Some Paradoxes within interpersonal Dimensions

Polarities or paradoxes require us to manage both sides of the opposing pole in a phenomenon, but not as compromise, nor as compensation for the non-preferred pole. Like between managing rewards of individuals and the team as a whole in organizations; or between routine and change. The term balance in such cases, can lead to a conception of an ideal, that in essence may not be ideal. That is to say, that what is in concept need not be the content of the phenomenon of balance. While some people are naturally learning, and evolving across both poles in a paradox, others resist tendencies to accept their opposing poles. Such resistance varies by degree and extent across people, and across situations. Mastery over both poles neutralises the role of situations to some extent. Mastery is assumed as balancing by those who perceive it only intellectually. Once one achieves mastery over both poles, balance follows as a natural poise, than an effort to be pursued or a trick waiting as charismatic magic beneath the treachery of flipper tendencies. It is mastery that requires effort, on either pole.

The more you resist, the more it persists. The more you accept, the more you transform.

– Fritz Perls

Notes on the Interpersonal Self

The initiation of the interpersonal self can be said to be culminated in the realm of opinions. The interpersonal self contains impressions and expressions both, and as such traverses the scope of one’s personal identity; as also the maintenance of the self in highly subjective worlds. The more you seek others’ views, the more you are obliged to opine. Similarly, the more you are asked for your views, the more the other person is obliged to be open to your expression. This is a reciprocity that is at the heart of influence in human interactions.

The more you opine with certainty, the more you have embodied your truth from the impressions you have of your world. The more you open yourself to others’ views, the more you are willing to be influenced to the truths they express from their worlds. Frankness need not be certainty either. It’s about  getting matters off one’s chest without reserving interpersonal distance from the other being communicated to. Diplomacy arises from your acknowledgement of space the other person has in his/her relationship with you. Stepping in (frankness) and stepping out (tact/diplomacy) of interaction presence are marks of versatility in mutual interpersonal spaces.

Confidence in having your needs and wants met without aggressive demand mark expressions of assertiveness. Its converse is that submissive undertones mark pessimistic demeanour or lack of confidence in asking for what one wants.  At times, lurking beneath one’s improvement tendencies, is an unspoken belief of not being enough, as in an unhealthy self-esteem. At other times, the signals one leaks in disproportionate space given to others, also encourages others to take one for granted, and enjoy freedoms in excess of it’s usefulness in situations. That’s when one’s influence slacks, and respect for one’s vision weakens in interpersonal realms.

Inner poise notwithstanding, assertiveness is void without an expression that others can witness in their experience. Assertiveness itself is anchored in subjective truths. It’s premised in the belief that one has about the social world being capable of serving one’s inner needs.

Authenticity

A common understanding to authenticity is about truth being evident through a living expressing entity. There are some very related attributes that may clarify adjacencies and essentials of the term. There are at least two polar opposites that when seen in combination, gives us different conceptions of the authenticity experience. The spread below would finely texture the authenticity experience at the very least.

1.      Intensity – Intensity is the discharge of passion, that gets conveyed, as if one’s life depended on the force of communication. If not laced with light-hearted freedom from the passion, one runs the risk of being viewed as a deadpan inflexible person, like a bull on charge with it’s horn.

2.      Levity – Levity is the surrender of the self in humour, sometimes even at one’s own expense, in order to perk up the mood in a situation. While levity marks an ease with one’s own self, one runs the risk of being considered trivial, if humour and cheer is unconscionable in particular contexts; where solemnity may be the expected norm.  That’s when one can feel like a flower budding still-born.

Dignity lies at the intersection between intensity and levity. It is a reputational lever of an engaged leader.

3.      Positivity – The attitude of being positive about the future, regardless of situations, can end up in unbridled passion for one’s cause. While this may bear similarity with optimism, positivity is also about encouraging healthy emotionality in the other. It is more a citizen of the interpersonal space, than optimism is.  Unbridled passion meets its limitations due to poor sense of reality.

