Archive for June, 2011

Jun/30/11//Curtis Ogden//Inspiration

Competition for Co-Evolution

I’ve been sitting with a story I just heard relayed by Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris, systems and evolutionary biologist. (If you are interested in a great and uplifting podcast, check out the full interview, entitled “From Caterpillars to Butterflies.”)

Dr. Sahtouris was attending a basketball game in China and was seated next to a Chinese man who cheered wildly after the first basket of the game was scored. When the other team scored its first basket, he cheered with equal enthusiasm. He continued to do this for each basket scored by either team.  Finally, Dr. Sahtouris turned to the man and asked, “Which team is yours?”  The man replied, “What do you mean?”  Dr. Sahtouris said, “Well, which team do you want to win?”  He replied, “What difference does it make?”  To which she replied, “Well, why are you pitting two teams against one another?” He responded, “To drive excellence.  We applaud the excellence wherever it happens.”

Same game, different frame . . .

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Jun/29/11//Curtis Ogden//Learning Edge

The Ps of Regenerativity

“It is time we recognized that ‘the system’ is how we work together.”

Yaneer Bar-Yam

I’m writing this post from Quincy, Massachusetts where I’m attending the International Conference on Complex Systems. My head is very full and there is much to process that will no doubt spur further posts.  A question I brought with me into these proceedings is what we are learning from complexity (in fields such as systems biology, network theory, epidemiology) about developing stronger collective regenerative capacity, the ability to work with each other and our various contexts in order to both survive and thrive (co-evolve).  So here is a first take, in alliterative fashion: Read the rest of this entry »

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Jun/28/11//IISC//Featured

It’s OK to Follow, Say No and Get Hurt

Rinku Sen’s insightful message to graduates is fully aligned with the spirit with which IISC does it work in the world – we thought it important enough to re-blog it.

With all these commencements going on I started to fantasize about what I would say to a graduating group of students. I was a little surprised by what came up, but here it is:

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Jun/27/11//Cynthia Silva Parker//Liberation

Power and Privilege: Walking the Walk

Spurred on by my colleague, Jen Willsea, I recently submitted a piece for the “Walk the Talk” zine/book project. The organizers describe the project as being about “exploring power and exploitation in nonprofit organizations, alignment of our work with our vision, and what role nonprofits have in radical social transformation…[because] even in the most grassroots and progressive organizations, working on the most radical issues, we may find a deep dissonance between the world we want to create, and what it is like to be working in the organization day-by-day. Read the rest of this entry »

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Jun/24/11//Curtis Ogden//Inspiration

Discernment

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