Evolutionary Leadership Newsletter
1-1 The Observer.
by Manuel Manga.
Center for Evolutionary Leadership.
In this issue of the newsletter, we
are going to explore the phenomenon of
the observer, and its relationship to
personal transformation and leadership
development.
We claim that the kinds of
possibilities, institutions, and worlds,
leaders bring into existence is related
to the type of observer that they are.
So, for example, Martin Luther King Jr,
was an observer of institutionalized
racism and the lack of equality in
American culture. He set out to remind
Americans of the ideal of equality and
to change the American culture so that
its institutions were truly open and
equally accessible to African Americans
and all Americans.
This newsletter is designed to be a
space for reflection, learning and
conversation. It has three objectives:
1. To offer distinctions, paradigms, and
knowledge for leadership
development and organizational/
institutional evolution.
2. To reflect on the kind of observer
that you are and how you observe and
interpret the world.
3. To learn from other critical
observers of the world and apply their
knowledge and wisdom toward a conscious
evolution for building a humane,
democratic, and sustainable society.
I invite you to this learning
journey.
This issue 1-1 is dedicated to the
memory of Donella Meadows.59: co-writer
of the seminal "The Limits to
Growth".
Donella died two days ago. She was a
world-renowned environmentalist, a
systems thinker, and a powerful observer
of the planet's systems-chemical, plant,
biological, and human.
The central role that the observer plays
in our human affairs and in the kind of
world that we bring forth has been
obscured or hidden in our modern
interpretation of the self.
The kind of observer that we are in our
modern world has been influenced by the
Cartesian ontology, which has produced a
dualism between the subjective self and
an objective reality.
In this Cartesian ontology, the observer
takes on a passive role of
describing an external reality or
exploring a subjective reality.
One of the unintended consequences of
the Cartesian ontology of the observer
(Human being) is, that it
contributes to the separation between
human beings and nature, and the
separation between mind and body, as
well as, between reason and emotions.
It is no accident that we have inherited
this type of divided self
and put the role of the observer in a
passive and hidden arena.
In our common sense understanding of the
kind of observers that we are, we cover
up our power as observers, and our
ontology of the self.
In the process our role as disclosers of
new worlds is hidden from ourselves.
Thus, we need to reflect on the way of
observing that we have inherited from
our culture, and to reveal what has been
hidden from the phenomenon of the
observer and to redesign our ontology of
the observer and recover our power as
observers.
What is an observer ?
An observer is a human being. We are all
observers. Each and everyone of us is a unique
observer of the world. We all share the same biological roots
of cognition and human understanding.
We observe and bring forth our world
with distinctions and language. The type of observers we are is
influenced by the distinctions,
narratives, and ontologies we inherit
and embody. As observers, we make linguistic
distinctions of linguistic distinctions,
we make up stories and narratives to
construct our world.
What is an ontology?
An ontology is a foundation or a path
for existence, or constructing the self.
An ontology is a set of distinctions,
narratives, and social practices that
allow us to observe, act, and coordinate
in a specific domain of life.
In their book " Disclosing New
Worlds" Spinosa, Flores, and
Dreyfus, explain why our role as
disclosers is forgotten.
In this book, the authors are
introducing the distinction of
"Disclosers" as those who can
disclose new worlds or new human
possibilities. Later, we will make the
connections between the observer,
disclosers, and leadership.
The authors give three reasons why our
roles as disclosers are forgotten .
First, our common sense operates in a
way that covers up our role. We can call
this the process of socialization. If
you are raised in the American culture, the common sense is that eating
steaks and coca cola is ok. Second, we
get so caught up in our own style of
living and personal habits, that it
becomes invisible to us, thus, we don't
take time to reflect on our way of
being, and see if they are the right
ones for us. Third, we become involved
with the practices and routines of our
lives that we become trapped in the
process of doing , in other words "
We are interested in the things we
disclose and not in the
disclosing". These writers offer us
a philosophical and sociological
interpretation of being observers and
disclosers.
With the help of observers like Spinosa,
Flores, and Dreyfus, we can start to
understand the type of ontology of the
observer that we have inherited and
reflect on ourselves and explore the
kind of observers that we are, and we
can evolve into.
Our aim here, is to begin to uncover
the central role of the observer in our
lives, and in our world. Our intention
is to become more aware of the ontology
of the observer , so that we can become
a new kind of observer of our selves and
of the world.
Maturana and Varela in their book,
"The Tree of Knowledge," describe themselves in this way: "
We, the readers and the writers, have
become observers who make descriptions.
As observers, we have focused on
cognition as our phenomenon to be
explained. Moreover, what we have said
points to our starting description of
the phenomenon of cognition. Since all
cognition brings forth a world, our
starting point will necessarily be the
operational effectiveness of living
beings in their domain of existence. Our
starting point is to characterize
cognition as an effective action, an action that will enable a living
being to continue its existence in a
definite environment as it brings forth
its world. Nothing more, nothing
less." These writers offer us a
biological explanation of what it means
to be an observer/human being.
Hence, we are interested in
recovering ourselves as observers that
can take effective action in the domains of
living together as human beings, and
that can become aware of the kinds of
worlds that we bring forth. We are also
interested as leaders, in finding out
what kind of organizational worlds we
want to bring forth, and how can we
continue our existence in a definite environment that we call
our biosphere.
We will continue to explore the
relationship between the observer, the self, leadership, and disclosing new
worlds.
Some questions to prompt you to
reflect on the role of the observer :
1. What kind of observer are you ? How
would you describe your
ontology/worldview?
2. How do you interpret what Spinosa,
Flores, and Dreyfus,
say about why our role as diclosers is
forgotten ?
3. What do Maturana and Varela tell us
about the relationship
between the observer, cognition, and the
kind of world that we have ?
4. What kind of observer would you like
to be ?
5. Who are some observers that you
respect and want to learn from ?
Some recommended practices :
1. Take some time and reflect on the
kind of observer you are.
Take some notes.
2. Make some notes of the aspects of the
world that you spend more time
observing. Is it art, movies. TV,
reading, the web,
people, organizations, societies,
nature?
Recommended Reading:
1. The Tree of Knowledge. Humberto
Maturana, and Francisco
Varela.
2. Disclosing New Worlds. Charles
Spinosa, Fernando Flores,
Hubert L. Dreyfus.
Key sayings: " All doing is
knowing and all knowing is doing"
" Everything said is said by
someone"
Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela.
This newsletter is an invitation to
reflect, learn, and become an
evolutionary leader. You can share it
with friends, or you can decline
to receive this newsletter. To
unsubscribe send a message
to mamanga@aol.com please say
unsubscribe to newsletter.
Your comments are welcome. Enjoy.
Manuel Manga
Director, Center for Evolutionary
Leadership
February 22, 2001
