Category Archives: Life lessons

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Setting intent for performance

I am sitting in a meeting talking about performance management or performance reporting. Performance have therefore been very much in my mind and several diverse ideas are at the moment finding convergence in my mind.  This blog might be jumping around but it reflects how many disjunct thoughts form a backdrop for new thought and progress.

This morning I tweeted a quote from Michal Meier which says: “Ingenuity will do nothing without Labour, and vica versa” and “He that hath not erred hath not begun”.  Performance is not possible without effort. We can not just do the “Work smarter not harder” thing but need to put some effort behind our desire to achieve.  The other important concept highlighted is that true performance require also risk and actual failure. If we have not made mistakes we probably have not really started to get to the core issue, we have not pushed the limits and we have not left our comfort zone. These are all important factors, but it takes courage to put it into practice.

The two quotes above sparked my meditation today and especially the importance of having intent and to put action behind our intent and then evaluating the impact of our actions.  I discovered that the same principle applies to to Feng Shui. The rearrangement of your physical environment accounts for only 20% to 30% of the Feng Shui theory. The more important parts is putting the intent out of what you want to achieve before starting to rearrange the environment and the evaluation and effort you make into realising your intent after you have done the arrangements.  Making a change that is lasting requires both intent and the required labour.

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Being creative 

Once again I  mourn the neglect of my blog.  Once again I am making the resolve to return to daily blogging.  My blogging is not to build up a following even of it is a worthwhile goal.  I need to learn the joy of expressing my life and to process the experiences I have.  What might be mundane for others often is a source of discovery for myself.  I live with the aim of living a quality of life that is independent of circumstances and unperturbed by fate.  In my search I have not lived the best life but I did acquire the tools to live a better life.  The greatest reward is probably that of equanimity.  I face troubled waters without sacrificing my inner peace.  Blogging was always part of the discovery process,  the shifting through ideas and the formulation of what works for me.  I would have liked to follow a more scientific approach but have to be satisfied with the anecdotal conclusion.  At least it can be tested through personal experience.  If lessons learned work for self and is shared it might just be of a blessing to others as well.  Maybe rather than trying to discuss the details in a structured format an automated flow can be used to allow ideas to grow. New ideas are spawned by a free thinking mind that is allowed to go freely in unknown territory. I must just unleash the force of creativity even if it creates havoc in the world we call normal. If I truly belief that man is connected to the Creative then creativity should be allowed through me. 

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Habits for a new year

The day started of well. I have a new vigour for my spiritual or self development. It will be wrong to call is spiritual development since I have lost the distinction made between body and spirit. It is one self and one continuum of being. When you act on the body the spirit is impacted and when you act within the spirit the body is impacted. They are interlinked, fused together for as long as I live the life of a human being. The seperation will only come after “death” when it is time for the big transition where body and spirit seperate ways. But the spirit will yearn again to merge into the material world in order for it to become perfect as a unity that is part of the Unity. It will be arrogant beyond measure to claim that perfection or to think I can find a highway in this life towards that point of perfection. My life is not a pure ray of white light but through virtue and focus the light has become more focused and it is growing in its brightness.

I had become convinced for some time now that to plan in terms of goals and objectives are a bit of a weak strategy if it is devoid of being supported by habit forming. It is habitual action performed consistently that sets the course for achieving objectives and goals. While being on holiday I had the time to play around with different applications on my cell phone and I discovered an app that tracks habits calle habits. It is a simple app where all the things I do want to do is listed and one can keep track of when you have done each habit. Being able to tick of a habit is a boost of good feeling endorphins. Since a habit is different from a task being completed it is also more predictable that a habitual action can be completed. The discipline developed will result in the stanima needed to address the tasks at hand that must be addressed to achieve our objectives and goals.

So my day began with the feeling of success as I could tick of having done my dose of Tai Chi for the day as well as some mystical experiments. They do not only boost my own inner effectiveness for my work enviroment but they form part of the internal alchemy that changes the way I think and act in the world. Developing healthy habits are a powerful way of changing behaviour and I am looking forward to experiment with techniques and methods to develop the habits that have a positive impact on both body and spirit.

 

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Changing towards purpose

Misfortune is the messenger calling on each of us to live with greater awareness, creativity and more purpose. I have found time and time again that when problems strike at the very core of our being, that provides opportunity. Often misfortune is not haphazard but it is something that happens because I have lacked awareness or missed something important. I am human and as a human mistakes are unavoidable. However I do not have to accept mistakes without questioning it’s causes and origin. When we do look at our mistakes with a learning attitude we are bound to improve our lives and make better mistakes than in the past. Yes, better mistakes, because we will realise the error of past mistakes. In order to progress I have learned the importance of making time for a positive discourse with myself. Time to look at who I am, who I want to be and what I would like to achieve. Rather than sitting idly in the morning traffic, I will sit and review my objectives. Not a mere day dreaming but a good inherently positive conversation in my mind between me and myself. Keeping this internal discussion positive is essential. Repetition is conditioning and we must set the pathways in place that we want to travel frequently in our mind. The best pathway will be the most likely route our thoughts will travel. If I do not maintain the most desirable pathways purposefully then those pathways will become disused. So the essential message for me today is to set purposeful time aside for a regular positive conversation with self. This time is dedicated to noble ideal and thoughts that are uplifting and inspirational.

