Why not muse?
I just bought a new book of translations by Ulrich Baer of some of Rainer Maria Rilke's letters. Here's where I landed:
"Revolution would mean for me the simple and pure legitimation of man and of the work that he likes to do and does well. Every program that does not place
this as its end seems as pointless and perspectiveless to me as any of the previous governments and regimes ..."
When hanging out in the forest in some remote village somewhere - what always makes sense is to wait. Have conversations
*with go-betweens in-between,
*and enjoy these chats,
*and try to understand them,
*and try to be patient with yourself when you discover your analysis was entirely incorrect about what is going on
*in fact,
*in essence, and
*in the context,
... and wait.
And wait some more.
Why?
Because what will work in terms of 'understanding' or 'social change' or 'betterment' ... is what is most revolutionary.
What is revolutionary is to listen, wait, get confused, then slowly begin to understand the other ...and if you are lucky ... become friends.
What is in this is legitimation. When the other feels this legitimation - this Thou-ness - as she sees you, you will eventually be lucky enough to a have a moment of 'Jhai'. Roughly translated 'Jhai' means 'heart', and in a social sense it means that moment when those in the space feel and acknowledge that harmony is reached in that moment. Not resolution. Not reconciliation. Harmony. Just this moment's harmony.
And when we in the conversation can acknowledge this ... the revolution has already begun. We are in it. We feel it and know it.
And 'development' begins. Unlikely people are talking together, planning together, and will soon do things together. What they'll do is 'development' that is entirely owned by the people who live in the place being 'developed'.
We Northerners or Southern city middle or higher class people, can only maintain our piece of this 'Jhai' through humility. The fact is we know different things than these folks in the forest. We do not know better things or more things. Just different things. And in this place that is not ours, most of what we know is less important then most of what the owners of this 'house' know.
Perhaps, for example, our new acquaintances - if they are like many, many people I have met - want to keep traditions and yet increase their income. Then you work with that. You communicate around that. You have a respectful conversation around that. And that conversation, believe me, is full of fun for everyone!
What we outsiders dare is to stumble publicly. To laugh. And to work along side of our new acquaintances, sharing our whole selves.
This is not traditional 'development'. "I know; you don't": this is the message from most so-called experts worldwide as it is heard by people with less cash, whether that was what was meant or not. When this is in the air, we poorer people might shuffle, we might jive, we might even say, "I'll take what you have. Thank you so very much." Where does that get us all? No where. We are at zero, stop, nada.
What works is revolutionary in Rilke's sense. It legitimates all of us through very respectful conversations with lots of listening. It leads to cooperation. It leads to building on assets. It leads to a more friendly place where all can do what they do best ... even better.
I discovered in Laos, a place I had helped load bombs that destroyed villages, that I could risk conversations like this with people who had lost their villages to bombing. In fact, I discovered that this was the only kind of conversation I felt worth having. And most importantly, I discovered that people had compassion for me when I honored them with my full attention.
What is the alternative? For a bomb loader to tell people who had lost family members to bombing what to do?
Not likely.
Is this Utopian? No. We at Jhai have done this for eight years - and many local organizations have done this much longer. Do you tell your uncle what he wants or do you ask him? The answer is obvious. So you see, it is not Utopian.
It is revolutionary.
And that ain't bad.
It's good.
"Revolution would mean for me the simple and pure legitimation of man and of the work that he likes to do and does well. Every program that does not place
this as its end seems as pointless and perspectiveless to me as any of the previous governments and regimes ..."
When hanging out in the forest in some remote village somewhere - what always makes sense is to wait. Have conversations
*with go-betweens in-between,
*and enjoy these chats,
*and try to understand them,
*and try to be patient with yourself when you discover your analysis was entirely incorrect about what is going on
*in fact,
*in essence, and
*in the context,
... and wait.
And wait some more.
Why?
Because what will work in terms of 'understanding' or 'social change' or 'betterment' ... is what is most revolutionary.
What is revolutionary is to listen, wait, get confused, then slowly begin to understand the other ...and if you are lucky ... become friends.
What is in this is legitimation. When the other feels this legitimation - this Thou-ness - as she sees you, you will eventually be lucky enough to a have a moment of 'Jhai'. Roughly translated 'Jhai' means 'heart', and in a social sense it means that moment when those in the space feel and acknowledge that harmony is reached in that moment. Not resolution. Not reconciliation. Harmony. Just this moment's harmony.
And when we in the conversation can acknowledge this ... the revolution has already begun. We are in it. We feel it and know it.
And 'development' begins. Unlikely people are talking together, planning together, and will soon do things together. What they'll do is 'development' that is entirely owned by the people who live in the place being 'developed'.
We Northerners or Southern city middle or higher class people, can only maintain our piece of this 'Jhai' through humility. The fact is we know different things than these folks in the forest. We do not know better things or more things. Just different things. And in this place that is not ours, most of what we know is less important then most of what the owners of this 'house' know.
Perhaps, for example, our new acquaintances - if they are like many, many people I have met - want to keep traditions and yet increase their income. Then you work with that. You communicate around that. You have a respectful conversation around that. And that conversation, believe me, is full of fun for everyone!
What we outsiders dare is to stumble publicly. To laugh. And to work along side of our new acquaintances, sharing our whole selves.
This is not traditional 'development'. "I know; you don't": this is the message from most so-called experts worldwide as it is heard by people with less cash, whether that was what was meant or not. When this is in the air, we poorer people might shuffle, we might jive, we might even say, "I'll take what you have. Thank you so very much." Where does that get us all? No where. We are at zero, stop, nada.
What works is revolutionary in Rilke's sense. It legitimates all of us through very respectful conversations with lots of listening. It leads to cooperation. It leads to building on assets. It leads to a more friendly place where all can do what they do best ... even better.
I discovered in Laos, a place I had helped load bombs that destroyed villages, that I could risk conversations like this with people who had lost their villages to bombing. In fact, I discovered that this was the only kind of conversation I felt worth having. And most importantly, I discovered that people had compassion for me when I honored them with my full attention.
What is the alternative? For a bomb loader to tell people who had lost family members to bombing what to do?
Not likely.
Is this Utopian? No. We at Jhai have done this for eight years - and many local organizations have done this much longer. Do you tell your uncle what he wants or do you ask him? The answer is obvious. So you see, it is not Utopian.
It is revolutionary.
And that ain't bad.
It's good.
posted by Lee Thorn at
5:56 AM
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