Nurturing Fathers in the Islamic Community (The Mystics, Sufi) tell another Story. The believe just like the Mystics in the West (The Essenes) that the Love for the Other is crucial.

Could it be that US never left the Puberty State?

If this is the Case it Explains a Lot to me. It Explains the Enormous Amount of food People Eat and the need to Add Sugar. It explains the US Porno Cult. It explains the most Crazy City on Earth: Las Vegas where every building is A Game in an Adventure-Game. It explains The Cowboy Culture and it explains the Excessive Waste of Energy. It also explains the Exageration: Big Cars, Big Buildings, Being the Best and the Biggest.

It also shows the Way Forward.

The US has to accept that is now an ADULT Country and has to accept the Responsibility of this State.

It could start by accepting US Culture as a FUSE between many cultures that came out of The East (India), Africa (Slaves), Europe, East America (mainly Mexico) and of course its Indian Heritage (Harmony and Nature).

The US could except that its Own Culture is a Self-Reference of the World Culture.

Is it Possible to Leave a Drama Triangle?

When we use the Five Factor Model and move to China we are able to find a solution. The most important strategy in Chinese martial arts is to Refuse to Support your Attacker.

The first step is to Move into the Center. In terms of the TA Model “Become Aware”.

Use your consciousness. Resist the Temptation to play an Exaggerated and Complementary role to a Victim, Rescuer or Persecutor.

Understand that you are not fighting a Person (A CAUSE) but you are in a State (EGO).

The force you are fighting is trying to move you out of the state of Awareness.

In the Centre you can help the other with giving them awareness and performing Enlightened actions (Out of the Heart).

If we move back to US Policy we have to find where the Consciouss of the US can be found.

The Consciousness can be found in the Press.

The Consciousness can be found in its History.

The Consciousness can be found in Law and Justice.

The Consciousness can be found in the Congress.

The Consciousness can be found in the UnConsciousness (Dreams).

The Consciousness can be found in the Arts and Music (Culture).

One of these has to Move to the Centre and Resist the Temptation to Support the Attacker (Ego).

The last thing I want to tell is that I love the people of the US. I travelled the country from East to West and from North to South. Almost everybody I spoke did not like what the System was doing. They wanted a change but they did not know how. The feeling that the System has taken over Control is something that many people in the West (also the Netherlands) are feeling. They feel extremely Powerless.

The only thing we can do is support all the people all over the World that are from the Heart. The Times are Always Changing and at a certain moment the Age of Aquaris (Love will Steer the Stars) will certainly come. It is just a matter of time.

LINKS

About Addiction and Burn-out

About Inter-personal Psychology 

About Life Stories

Monday, October 1st, 2007

When you want to build a Story-Based-Game the best way to interview is to ask people about their Life-story. Let us first have a look at the The Foley Center.  The Foley Center of Northwestern University is specialized in Life Stories.

Dan P. McAdams of the Foley Center uses Agency and Communion as the major “modalities in the existence of living forms“. These two modalities may be viewed as two thematic clusterings in life narratives, each articulating important life goals, strivings, needs, and desires”.  When I read the articles of McAdams it was not difficult to see that he was using Interpersonal Theory .

Because I was able to map Interpersonal Theory to The Theory of Will McWhinney . I was able to to open up a huge potential to litterally Play with Life Stories. Will has also mapped his World Views to Games Levels.

When you consider a Life Story as a Narrative a mapping to the Theory of Bakhtin about Chronotopes is also very helpful.

When you use the concept of the Chronotope you will see that a life-story takes Place in a named Time/Place-continuum (A House, The Office,). So not only ask When an Event took place but also Where it took place. A place is are very important factor in a life story. Many people remember the atmosphere of a Place. The House I was born felt Warm and Cosey. In my office I felt Alone.

When we had a look at the thoughts of Bahktin about Context we realized that we were really trying to describe a Situation and that other Actors in the Situation also plaid an important Role (Father, Mother, Manager, …..). So not only ask Where and When but also Who was playing an important Role.

Many people are unable to make a distinction between the Self (I AM) and the Role they are playing in a Situation. This is an important cause of conflicts. When you are a Manager you have to play the Manager and not be the Manager.

A life story is a Sequence of Situations that are always started by a CRITICAL Event. There a many ways to classify Events but a simple classification is a high point, a low point or a turning point.

In his book Paths of Change Will explains that there a many “Strategies” to change a life and of course a Life Story. Every connection of a World View to another World View can be considered a Change, a Conflict, a Game or a Dialogue.

An Event is related to the the World View Sensory. Sensory People view the world as a Causal Chain. When an Event takes place the Emotions come into play. Emotions are related to the Social World View.