4.      Curiosity – Curiosity too is an attitude, that is made manifest in enquiring behaviours. This attitude signals a desire to learn and be apprised in the moment, regardless of past learning. While an enquirer’s naivete can be the cost of one’s reputation in a learned group, being curious for curiosity sake is an anxious paranoia.

Authenticity is the phenomenon of persisting with curiosity with a positive outlook, yet; being flexible enough to be light-hearted in mistakes, and solemn enough when bearing upon tragedy in human situations.

5.      Vulnerability – The advent of vulnerability is a reckoning with one’s irrational fears. In interpersonal space, fears of upsetting others or being upset oneself; fears of engendering necessary conflict or being involved in a conflict oneself; are central to one’s vulnerability. In some cultures it is about dealing with the aspect of shame; whereas in others it is about dealing with guilt.

6.      Courage – As is now the more popular notion, the root word ‘coeur’ in French is the basis of courage. The heart is the seat of embrace with the unknown. Courage flowing from the human heart may at times appear like a leap of faith from known constraints. Personal transformation rarely occurs without such courage. It is after all the willingness to let oneself go of the past in a zone of unknown.

Fidelity to Emotions

As above, the doorway to leadership presence is through emotional breakthroughs. One may very well ask, is not authenticity a mark of leadership? Like when a leader is vulnerable enough to cry in public? It may however be argued that, leaders are more valued for their emotional connect with their people, than with the rolling of tears in public view per se. In some cultural contexts, gender based expectations of sadness are very sharply categorized. Consider however, that a leader’s anchorage is in consistency as in one’s stated constancy of purpose - than with overt emotional extremism.  Respect for the leader goes up, when measured and calibrated response from the leader engages follower’s hearts, without habitually having to choke on a handkerchief or a paper-tissue. The lack of suffering with one’s followers is also easily discerned by others, and therefore to nullify emotional expression would be a blindness of the mind. In a manner of speaking emotions that do not hurt you should at the very least guide your intelligence in interactions. Emotions that hurt in the moment, take a while to accept, understand and appreciate, before one attempts one’s related transformations. These include overtly positive self-appraisals, that are later discovered as painfully owned delusions of one’s self-image.

Emotionality of leaders is a privileged conversation, in that one does not expect the office boy, the janitor or a helpdesk supervisor to be derailed on the job for being emotionally incongruent. They are not as often assessed for their emotional fluency as leaders are. The privilege is mocked on by those whose thresholds for transformation are not aroused in the interpersonal realm. For those initiated in this emotionally intelligent space, the privilege has almost acquired the status of reciprocal responsibility. The leadership process is neither for the faint-hearted; nor for the emotionally blind. It is a decision in giving of the self to a Purpose larger than oneself.

Your mirage is not your father's horizon

Recently, someone on my professional network got in touch for some advice. It is as you may imagine in the litany of woes, that first comes as a statement of need, but hides the deeper need within. Seldom does the first expressions of requests for professional help, get to the real issue. The presenting issue and the latent issue at the core are different. This time though, I am writing about the content because it is hugely disconcerting to know that fellow professionals reach out for help and struggle to articulate their situation for what it is. To commence with,  brief narrations of the days gone by.

Caselet 1 : She was aspiring to learn under some industry greats, with a veteran in influential governance of the firm itself, and a heard name in the industry reporting to him as functional head. Both were PhDs and that mattered to the aspiring professional. But all the new joinee got in an apparently ‘global’ exposure role was a transactional overdose with a bully attitude in the  functional head. With not much to ‘learn’ as it were, she wanted a way out of the rather stifling situation, including opting out of thecity itself. Relocation was stated to be small price for overcoming this disillusionment. The tipping point as it were came, when the aspirant was accused of being from a lesser than A grade institutional pedigree.

 Issue : How can she face up to a bully at work, without giving up on her professional aims?

