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\n <\/a> \"\"<\/span><\/a><\/span>Permalink<\/a> Reply by Pauline Graham<\/a> on July 6, 2010 at 3:41pm<\/span> <\/dt>\n
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Pauline Graham said:<\/cite>
Pauline Graham said:<\/cite>
Matthew Shapiro said:<\/cite>
This issue of \"progress\" reminds me of an exchange I had with Kevin Mattson, who wrote the historical intro to the 1998 edition of The New State. He said that as a postmodernist, he took issue with what he perceived as Follett's idea of an evolutionary journey that had a particular direction. As a student of general evolutionary theory, I disagreed, suggesting that when you look at the longest-term picture, there have been a spiral series of shifts toward both greater differentiation and greater integration in the universe and in human society alike. That while the dangers and wounds from \"progress\" deepen with each era, the benefits and promise increase even more.This is ultimately tied to the mythic concept of a universe (and a life) that is simultaneously challenging, dangerous, and perfect (I use the word \"mythic\" in the spiritual sense, not in the sense of \"imaginary.\") I believe that this crosses us over from science into spirituality, and faith. Faith not in some inevitable golden age, but in our potential to get closer. \"Progress is an infinite advance toward the infinitely receding goal of infinite perfection,\" says Follett in The New State. If that sentence does not capture the essence of the human journey, I don't know what does.Albie M. Davis said:<\/cite>
Tom,You are on to something here. Maybe the paradox of the bondage between \"eds\" and \"ings.\" The ability of Follett to make me think twice about any \"givens.\" I could write a whole book about her one line, \"I always feel intimate with my enemies.\"<\/b><\/i> (New State, 212)I'm taking up way too much space on this forum, so after this, I'll take a vacation for a while, the one I urged Follett to take.As a mediator and mediator trainer, I'm always on the lookout for pithy one-liners to get across a point. Yesterday in the Fox\/Urwick edition, p. 282, I came across another Follett gem, which seems along the lines of your comment, \"That which you pursue evades you . . . \"<\/b>\"Confidence cannot be forced.\"<\/b><\/i>Now, the last page of The New State, p. 360, gives us a sense of where she was heading as she finished off this book, while WWI was still being waged, I believe:\"This book is a plea for the more abundant life: for the fulness of life and the growing life. It is a plea against everything static, against the idea that there need be any passive material within the social bond. It is a plea for a splendid progress dependent upon every splendid one of us.\"<\/b><\/i>My personal thoughts? Although I think Follett's philosophy is timeless and universal in many ways, for better and worse, as an American, she is also \"of our culture,\" and the \"progress paradigm\u201d can be a form of bondage.I\u2019m eager to hear what those not enamored with the concept of \u201cprogress\u201d have to say.Over and out for a month! AlbieTom Let said:<\/cite>
I am reminded of the saying, That which you pursue evades you (and that which you evade pursues you). In that respect, I don't think that pursuing unity is as much of a bondage issue as it is a matter of wasted effort. In other words, you cannot go directly after unity in the same way that you cannot pursue love or friendship by going directly at them. It seems to me that in these cases one would have to first think of the necessary conditions that will have to be met in order to create a situation that is favorable to the creation of love, friendship, unity, or what have you. Take love, for instance. A person complaining about not having any love in his (her) life would be advised that the way to gain love is to follow the dictum that \"the whole world loves a lover.\" In other words, pursue your interests, get involved wholeheartedly in life and love will follow.That issue aside, Albie quotes Follett: Never settle down within the theory you have chosen, the cause you have embraced; know that another theory, another cause exists, and seek that. The enhancement of life is not for the comfort-lover. As soon as you succeed--real success means something arising to overthrow your sercurity.<\/i>Emerson comes to mind with his \"Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.\" However, I would like to bet that Follett, just like Emerson, had a world view that allowed for an Absolute as the background for it all. In that sense, all the flux in their lives--be it inconsistency or lack of adherence to this or that theory--had a secure foothold at the base of their lives.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/div><\/div>\n <\/dd>\n
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