1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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...

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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”...

8. 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