Caselet 2 : In another instance, a bundle of enthusiasm is struggling to re-enter a vocation after a rather unlucky attempt at the civil services. In this case, the person not only rose up the ranks, but also got through to a premier institution for a management education. After being selected from B-School to a prosperous industrial house for an ambitious project, the venture ran out of steam, and the lad was summarily re-assigned to a role he was not trained for. Then he joined another set of companies and did the grind only to find the thrill was gone. Assuming civil services to be the route to salvation, he has resigned to the advent of time after failing to clear the entrance exams. On presenting his credentials, no employer he has approached has been favouring his zest for life, let alone brisk learning in volatility. He is earning his bread teaching young students to fare well in their competitive exams.

Issue: How can he orient himself to a society that does not appreciate downturns in business and careers as passing phases or crucibles that can be leveraged for success?

So what is it that bothers me? What can similarly challenged professionals do to cope?

1. In India, irrespective of gender, it is not perceived as honorable or normal to voice displeasure, discomfort or sheer victimization. SPEAK FROM YOUR HEART, ALRIGHT; BUT APPEAL TO YOUR SENSES, NEVER MIND THE UNCERTAINTY.
2. When in this vortex like grip of an emotional downturn, clarity is not only the casualty – it is also the mirage. OTHERS KNOW FROM A FEW OBSERVATIONS WHAT YOU WILL NOT IN YOUR MILLION SIGHTS. THE EYES CANNOT SEE THEMSELVES.
3. A zillion words from a few hundred people cannot assuage your feelings as the voice that comes from within you. ENERGISE YOUR PURPOSE in LIFE, BECAUSE ENERGY FEEDS ON ENERGY – YOUR ENERGY.
4. If you feel you are not the one to sign your father’s tax returns’ will it prevent you from speaking your wealth of truth to him fearing that you may upset him? NO MATTER WHAT, BULLIES DRAW THEIR POWER FROM YOUR SUBMISSION TO THEIR NEED FOR PITY. DISEMPOWER THE BULLY WITH A CALM VOICE, UNHURRIED FREEDOM AND YOUR DISARMING SMILE. This may need practice, but what is your current option anyway?
5. Even though they may not know it, the ‘idiots’ you have to work with may be your best teachers, with lessons coming at you faster than your preparedness to fail. While the process is mutual, this point is reserved for the traditionally rigid and orthodox boss. YOU DON’T HAVE TO PUB YOUR WAY TO YOUR TEAM MEMBERS’ HEARTS. SHOW THEM THEIR HEARTS MATTER WITH YOUR ACTIONS THAT IMPACT THEIR EMPLOYABILITY. AVOID screaming AT THEM.

It is as you may well agree, not a singular view that describes our composite reality. What is your experienced reality in such respects? Do our generations need to meet each other? Do they want to understand each other after all?

Basic, not base emotions

Often, I muse upon the subtleties between enthusiasm and optimism; risk taking and impulse, self-sacrificing and altruism, and so on. These are fascinating areas of thought, and inferences from a similar behavior may trace back to different origins. E.g. who do you think is more of a risk taker - the cricketer Sehwag, or Virat Kohli? Who is more of the impulsive businessperson - Richard Branson or Vijay Mallya?

If seen from a more coarse, or meta-level, what may be the basic emotions we experience as humans? I am left with what Master Richard McHugh taught us years ago. He said there are four basic forms that emotions take. Our brains are capable of focussing on finite chunks of emotion in given time, and as such, may not process each with similar vitality or intensity in the same moment. Yet, when distilled, there are 4 basic emotions to deal with as below.

1.       Joy – where celebration and the general word happiness exist. This may not be an absence of grief, but surely the discovery of meaning is a great contender here. 

      For me meaningfulness is an necessary reframing of grief at times, as the travails of nature hold up gifts through experiences of suffering.

2.       Grief – where the helplessness in loss pervades, and stymies the senses accordingly to a near foreclosure of options. It is grieving during separation, or death of a loved one that calls for a spirited appraisal of emotional investment. Grief is a coming to terms with nature’s cycles when ends are a renewal or a rebirth of life-forms.

3.       Anger – where not being able to get what one wanted is asserted in varying levels of intensity. Unlike grief, it is a contacting emotion, as the aim one can benefit from in the case of anger is a deepening of one’s relationship with the other with whom we are angry.

