Re-Visioning My-Your Purpose to Master Apparent Chaos

PhD-24jan08-2nd

In my last post, I described how, in a matter of a few days, I met Richard Kirby, and decided to move to Seattle to do a PhD in Communications Theory through the University of Russian (URAO). During these first few weeks, it seemed that Richard was testing the limits of my ability to absorb new information. When I mentioned this, he gave me another assignment – this was to build a ‘model city’ which would be a representation of all my diverse interests – as a way to better enjoy, systematize, and “mind-map” my projects and the PhD. At the end of this article I’ll describe how I see this ‘model city’.

Richard introduced me to dozens of people and through them I met even more people. I introduced ten of them in my last post and I will introduce you to several more in this post. Richard ‘volunteered’ me for numerous projects, and I read the two books mentioned in PhD-24jan08, The Leadership of Civilization Building and Nurturing Civilization Builders, and Nurturing Civilization Builders. The former Richard co-authored with Richard Spady of the Forum Foundation.

http://forumfoundation.org

On September 7, 2007, Forum Foundation succeeded in its sponsorship of Initiative 24, which establishes a Citizen Councilor Network for citizens to meet, discuss public issues, and provide opinions. King County Council passed Inititive 24 with a 9 to 0 vote!

http://easycitizeninvolvement.com/LatestNews

Richard introduced me to Yitzhak Hayut-Man

http://www.thehope.org/Yitzhak.htm

author of The Truth about Judas Iscariot

http://www.truthaboutjudas.com/main/index.php

I read it and am writing a review, posted at:

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com/2008/01/truth-about-judas-book-review-work-in.html

Dr. Kirby asked me to make a list twice a week of “Things Dan Wants to Know!”.

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com/2008/01/dr.html

Yitzhak studied under the “father of cybernetics”, Gordon Pask

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Cybernetics_%28Gordon_Pask%29

and will be able to help me answer some of my most pressing questions, especially regarding the use of computer games for political, social and spiritual-religious innovation.

During my brief time in Seattle, I had the pleasure to meet Kevin Cory Benedict, a great guy, super musician-performer, he brings a bit of burlesque-spirit to uplifting songs, with complex lyrics and rhymes, a vast range of styles in even one song; I immediately played some of them over and over. “She’s back!” (“It’s okay for God to Be a Girl!”) moved me to tears, and I laughed out loud at “My Friend Jesus” and “I Want to Be a Guru Too”! Enough said! Click on his site.

http://greatsong.com

Richard has made repeated reference to Olaf Stapledon, so for a start I’ll have a look at his wiki listing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_Stapledon

I began to study Russian, I’ll be researching and writing about language acquisition and English as a second language. And we discussed the nature of ideal communication, and how to measure the efficacy of education and thus improve and perfect it.

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com/2008/01/initial-thoughts-on-learning-russian.html

I had jokingly quavered, “I won’t have to learn calculus, will I?” and so Richard assigned me to read Morris Kline’s “Mathematics for Liberal Arts,” which I have begun. Richard has assigned me to read Kline’s other two books as well.

Dr. Kirby and Dr. Ellis have published “Basics of Modern Education,” under the North American University Press imprint, and I am studying that. It is a primer on New Paradigm education from the Russian perspective.

Richard asked me to read the Wall Street Journal (which I found included the Seattle Times!) with particular attention to hyper-intelligent venture capital.

Given everything that I was doing in my brief stay in Seattle, only a few of which I have listed above, I was feeling a bit mentally – and emotionally – stretched. Dr. Kirby suggested that I envision and build a ‘model village’ representing my various and diverse interests. The village would have at its conter a ‘volcano of love’ from whose apex, I could survey the surrounding landscape. I was to imagine the ‘volcano’ in numerous horizontal slices, from the divergent details of projects at the bottom to the over-arching and organizing principles at the summit. From this vantage point, the ethical principles spanning all the different areas would make sense of, and simplify the apparent chaos.

I have found such principles to be useful at earlier times in my life. My teacher, “Father Andre” had helped people in our group, “OWLS,” to identify their “path” and “point”. I recall that my path was “knowledge serving the physical.” Although to an observer this might seem impossibly broad, to me it was also narrow enough, and it made sense of what I was doing. Years later I began studying the neo-Mayan cosmology of Jose Arguelles a.k.a. Pacal Votan, called the Dreamspell. My birthday, according to this system, gave me this affirmation:

"I unify in order to know
Attracting healing
I seal the store of accomplishment
With the magnetic tone of purpose
I am guided by my own power doubled"

Again, although this self-description may seem enigmatic to a stranger, to me it makes perfect sense; this article and all my writings have an element of “seal the store of accomplishment”.

Calculate your Mayan birthday “tone, glyph, and affirmation” here:

http://www.photon.net/13moon.php

I intend for me PhD thesis to be broad enough and narrow enough to encompass all I am doing, and also focus my research, “like a laser,” as Dr. Kirby says. If you are feeling stretched to your limit, perhaps this brief article will have helped. Please let me know how I can continue to make these blog posts even more useful and effective.

DanShaw.com

danshaw19@gmail.com

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com