According to Nico Frijda:

  • An emotion is usually caused by a person consciously or unconsciously evaluating an event as relevant to a concern that is important; the emotion is felt as positive when a concern is advanced and negative when a concern is impeded.
  •  The core of an emotion is readiness to act and the prompting of plans; an emotion gives priority for one or a few kinds of actions to which it gives a sense of urgency – so it can interrupt, or compete with, alternative mental processes or actions. Different types of readiness create different outline relationships with others
  • An emotion is usually experienced as a distinctive type of mental state, sometimes accompanied or followed by bodily changes, expressions, actions“.

Emotions Evaluate a Situation. When they Evaluate a Situation they use a Concern to Priotize. When they are able to priotize with ease or when the Event is Dangerous the Action is Unconscious. When a dangerous event takes place the Reptile Brain starts to work and the only re-actions that are possible are Fight, Flight and Freeze.

When a Major Event happens the priotization becomes Conscious. The Actor has to make a Decision. This decision is crucial for the next step (a new Situation).

When you have a look at (or feel, or listen to, ) Life Stories the Process of Decision Making is the most important factor. Socials always feel what the Others are doing or start to take care. Unities start to manage and want to restore Order. Sensories take care of Themselves (Ego) and Mythics want to restore harmony. What we see here is the Self-refererence of the Model of Will McWhinney. Inside the Emotions the World Views are again at play.

If we know how people Evaluate we are able to learn a lot about their Personality.

When we look at the Chronotopes of Bahktin we also know their Favorite Life Narrative. A Sensory uses the Chronotope of Destiny. His or her life is a sequence of events that are just happening.

A Social uses the Biography, the praise of a public figure who has accomplished something in life. When he has not accomplished anything his life is worthless. He is a total failure.

A Mythic is always searching for something (The Grale). His story is described by the Chronotope of Adventure. Deep inside the Mythic wants to find Rest and Harmony. When he finally finds Rest he feels the urge to move on. Therefore the Life of a Mythic is full of Turning Points.

When we know the Favorite Life Narrative we also know “How to Help“. A Social needs to be re-valuated. He needs a tap on the shoulder. He needs to be praised.

A Sensory has to stop to Wait and See. He needs to do something and learn from his mistakes. Somebody has to tell him that others have made the same mistake and he is able to prevent mistakes by looking (!!) at other life stories of comparable people. The most important persons could be his father or mother. They also have made mistakes and when they just tell their children frankly what they did many children would simply learn from the parents.

I hope you understand why the theory of Roger Schank is so important. His theory is able to help the Unity/Sensory-combination (Experts or Craftsman) and this combination covers about 80% of the people in Western Civilization.

Roger has now created an impressive Virtual School for Children all over the World. He is teaching children to learn a CRAFT again. He is not teaching THEORY but he is giving children the opportunity to ACT in REAL LIFE SITUATIONS. He is teaching them to become a Nurse or an Engineer. Craftmanship is HIGLHY needed in the underveloped countries.

The Virtual School is FOR FREE. It is financed by people who want to take care of the poor children in the World. The Virtual High School is using Games and it able to train Children to move to the level of the University within a very short time (max 8 years). Roger has made connections to Famous Universities in the US. They are also giving away their educational content (again Games developed by Roger Schank!) for free.

Funny enough I was unable to find anybody in the Netherlands who just wanted to try out his Virtual School. Every School and University in The Netherlands is re-inventing the Wheel. This is a Rule. The Dutch Government is spending billions to create something that is already available. This is also a Rule. If you want to know more send me an EMAIL.

About InterPersonal Theory

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

interpersonal

World Views are Perspectives on the Inner and Outer World. “Every man has his own Universe” so there are so many Perspectives as there are (and were) Humans. To communicate we have to decrease the Amounts of Perspectives.

Will McWhinney has found a model that covers most of the perspectives of the Human Being. It contains Four Perspectives circulating around a Center. His model is Self-Referencial (A Fractal) which means that the Model can be Applied on its Self.

It can be expanded to the Infinite Perspectives of all the Humans on Earth by detecting the Right Enfolding of the Fractal Pattern.

When I was working with Will McWhinney on his theory of World-Views I found many theories that could be mapped to his Theory of Change. The World Views proved to be a generic explanation of almost everything. This was a big surprise.

One of the sciences that interested me the most was Psychology. I studied Philosophy, Psychology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics and kept my knowledge of these fields always Up-To-Date.

My main problem with Psychology was the conceptual  mess it was in. I read book after book and all the time new ideas came up. It was fascinating but also frustrating.

Suddenly I found a book that helped me to see everything from one Perspective. The book contained a Model and I was able to Map the model to the World Views with ease.