4.       Sex – and this is the counter-intuitive emotion. Sex is a procreating drive for most, but it is a life-assertive energy that when repressed causes more ill – physical, social and emotional, than we are willing to admit. Sex as bodily differentiation in gender and unity of species as life-form is slow but essential realization. Deep respect can only ensue from traversing the deep masculine, shallow masculine, and deep feminine and shallow feminine aspects of sexual identity in the same body. It is about tuning in to one’s body and its creative forces. It is also about understanding that repressed from civil discourse, we often confuse this with love – which, in fact is a decision, and more than a fundamental emotion.

Having made mention, it is useful to be clear about love. Love is a decision to give in conscious awareness all of oneself to oneself, and to others who may share in spirit, social relationship or ideology. In this sense, love is not a free flowing emotion. It is not an object of manipulation either. As Osho Rajneesh once mentioned, it is psychologically impossible to love another without loving oneself. Self-acceptance and self-improvement are both components of self-esteem, and impoverishing either reduces the chances of loving others.

Loving others as oneself, therefore is a whole new meaning - a joy to live into!

What do you think?

Spiritual Strength - the Richard McHugh SJ way

Tools of the Spirit are an experience. Also subtitled "Pathways to the Realization of Universal Innocence," it is based on a workshop authored by Robert Dilts and Robert McDonald. The original concept is that there are aids, (prayer, meditation, singing, dancing, parables, rituals and blessings), that bring us more in harmony with the "larger Mind" and "the larger nervous system" of which we are a part. The authors see NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), as a tool to achieve those ends. Richard McHugh (Dick) goes further than this. In fact, he brings to fuse his ‘awareness’ paradigm, partly informed by his Vipasana experience under Goenkaji and partly from his days at Sadhana with Tony D’Mello. Dick does not pretend to know what he does not. So he does not go to the koans or Confucian outgrowth from Buddhist thoughts. He merely stresses bodily delight in awareness through meditative postures endured in silences such as that of Vipasana.

Rev. Richard McHugh SJ, PhD, Master of NLP

What Dick does is to reinforce our connection with larger systems of which we are a part. These include family, profession, community, and the global system. When he does so, he is in the least bit eulogizing Christ, and in fact, chastises Christians for not understanding Christ as someone who asked us to love others as we loved ourselves. that is knowing ourselves more deeply. Experiencing fully, without self-judgment, arrogance or suppression of our sexual energy, Dick leads participants through bodily sensation and kinesthetic movement. We begin to know our limits, appreciate our intentions, the strengths and perception of others. We gradually develop the acuity and the receptiveness to experience grace as unmerited mercy. 


Forgiveness, says Dick, is the ability to give with compassion as we would have given before the hurt. This is possible if in a state of awareness, we can dissociate the feeling from the thought of being hurt. Meaning is to be made, such that we are not attached to the feelings that stifle us from the past. Meaning is to be made in the moment. And meaning is made because we receive it. We receive it only when we allow the unconscious to do its work. We do not know exactly how it works, in the classical scientific traditions of explanation. That is the choice of human discretion we have. The more we resist, the more it will persist. The more we accept it, the more we transform ourselves. 

It is quite tempting to give a procedural rundown of the experience. In fact, that is the easier part. Most practical however would be to refer the original book by the Roberts – Macdonald and Dilts. http://amzn.to/HczXZU . I would rather surrender to the spirits at work within the confines of dignity and beauty. While the rational in me may seek to find coherence in propositional logic, the nature of the proposition of spirituality is incomplete without intuitive inference and the inter-subjective unity in the experience. Empirical evidence is therefore not a direct perception, but as Hindu mystics augur - an atyadhmik atman at work. The self becomes the observer of the self. Perhaps, that is why the individual needs the community and vice-versa. Perhaps, when emotions help us acknowledge interconnectedness through individuals, we realise companionship as a trustful resource in spiritual journeying.


