The Forum, a podcast from the BBC World Service, which claims to ”splice together the strands of disparate ideas”. What a find for someone interested in connections and contradictions! All I had to do, today, was to paint a bland line of balustrades, with unimaginative white gloss, so imagine my delight. Here, I had the chance to liven up that plaster canvas by listening to the musings of an international line up of thinkers from the Nobel Laureate economist Prof. Amatya Sen on justice, the author Henning Mankell on imagination, and child campaigner Camila Batmanghelidjh founder of Kids Company, about how she works with violent teenagers to try to reshape their mental landscape by giving them the chance to imagine what society has been unable to give them, a connection with calm. Listen for yourself; it’s an elegant trilogy of arguments, with some surprising moments, and the participants really do connect the disparate strands in all sorts of ways.
Three things stuck in my mind for the rest of the afternoon, which probably aren’t the things that would excite anyone else, but a blog seems to be a great place for me to capture my thinking, however raw so that I can come back to it later.
Overall, I liked the way the programme focused on the thinking of each of the people in turn, and gave them a chance to have their say, but each person came back to a common theme which was around a circle of tensions associated with between theory and practice, action and reflection. A further lovely but unexpected connection was that Henning clearly was clearly taken with Camila’s ideas and wanted to build on the radio conversation, which prompted Camila to invite him round for a cup of tea in Peckham when he was next in the UK.
- Professor Sen’s arguments that by trying to define the ideal when it comes to justice, we too easily lose sight of the value of action in creating a better world. If we can progressively eliminate injustices as we find them, we keep moving towards a goal, even though we can’t define precisely what that is. Action is certainly the priority of business. Perhaps. what we are currently dealing in in business, is the fall out of from the opposite approach to the dilemma? Maybe the current economic crisis arose because some placed too much emphasis on practice and not enough on ideals in terms of sustainability. I believe we should always have something to aspire to. It seems to me that theoretical ideals and practice are so intricately connected that we neglect to keep both in mind at the same time at our peril.
- Henning Mankells point about the spaces in which we discuss moral issues started me thinking about how societies have changed. Despite the fact that we have so many opportunities to connect electronically, we often seem to be so much more disconnected from one another emotionally. The conversation circles and fora in which wise elders or caring communities came together to tell the stories about what matters to them, and debate different points of view have largely been lost in our modern world. Although they still exist in more intimately connected societies. We can do things faster, but do we ponder them enough, I wonder? Of course, anyone can have their say on anything through the blogosphere, so we have the benefit of so many more ideas and perspectives. Yet despite this option for more democratic voice, for creative input, are we really influenced by wisdom and the connections to our communities or the volume of ill-informed and lemming like opinion? It seems like quantity might compromise quality in some cases.
- Sadly, violence is a source of calm for some of the teennagers that Camila Batmanghelidjh works with. Seems a contradiction in terms. Yet sadly no one has ever given these youngsters an alternative mental release valve. The rewards of reflection and imagination are beyond their mindset. Immediate action in response to their feelings is the way through. Yet those elected to think through solutions to the problem often spend hours in democratic discussion without any practical solution emerging. I loved Camila’s provocative suggestion that politicians would be more imaginative if they thought on the move. (She suggested roller skates, but it really stretches the imagination to think of some members of our Government on blades!) Upon reflection, I know activity definitely helps me make mental connections. I can speak more fluently while pacing the floor, think more creatively while swimming, or remember more of the day if I physically meander while my mind does the same. Apparently, research has shown that our theoretical apparatus works better when we are physically in motion. Ultimately the link between theory and practice is embodied! Fascinating.
The painting got done, the activity proved to be more thought provoking than I had expected, and it provided some material to reflect on for my very first blog post.
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