Concept Rhymes

 

As I was in the process of completing "A House of Eyes, Horizons and Perspectives" with Heiner Benking, a joint paper for the upcoming International Society for the Systems Sciences conference to be held in Atlanta this July 1998, I heard a radio broadcast that caught my attention because of how relevant it was to our paper.

Heiner and I have approached the topic of  "conceptual diversity" from two alternative but compatible directions.  As a surveyor and geographical engineer he has written extensively for the past 10 years on practical techniques available to peoples of diverse viewpoints, for overcoming those diversities, and for recognizing -- by way of involved imagery techniques -- the reality of shared concerns, goals, and perceptive qualities.  These are ideation techniques as well as collaborative conversational ones.  He brings to the arena of social/political communication specific interaction-tools which are becoming more and more important as our Communication Planet grows accessibly smaller and closer, while the number of voices to be heard and accounted for grows larger and more numerous.

In contrast, my focus has been on the fundamentals which those cognitions historically and developmentally grew out of.  Elaborating on the insights enunciated by the linguist Benjamin Whorf, I endorse the notion that all human thought - from the most mundane to the most extraordinarily transcendent - rests upon the bedrock of dynamic relational somatic experiences.  That we project and recognize the subtle important tracery of ineffable-things even within the blatant processes of  'force' and massive dynamics, is a tribute to the exquisite detail with which we and the rest of the existential universe are composed, and to the intricacy of infinitely progréssed processes and hyper-embedded meanings.

And even as far as we've risen mentally, spiritually, culturally and socially, in so many many excellent ways, it can only help - as we re-ground ourselves in the tangibles on which our cognitions are built - to re-explore the "eyes" and "edifices" we diversely use, and open ourselves up to ways of appreciating and supportively valuing one another once again.

In a way, James Joyce was a proponent of these ideas.  He played-out in the deep hearted inner and outer Irish landscapes the full richness of human existence/experience ... and shared with us through the heard-words heard-thoughts of mind and literature and characters of brain and essence and body and soul ... all that we are in the flowing ever flowing blending swimming moving jostling streams ..... of consciousness.  The swirls of world, and personalities com-placed with personalities.

And what's the link, to think on, here?  Well it seems you see, that some well intentioned educators, linguistic psychologists and such, have taken to measuring and gauging children's mental abilities to "get it", to learn what the teachers "need" them to learn, to make sure society has the quality citizenry it "needs" in the future.  And I listened to this radio program relating the wonderful job being done identifying children with LD - learning disorders.   In particular, they exampled one sadly deficient child who just "couldn't get it" .. the notion of poetic alliterative "rhyme".  No matter how hard they tried, cajoled, rotingly made the child repeat and repeat such phonetic siblings as "top" "sop" "pop" "crop", the child couldn't recognize or creatively produce a matching set of sounds and word patterns.  LD was the label.  A deficient, not-quite-up-to-standards child, probably destined for menial labor for the rest of its life.

And I heard a recording of the child responding in all its halting 'sub-quality' mentality, in answer to the presented word "woof".  The child came out with, "bark".   And after "bark", the child continued, "willow".  And I wanted to climb through the car radio speaker and find the broadcaster, and find the people who had recorded it, and find those "high educators" and "pronouncers" (literally and figuratively) of mental standards" and shake them out of their sheltered academic blindered visions, and say to them, "Did you hear that?!?!?  Did you just listen to the sounds, or did you "get it"????... what that child, that wonderful, brilliant, creative, special, talented, precious, deserving young human said !!!????!!???   Those words were "rhymes" of the highest order!!!!  Who gives a damn about piecemeal phonics!  This child does concept rhymes!!!!!  The images and ideas flowing through that brain at lightning speed bespeak a creative sweep of connection and high quality that most people only fractionally use!  And here you go hobbling the child with some demeaning label of deficiency and disorder and low function.  All because the child focuses on the "likenesses" of ideas, instead of your likenesses of sounds. 

The world NEEDS more so-called "LD" children who may be "suffering" from the same affliction as that youngster.  We need thinkers who can quick-connect, understand the similarities, the relevancies, the commonalities of people and processes and dynamics and qualities.  We need "A House of Eyes, Horizons and Perspectives" because the adult leadership - from homes, to local communities, to the global arena - has to unlearn the priorities of the past.  Language is good, but concepts are its heart and soul.   With a planet bursting with hundreds even thousands of "languages", our commonality and survival success will be founded first and foremost in shared concepts -- recognizing them even through all the myriad forms and sounds and syntax and structure that creative exploration can produce.

We have to teach and encourage our children to stretch their minds, not formalize them.    And, heaven forbid, we have to stop discouraging what is best in each young person in favor of what is adequate and minimal..   Do I favor anarchy, or unconformed socialization or educational structure?  Absolutely not!  I just value each child and the unique abilities they bring to life and creation. Everyone has something special and meaningful to contribute to the world, and each has a right to enthuse in their own uniqueness.   There may be children who do indeed need special assistance, but the rush to "label" needs to be tempered.

We need more concept-rhymers to lead our planet in the future.  What ever visions their minds see, their artistry of world-building will be wondrous indeed.

May, 1998

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