Expressions here are therefore apparently muted, though they come largely from deep realizations of what Dick gives insights in. It is only to the few therefore that the phenomenon of death will seem remote from spirituality.  There are the modern day equivalent of miracles, that Dick facilitates in participant discovery of themselves. His interpretation of dreams and the near instant therapeutic kinesthetic invitation he provides a clear sign of process at work. The Death towards Love, is Spirituality. Love is a decision, and not a basic emotion. That is the paradox many in psychology and philosophy have tried to unravel. Below are some of my insights at the workshop.

1.   A wish could be a fantasy, alright. A want is more concrete. A wish can challenge the Giver. A want can honor the giver. Ask with care.

2.   In Pain, there's a beauty that that endures, as pain passes over. In Suffering, the attachment endures, as the mind fights Reality.

3.   Wisdom comes from forever and the depths of Eternity, just as Meaning comes from the Moment as a gift of the Present time.

4.   Mercy is a compassion that overrides fear, as in a disregard for conventions so as to be in service of the heart. It leads to spiritual wholeness.

5.   Forgiving is to give as you would have given graciously before the hurt. Understanding is awareness of pointless attachment, unmerited mercy

6.   Spiritual presence is like a cosmic perspective through the awareness that you and I are specs of dust that in turn hold the universe.

As I reflect, there is genuine appreciation of the levels of neurological learning, from the environment, behaviors, capabilities, values,  right to the identity. Robert Dilts adaptation of Gregory Bateson's gift from anthropology is a constant reminder of the great intellectual traditions from California. Tools of the spirit, in fact raises us from our own unconscious to the spiritual vision we have for ourselves. 

However, being in the moment, as in Dick’s workshop; I also saw different levels of intent and their manifestations. There were those stuck in analytical freeze. There were others consumed in unworked anchors like those for the need for recognition, fame and the limelight. Others were making journeys from their gender-based roles and learning to move from their deep to the shallows of feelings between masculinity and femininity. The youthfully unattached were curious of their evolving identity, and those who had worn many a life-battle coming to terms with their unrealized identities. 


Perhaps beyond the realm of the personally deepened visions, most people will remember the visually registered symbols that were in the public domain. e.g. A young priest, a young teacher of chemistry and a seasoned nun seemed to agree in a conspiracy of sorts to make Dick’s image and their association with him an unabashedly exclusive veneration. Much against Dick’s known preference for a non-public image, he was photographed in various angles and postures and striking lines of his utterances imprinted in designer bookmarks. First placed on seats on the last day of the seminar, it was next offered as a commercial package. Before the deal was made public, an elderly mother went from chair to chair collecting every single bookmark for herself. It was like each one had their magic card of poker that could deal no higher wild card on the table of the ones playing the game.

The fixation to personalities abounds in our world. I am reminded of a story narrated by Osho Rajneesh. A painter in his Ashram was told to stop painting breasts of women as he needed to mature. Breasts were a fixation in Rajneesh’s opinion, meant for ‘breakfast’ time in life! So the painter went and revised his approach. He had the figure of Rajneesh in the middle – well pronounced, and around this central figure – breasts and breasts and breasts.

Maturation towards inner development is no cakewalk. It is in this week, I realised Dick’s larger mercy, his coming from the space of Spiritual Wholeness, enmeshing his shadows and self-parenting himself past a bi-polar mother and a very misunderstood father of great spiritual resource….His holding cancer of the prostrate as his bodily guest, and ridding himself of the Jesuit cassock for pyjamas that signified his collapsed anchors with the wisdom of India. That is the Mind with the Heart we know, now already at age 82. His willingness to be the child in using mindful sarcasm and the maturity of drawing out others from their child-like state to experience their evolving adulthood, is testimony to a living example of the theory at work. His scholarly sense comes from the distilled understanding of the phase transition that Gestalt theorists missed in their evolution. In hindsight, he feels that had the Gestalt giants like Fritz Perls lived longer, they would have discovered NLP themselves.

He had to contend with a class size of 69 participants and 3 more on his team at our Bangalore session in the last week of March 2012. The march of technology in our environment makes it difficult for Dick to stress his wants in service of the Heart as he would have done in an alternate life-space. His unmerited mercy is a surrender in which the book-marker threesome would feel victors of a feat proximate to their idea of spiritual glory. The keepers of bookmarks in his name have an image; they would get visual anchors to glean through. 


