The focus of OPM 112 is the sage as the 'conscience' of the learning community, but not in the sense of imposing or regulating a set of virtues. Rather, in allowing the community to take on the particular character it is intended to be. OPM 111 concludes with the quotation: "the sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind." OPM 112 follows up on this and explores what is means for the sage to 'make the mind of the people his mind.' Here is where we identify the sage as one who cultivates the learning community, or the community that is formed by through the wisdom of the sage. 'Wisdom' has been described as the ontology of a particular location, or a way of being in what has been called 'the open region'. In this sense, 'wisdom' can be reduced to 'openness.' Thus, the community is gathered through openness, and the manner of this gathering is meditative thinking.
OPM 112 identifies the 'making' of the mind of the people as 'mindfulness.' To make the 'mind' of the community his mind, the sage practices mindfulness, which, according to the flow of this project, must be understood as the practice of openness. Wisdom, mindfulness, and openness are a set of terms that describe both the place where meditative thinking happens, the way meditative thinking, and the character of the community that is formed. This is something like the relationship between experiential learning and ethical formation, the result (if we want to use that kind of logic) being the cultivation of a particular kind of consciousness or 'conscience.'
OPM 112 includes a denotation of 'conscience' emphasizes the formative force or power that forms a way of being. Becoming mindful is called conscience, the sense of direction, "impelling one toward right action." OPM 112: "to be 'impelled' is to be 'forced or urged' to act in particular way." And this way (called tao, by Lao Tzu) has been identified both as location and manner of moving: e.g., the passage-way out of the cave and the paideia (turning around), threshold and the crossing, pathway and coming-into-nearness of distance, open region and dwelling, the preserve and remaining at peace. What seems consistent is the belief that the location is fundamental, first, and originary in the sense of originating or forming a particular kind of being. This is why the sage always defers from himself: 'for wisdom listen to the Word.' (Heraclitus) In sum, the sage is a guide, and when he takes on the 'mind of the people,' he is merely guiding them into a specific location. And, of course, guiding implies a specific kind of movement, which is another way of saying that the guide is the one who knows the route. And in this case 'knowing' the route implies that one has already moved along this location, which implies one has already been 'formed' by the location. In this case, one has developed a particular kind of consciousness, one of freedom and peace, with an understanding that freedom implies singularity, and peace implies the harmonious relationship between the plurality that arises from singularity. Hence, OPM 112 includes the following citation from Heidegger: "To dwell, to be set at peace, means to remain at peace within the free, the preserve, the free sphere that safeguards each thing in its nature. The fundamental character of dwelling is this sparing and preserving."
OPM 112 identifies the 'making' of the mind of the people as 'mindfulness.' To make the 'mind' of the community his mind, the sage practices mindfulness, which, according to the flow of this project, must be understood as the practice of openness. Wisdom, mindfulness, and openness are a set of terms that describe both the place where meditative thinking happens, the way meditative thinking, and the character of the community that is formed. This is something like the relationship between experiential learning and ethical formation, the result (if we want to use that kind of logic) being the cultivation of a particular kind of consciousness or 'conscience.'
OPM 112 includes a denotation of 'conscience' emphasizes the formative force or power that forms a way of being. Becoming mindful is called conscience, the sense of direction, "impelling one toward right action." OPM 112: "to be 'impelled' is to be 'forced or urged' to act in particular way." And this way (called tao, by Lao Tzu) has been identified both as location and manner of moving: e.g., the passage-way out of the cave and the paideia (turning around), threshold and the crossing, pathway and coming-into-nearness of distance, open region and dwelling, the preserve and remaining at peace. What seems consistent is the belief that the location is fundamental, first, and originary in the sense of originating or forming a particular kind of being. This is why the sage always defers from himself: 'for wisdom listen to the Word.' (Heraclitus) In sum, the sage is a guide, and when he takes on the 'mind of the people,' he is merely guiding them into a specific location. And, of course, guiding implies a specific kind of movement, which is another way of saying that the guide is the one who knows the route. And in this case 'knowing' the route implies that one has already moved along this location, which implies one has already been 'formed' by the location. In this case, one has developed a particular kind of consciousness, one of freedom and peace, with an understanding that freedom implies singularity, and peace implies the harmonious relationship between the plurality that arises from singularity. Hence, OPM 112 includes the following citation from Heidegger: "To dwell, to be set at peace, means to remain at peace within the free, the preserve, the free sphere that safeguards each thing in its nature. The fundamental character of dwelling is this sparing and preserving."
3.0 - The sabbatical book writing is gaining momentum, and because the style and content of that project is so different from this project, it'll be a challenge for me to maintain focus here. I changed my protocol this morning and started the day with sabbatical writing. The protocol has been to get up, grab a cup of coffee, and write a blog entry. Today I decided to jump into the sabbatical writing, and even considered using this space for that writing. There is some overlap between the two. In the sabbatical writing I'm working through the preliminaries, the Preface and Introduction. I've just about finished with that material, which is offering some general context and overview. The last bit of writing is offering an overview of "dialectic," and I'm about to offer a review of Hegel's lecture on Heraclitus. Had this project been more systemic and less improvisational, I would have presented Hegel on Heraclitus, perhaps. The coincidence of opposites appears here and there, and later in 1.0 I present the Eastern philosophical idea of co-arising. To say that it "appears here and there" is to say that I don't devote specific attention to the dialectic per se. However, the whole project of Being and Learning is organized around the dialectic as the fundamental organizing principle! I'm anxious to admit that this is the first time I realized that, and it's probably just a case of being lost in the trees to the point of forgetting I'm in a forest. For better or worse, that's the way this project unfolded. I was fixated on a particular figure, idea, words, etc., and they would capture my attention for a few days before they would give way to something else. That is the dynamic flow of the dialectic, and that is what OPM 112 is referring to with "impelled". OPM 112: "to be 'impelled' is to be 'forced or urged' to act in particular way." If the sage is the one who guides the learning community this is because they drawing the students into the flow that is directing them. In this sense the sage is inviting the students to join him in the flow. And I've discussed at the very beginning of this project, this invitation is all important! It has to call the students, it has to be evocative. I suppose it will be evocative if the sage is truly standing in the flow, or what Heidegger called "the draft" of thinking. The flow "impels" the teacher to be a sage. The sage is a modality of dialogic teaching and learning. These days I'm a bit impatient with "letting-be" the flow of Being, which is to say, I'm anxious about being more assured about the practice of dialogic philosophy. It seems that Aristotle always comes along during my sabbatical projects to interrupt my faith in the flow. He did it again yesterday and again this morning. Aristotle is like the inspector who comes around unannounced and without an appointment to make sure everything is working as it should. "Don't be sloppy!" I appreciate that reminder, but I'm not going to follow him into his ornate and complex manner of thinking. He made his appearance because I was borrowing his distinction between "dialectic" and "rhetoric." I only wanted to make a small little prefatory comment, and before I knew it I was carefully leafing through his "Rhetoric." But this time I caught myself before I got lost in that tome! There's the difference: getting lost in a feeling, or intuition, and getting lost in a methodology. Being "impelled" is to be "captivated" by a feeling or intuition that one is moving in the "right" direction. Of course later upon reflection, such as returning back to the writing 20 years later, it may be difficult to conjure up that original feeling. This is why Aristotle was able to be so prolific: he discovered a method of reasoning, a technique. In essence he invented "science." There was no need for a muse to inspire. He did not wrote "poetic" meditations. And this is why he needs to be kept away, at arms length. In short, Aristotle is a buzz killer! :-)
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