self-other differentiation & ways of relating Heresies self-other differentiation & ways of relating My presentation draws upon a) social constructionist arguments about self/other relations, processes of social construction, changed notions of epistemology, ontology and power eg Gergen, Harre, family systems... + b) discussions of the history of ideas, especially Morris Berman: Coming to our senses, & The re-enchantement of the world

Heresy all orthodoxies need heresies no society (organisation) can tolerate much heresy a traitor or heretic is one who transgresses categories sharp differentiations… transitional spaces … liminality… threatens distinct categories 1 “...and certainly not the greatest heresy of all, namely the assertion that its cultural grid is lacking in any particular, transcendent validity…even ‘reality’ may be relatively recent” Berman, 1990 pp79-81

Basic categories: Self-other there is no Self without Other construction process constructing: unity hard differentiation soft differentiation Argument from social/relational constructionism historically/developmentally speaking the process is open, like other relational processes, is never finished ie self, other & relating … ongoing constructions epochal changes in these revolve around the mind-body relationship

Self-other unity ‘participating consciousness’ no psychic distance no observer-observed ‘gap’ examples: Great Goddess cultures, mystical experience meditative states, romantic love... epochal change… emergence of Other 1 Self immersed in world 2 Epochal changes: rupture in the continuity of self & other, a collapse of ‘lived distance’ & of a way of knowing 3 THE MIRROR 1500’s onwards in west - rise of individualism, preoccupation with boundaries, perspective...

Hard differentiation The ‘Italian’ heresy western individualism either-or relations magical ->mechanical world view mind-body relationship visual, knowing ‘from the outside’ subject-object dualism Nature & Animals as Other: for experiment, to be tried, tortured, consumed, domesticated

Possibilities for heresy Binary logic… intermediate forms violate category system ambiguity, anomalies, that which disturbs survival of most fitting (orthodox)…through ‘power over’ Other exit Other, domesticate, level, homogenize, control, silence…. 1 problem of boundary/category maintenance 2 threatens Subjects identity as Subject 3

Soft differentiation blurry & changing boundaries multiple local knowledges shift from ‘knowledge about’ to joint action both/and ‘power to’... yes… the universe is “friendly” a heresy for ‘post modern’ times transformative possibilities 1 eg between wild & tame, Self & Other, sacred and secular…blurry. 2ecological construction of S-O (& therefore, of mind) Brody on NA Indians hunting:In Berman, p 68 “ above all they are still & receptive, prepared for whatever insight or realisation may come to them, and ready for whatever stimulus to action might arise. This state of attentive waiting is perhaps as close as people can come to the falcon’s suspended flight when the bird, seemingly motionless, is ready to plummet in decisive action”...

organising processes, openness and change making space muItiple voices reflexivity holding lightly listening co-ordination not consensus… dialogical approaches to development 1How may organising processes construct heteroglossia, open cultures, multiple voices and possibilities? 2 what is learning that an org may do it? (Argyris & Schon)…prerequisite for human existence (Harre)…but in a transformative sense? 3 multilogical change methodologies offer some possibilities inc reflection on self-other relation & ways