Hopefully, the books they read would also merit attention. Else, I can assure you that the effect of the workshop is enough to ignore the book for a long long while. As of the first day after the workshop - the imprint I have is such that I would think a 5 day course with a day's break in between each would allow for requisite immersion and integration within the self. It is the experience here that is the intelligence and not the abstracted code of reference as in a machine manual! 

Analytical intelligence is seldom a predictor of spiritual wholeness. Besides, there's no place as spirituality that can celebrate the vitality of death, for its inherent lessons of honor and humility. If you see a man willing to laugh at himself, he has a greater chance of being humble and spiritual. This is even more possible because, each of us is innocent. Each of us can learn. Each of us can experience putting to use our creativity from the depth of our unconscious. Judgment is the end in analysis. It is suspended for learning of our greater ultimate selves.


Joy be with you.

Spiritual Intelligence - Explorations with George Kunnath

I've had some fascinating moments exploring the aspects of a Spiritual Intelligence conceptualization, thanks to the sharing from George Kunnath. Like a babe on the shores this vast ocean of awakening waiting to be known, I wade through a water that ensnares, endangers and yet comforts. Non-rational at it's core, it is a force from which we may have arrived in material form, and yet, our forms of knowing inadequate to explain phenomena we experience in this respect.

Here's a glimpse of that exploration. Posted here for your reflections and comments please.


The Material and the Spiritual

The Newtonian scientific model challenged this understanding of unity and overemphasized empirical verifiability as a prerequisite for any existence. The overemphasis of the Newtonian paradigm eclipsed indigenous wisdoms of the heart and idealised everything that is cerebral.  What we now witness is an intractable reductionism of essentially phenomenological experience into measurement, and look-alike frameworks of an extrinsic measurement paradigm. This has led to the propagation of ‘indices’ for phenomena such as customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and learnability. Every facet of human life has been driven by the cerebral rather than the visceral.

The rapid material progress in the West at the cost of all other dimensions of human existence created a vacuum. Many Westerners began to look eastward to find meaning. The feudalistic rituals of the institutionalized religions became redundant for the true seeker of the spirit and meaning.  The inner quest for greater meaning beyond material existence gave rise to many gurus and spiritual practitioners outside the religious structures. Western seekers came to India in search of peace and enlightenment.  Many found the solace they sought as they traversed through the chaos and immersed deep into the ancient spiritual practices.

Since, the treatise on Spiritual, Emotional and Analytical is an on-going one with a respectable legacy already available in literature, we wish to stress on a transformative space that leaders could act from. As the saying goes, it is better to cover one’s feet with slippers than to carpet one’s path on this world laden with thorns and stones.

“ ... everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe - a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.” - Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Albert Einstein - The Human Side, Princeton University Press, 1979.

Albert Einstein, probably the personification of fundamental inquiry in the pure sciences, acknowledged the existence of a greater power that makes us humble and surrender before it. Spiritual intelligence is a higher intelligence governing the universe.  Looking at the way the universe operates, it is a great marvel. Every event, every process in the universe is governed by a principle or a set of principles.  The manifestations of the governing principles can be observed in the operation of the universe. The planets orbit through their paths and the birds fly in the sky with no super highway crashes or mid-air collisions. There is a particular principle governing every species on earth unique and yet different. Seeds sprout, grow bloom, bear fruit and perish. Mammals are born, they grow, they reproduce, and they decline and die. The cycle of life continues; irrespective of the host habitat – the tectonic plates of Iceland, the fold mountains of the Himalayas or the Great Australian outback.