The book I found was Horowitz, L. M. (2004). Interpersonal foundations of psychopathology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Interpersonal theory looks at the world from the perspective of Relationships.

According to attachment theorists, the infant’s attachment system keeps the child close and connected to the adult, thereby increasing the child’s chances of surviving infancy. As children come to feel sufficiently secure in their attachment to the caretaker, they separate from the caretaker and explore the environment, a first step toward autonomy.

When a person initiates an interaction with another person, the other assumes that the behavior is motivated (purposeful). When an important goal is satisfied, the person experiences a positive emotion; when it is frustrated, the person experiences a negative emotion like sadness or anger.

Internal motivations can be conflicting. This can result in serious mental disorders. The interpretation of the motivation of the other is often ambiguous leading to misunderstanding and even conflict. To resolve these potential conflicts an open dialogue is necessary where people make their motives clear to others (and themselves).

Motivational constructs (desire, motive and personal striving) can be conceptualized in two very broad, abstract categories, namely, Communion and Agency.

A Communal motive is a motive for a connection with one or more others; it is a motive to participate in a larger union with other people. A communional motive can range from Indifferent (no connection) to Love (a complete connection).

An Agentic motive, on the other hand, emphasizes the self as a distinct unit; it focuses on the person’s own individual influence, control, or mastery over the self, other people, and the environment. An agentic motive can range from Dominating to Submitting.

Interpersonal behavior can be described with the so-called Interpersonal Circumplex (a Cycle). This is a widely tested model that predicts the reaction of a person to a Motive (a combination of agency and communion) of the other.

The motivational behavior of a person is more or less determined in his youth. People that are extreme in the connection/agency-matrix (e.g. indifferent to the other, too dependent, very dominant or submissive) are unable to work in a collaborative manner. They are Psychopathic.

Interpersonal Theory is very helpful to understand relationships.

interpersonal2

The Interpersonal Circumplex or Interpersonal Cycle suggests that there are Infinite Types of Relationships. Some of them are named (Friendly, Dominant) most of them are not named.

When two persons are reacting according to the complementary expected behavior of the Other they feel “Related“. A highly dominant partner, a Master, needs a highly submissive partner, a Slave,  and vice versa.

By using the World Views Interpersonal Theory can be easily mapped to other Psychological Subjects like Learning. When we use the method of Mapping it can also be transformed to Art, History, Ecology, Mathematics and Physics.

To use the Four World Views (Unity, Sensory, Social and Mythic) we have to Map the Matrix of Horowitz to the Matrix of McWhinney .

Sensory people (Experts) are disconnected from their Self (Ego-istic). They are focused on the Senses (Facts).  An addiction to the Senses is called Schizophrenic.

Mythic (Artist)  is a Union with the Self. Mythic people are highly Imaginative and Creative. An addiction to the imagination is called Histrionic.

Social is a Union with Others. Social people are highly Emotional and influenced by the Other (Status). An addiction to the emotions is called Dependent.

A Unity (Master) is disconnected from the Self. Unity people want to control the Future. They are planning and expecting. An addiction to Control is called Paranoid.

Consciousness, the Observer,  the Center of the Cycle, is a Balance between Communion and Agency. People that are Constantly Out of Balance are called Neurotic.

What is Happening?

Paths of Change explains why Life is a Paradox.  It is a Paradox because the World Views are completely independent. They are valid ways of Looking At the World.

Normal” people combine Two or more Worldviews and are able to Switch from one View to the Other but they always look with one View at the Time.

Normal” people are mentally ill but we don’t see their illness because they are Switching all the time.

The Switch is called a Relation in Interpersonal Theory.  It connects two parts that are disconnect and will always be disconnect.

Is there a Structure behind this Structure?

Behind the Four WorldViews lies a much simpler structure. This structure contains just Two Views, the View of Control and the View of Desire.

Control is the proces of Compression. Control makes thing simple and essential. It brings everything back to the Void, the state of Infinite Potential.

Desire is the process of Expansion. Expansion makes things more complex. It generates an infinite amount of new combinations. It moves away from the Infinite Potential.

Control and Desire are Complementary Powers. When they join they are annihilated. If this happens They combine and become the Void again.

Control and Desire are constantly moving around the Void to A-Void that they move back to the state of the No-Thing, that is Every Thing.

The Four Views are nothing but Four Combinations of the Two that are Avoiding the Void which is the Center, the Connector, the Relation, the Switch, between Every Thing.

LINKS

A website about Interpersonal Theory

About the Interpersonal Circumplex

About Learning and Interpersonal Theory

About WorldViews

About the Void and The Logic of Creation

About Wordviews and the History of Literature

About WorldViews and the Cycle of History

About Mapping