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Navigating the Wizard-Warrior’s path

We are all on a path. The question is how do we determine the quality or value of that path. All paths might be equal in terms of destination but they are not equal in terms of difficulty to traverse it. The Wizard-Warrior does not just select the first possible route and hurries off in that direction. The Wizard-Warrior attempts to see the whole map and plan his journey – he has a method for determining the best path towards his aim. Others accept the first path they were taught or the first one that is acquired after disillusionment destroyed an old path. The Wizard-Warrior understands the concept of equifinality – that many paths can lead to the same end. Therefore the Wizard-Warrior evaluates all the paths, focus on the experiences along the route and select the one best suited for his aim.

Alfred North Whitehead calls the process of finding a way “Speculative Philosophy”. He defines Speculative philosophy as : “The endeavor to frame a coherent, logical, necessary system of general ideas in terms of which every element of our experience can be interpreted (in terms of being applicable and adequate)”. I found in my life that this is a good starting point for evaluating and measuring the our chosen way. It is interesting to observe the tetradic nature of the definition of Speculative philosophy.

The tetrad was introduced by JG Bennett as the fourth-order system within systematics. There is not enough time to give a comprehensive description of the Tetrad. A short introduction must suffice. The Tetrad defines structured activity by combining relativity and order – in short the fourth order system answers the question: “What is happening here and why?”. The answer is gained by defining four sources. Each of the four elements is a separate source of input required to sustain the activity. If any one of the sources lacks the activity cannot persist. “Each source element is separately controllable and the place and time of its entry can be selected to give the required sequence of transformations”. The four terms comes in two pairs. One pair is motivational in nature and answers the question of why things are happening and the other the enabling pair defining what is happening. The motivational pair provides the ordering component of transformation by defining by two sources: Material and Spiritual. Material is the quantitative source elements that spark the activity while Spiritual is the qualitative source elements that completes or fulfills the activity. The enabling pair provides the relativity component of transformation by defining two sources: Masculine and Feminine. The Masculine source represents the theoretical, creative intent which directs the transformation. The Feminine source represents the practical, cohesive intuition which gives form to the transformation.

Note: The link between transformation and the tetrad is of extreme importance to the Wizard-Warrior. Deepak Chopra wrote:

“(The Wizard) is not just somebody that perform magic but someone who can cause transformation”

The key then to defining the Wizard’s path is to understand transformation. The tetrad provides the key for transformation.

Whitehead states that speculative philosophy have two components: the rational and the empirical. The rational is represented by the terms “coherent” and “logical” while the empirical is represented in the terms “applicable” and “adequate”. The system proposed by Whitehead can be translated to the tetrad. The rational equates to the motivational pair of sources which means that ‘coherent’ and ‘logical’ equates to the material and spiritual sources of transforming activity. The empirical equates to the enabling pair of sources which means that the ‘applicable’ and ‘adequate’ equates to the masculine and feminine sources of the tetrad. Coherence refers to the unity of everything. My interpretation of Whitehead is that coherence implies that no path can be defined in isolation but must be defined in terms of the holistic character of the universe. Given the definition provided by Whitehead we must equate coherence with the spiritual source of the Tetrad. Logical is defined in terms of the basic principles and ideas supporting the chosen path in terms of being consistent and lacking in contradiction. I believe that Logical must also include and accept the concept of paradox to be effective as the Material source of the tetrad. Adequacy equates to the masculine source of the Tetrad being defined by Whithead as the requirement that all observed experience must exhibit the same texture (in terms of intent). Applicable relates to the Feminine source of the tetrad where it refers to the ability to interpret observed experience into meaningfulness

Thus the Warrior-Wizard continually focuses on the transformation steps along his path in terms of its coherency, logicalness, adequacy and applicability. Within this framework he sees the best way forward. The Wizard-Warrior realizes that the number of paths he see is directly proportional to his level of being. The Wizard-Warrior therefore continues to refine his process of selection and align it with his inner personal growth.

Sources:

– 1987, Process and Reality, Alfred North Whitehead – ed DR Griffin & DW Sherburne

– 1966, The Dramatic Universe, JG Bennett

– 1993, Elementary systematics, JG Bennett

– 2004, The way of the Wizard, Deepak Chopra

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