Every invention of man is a poor imitation of nature. Perhaps Nature does not make the effort to communicate its bemusement of our flattery for Her. The most sophisticated computer is no match for the human brain. No technology can match the marvel of the universe. The World Wide Web which is one of the greatest inventions of the 20^th century, it would appear, is modelled on the planets and stars and the interconnected nature of things in the universe. For the design of the most sophisticated fighter planes, extensive studies are done on eagles in flight with cameras attached to their body to capture the angle of their flights.  Whatever it may be called, a superior intelligence governs the entire universe including the humans. However, often we think that man can conquer and control the universe. In this quest for mastery and control of the universe we have forgotten that humans too are governed by the same higher intelligence that governs the entire universe.

Spiritual intelligence is not separate from the higher principle that governs the operation of the universe. In the Indian spiritual tradition any human soul (atman) has the potential to take the inner journey and be one with the whole (Brahman) universe. In this oneness the duality disappears, humans and the universe are not separate, they are one whole. When connected with one’s core we are connected to the whole. Being whole is our fundamental nature. When we experience separation form the whole due to karmic effects (akin to the collective consciousness of Carl Jung) we are unable to access the higher intelligence. Being one with the whole gives us purpose and meaning. We become clear about our true calling and we live out our true destiny. When we are one with the whole we constantly tap into the infinite resources of the higher intelligence. Our connection with the higher intelligence guides us to live our lives for something greater than ourselves. We respect other people and everything in the universe.

In the universe we humans are the only ones who kill for pleasure. The animals kill only for self-preservation – either to defend against an aggressor or for food. Human conquests are for greed, power and control. Human greed has depleted the natural resources, threatening the equilibrium of the planet..

Going back to nature to learn our basics again seems inevitable and precarious in our moments of choice. What if we were to remodel our corporations on the basis of the laws that govern the universe? Would that be a design choice? Individuals and organizations are taking to adventure and nature exploration. Some organizations are experimenting with workplace spirituality. While many such initiatives appear as attempts to be current with developmental practices, some leaders are undertaking an inner journey to explore intangibles that gives them meaning and anchor. Such a journey leads one to the inner core from where one learns to connect with the whole. 

The communion with the Whole brings about a transformation in the leader. A leader thus transformed allows oneself to be guided by the higher intelligence. These leaders help transform their groups, corporations, communities and nations. When the duality between self and others dissolves we merge into the interconnectedness of the Whole.

Spiritual Intelligence flows from personal authenticity, integrity and congruence. Every creative process at work is indicative of Spiritual Intelligence at work. When Spiritual Intelligence is at work, questions of purpose and meaning are at rest for they are continuously unfolded by the constant interplay of Spiritual Intelligence with everything in the universe. The interconnectedness of the universe ever manifests the spiritual intelligence at play. The incessant flow of energy through all animate and inanimate life forms in their various stages of creation is spiritual intelligence incarnate. The ever present natural order amidst apparent chaos reinforces the presence of the superior intelligence that governs the universe of which humans are a tiny spec. This realization makes humans to surrender to the greater power in the act of letting go. In this apparent loss of control we learn to accept the supremacy of the higher power that guides the destiny of the universe.  A new natural order emerges and we learn a new way of living, leading and managing our lives and the surroundings. The new way is sustainable for the present, future of our planet and future generations. 

Mind the medium for the body too

Mind the medium for the body too

The mind-body- emotive balance is a way of expressing the analytical, the emotional and the physical parts of ourselves. We are all of these. Are we only these?

I’ve heard often of the Structures of the Mind. I’ve also known that the structure is changed only when – am willing to die to my past. Every cell in me would get reorganised.  In working on the Time-line with Dr. McHugh, SJ, the glimpses seemed more than a possibility. In that structure of experience, though, the consciousness was that the responsibility for self is an awareness of ecological sensitivity. It was then a consent to experience the emerging, without persuasion. Unlike cynical interpretations of NLP, the 'Mind with a Heart' paradigm shone through.

Yesterday, when with George Kunnath, I was awakened to a point of assemblage. Accessing it as a episode of memory is a mere menti-fact. Rejecting any part of its wholesome encoding is robbing myself of the resonance I  need to tune into. Fears of uncertainty and similarly disposed emotions shut us from ourselves. Just yesterday, a distilled sensation got expressed by a colleague as this “Peer in organisations work against each other in the hope of advancing themselves. They look up, and they hardly look around for what they should look at within themselves…” The territory of the self as Prof. Ramnath Narayanswamy of the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore) mentions is an enormously neglected one.  Emotionality that is blocked is shut out to the self. Not resonant with the context around us, we stumble in pursuit of the illusory apogee of self-aggrandizement.

Retrospective repentance is posturing as if authenticity can be negotiated. Even the image of it is obscuring, as it hides the pain that is not dealt with. A lady with cancer once, took it on herself to reflect deeply. She traced the dolor to her decision to force herself to go childless. She dealt with it, and the pending treatment for her tumor annulled as she came to terms with herself. That bodily pain was gone.
As with individuals,  every organization forgets its ‘charism’ – it forgets the very purpose for which the institution was founded. As with individuals, organisations too need to take care of their health. As with individuals, institutions are more than economic identities. Imbalances in health – emotion, spirituality, are attended to with temporary curing. As with individuals, the world view of an organisation is a mediated sense of identity. Not to forget the confused reduction of ourselves to material yardsticks.

As with individuals, groups and organisations are sentient systems. As the self senses, it connects with the body's parts. As the body informs, the self becomes aware through the mind that is conscious in attention. Groups and organisations have their own sub-systems for communication. The collective therein is ‘sacrificed’ for the few ‘individuals’ at the top, if at all a semblance of unity in the system prevails. Apparitions of conformance are not essentially a team based unit, as what lies hidden from perception often is the pain of expressing what needs to be heard. “Sacrifice’’ is a suffering born of bondage. Giving is a release seeped in joy.  When each subsystem gives as part of being itself, the resonance is harmony in the context of the group. The mind is indeed the medium to the body.  What did you do to tend to your body today? What did you die to today, that you are renewed in this moment? As you sensed for yourself, what would make for sensation about your community?

Centering in Core States

Leaders who bring facts to the table make a good contribution. They reduce the chances of the amygdala hijack. For those not familiar with this term – it is the fearful arrest of wise choice when under stress.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala_hijack). Those who present their facts in an endearing way have certainly a higher chance of making the desired impact. This implies that influential people succeed on at least two acts of mastery – managing emotions within oneself and dealing with others’ emotions.

Of late, people summon data that float in the cyber space. With the advent of Murphy’s laws (http://www.murphys-laws.com/) a trend ensued for the internet era. Prime among them being Metcalf’s law
(http://www-ec.njit.edu/~robertso/infosci/metcalf.html) and Moore’s Law (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/Moores_Law.html). It is trendy to quote analyst claims from financial business houses or from commercial research houses with just as much authority as Newton had on the laws of gravity. The other day, on Steve Jobs demise, several used the incident to paint pictures of topics as diverse as innovation, leadership, and yes the recession in the economy.

A seasoned veteran from the world of business surrendered at our plight – ‘all of this is illusion, an analysis that paralyses anyway’ he mused. One implication of that musing I thought, was the woeful lack of awareness of being in the process. Commenting on change when outside of it is different from reporting it while being in it. Another is that which Dr. Richard McHugh SJ impressed upon me. "There is no such thing as TIME". We either live 'through time' dissociated from the events of a distant source as an analyst report or live 'in time' when the present moment is interpreted within the self, associated with the meaning of an involved state of feeling.

Today I came across the term ‘centring’ again – as in a state of being that is productive through effective self-management of emotions. Our living is made in the dance between unrestrained emotionality in joyful outbursts and controlled resilience in the face of adversity. Leaders who lack clarity when dealing with contrasts in their states of being, unintentionally signal confusion and provide evidence of their search for meaning in their own lives. Maturity often descends on the one who is balanced in the versatility to handle polarities. Like being frank and diplomatic both, in a forthright diplomacy; or being risk-taking and analytical of pitfalls in a mindful courage. Beneath or above such poles that we straddle, could lie the core state in which our values coalesce in a near indelible signature of our identities. Is Peace at the core? Or Joy? Or Restfulness? May the compassion from that state be with the ones you are with.