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Annual Tranceformations
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Sunday, December 30, 2007While we often want to “restart” at the beginning of the New Year, I find that taking the time to reflect and appreciate what transpired in the year coming to an end always serves to inspire me for the year coming up ... and ending in gratitude for what I already have somehow seems more deeply satisfying than endlessly looking forward to what I might have, or have not, “someday.”
Howdy all ... and welcome to the Year's End!
Well it has been a good year all in all in the Riggio household, albeit with its ups and downs. I think I make this judgment against the weighted value of each thing that I track for in my life and when I do that I'm left with the overwhelming sense that I am truly blessed indeed!
For example it has been a tough year in some ways with a court battle that I came out the worse for at the start of the year. I have to say that I learned a few things about the injustices of our legal system and the farce that plays out as justice ... truly eye opening in the worst possible way for me on one hand ... and on the other a transformational revision of some of my most fundamental thinking. And, while that particular episode will wind up costing me about $750,000 or more before I'm done with it, the learning is probably worth a few million to me - at least one in terms of pure educational value and another couple in what I'll be able to turn it into over time (you know the lemons into lemonade rule, once you "GET IT" you'll find that it becomes a simple choice you make ... or not).
Yet set against that, it has also been one of my most successful years in terms of designing, producing and delivering MythoSelf® programs, working with some new clients, developing new models and also setting things in place for some new and extremely potentially prosperous partnerships in the upcoming year. So when I balance it all out, what could have been a devastating loss at the start of the year played out as a couple of lessons learned and somethings to put behind ... where they, the characters involved and the farce of the drama, belong ... as well as some fantastic successes and the tremendous memories that go with them.
Then I think, "What about closer to home?" Again, against the backdrop of some difficult times my family and me have pulled together as we always do and are finding ourselves closer to one another and what we hold to be most important than ever before. And, in this category all those I love are healthy ( if not necessarily all wealthy `;~> ) and I know I'll always have them in my life regardless of what else may come ... a pretty specific prediction that I made a while ago that has proven out in every way. A true blessing as I've said. While "loyalty and honor above all" means little to most, and everything to a few I also got to find out something about who my friends are ... so in the face of what could have been very difficult times the outcome has been that I've learned who I can count on and who will be there when the proverbial manure hits the fan (among some other important things)!!! Heck, "What's that worth?"
In addition it has been one of the most successful years in my history as far as I can recall in terms of taking things forward for me professionally. Material I've been working on for a decade or more has begun coming together in new ways that will be exploding in 2008. It seems like the incredible diligence to staying the course has led me to my own personal Shambhala, where much of what I've been aiming at seems to be in the process of unfolding completely ... like the bulb of a precious and rare flower planted long ago, tenderly cared for and nurtured finally coming into full bloom.
I think the only word I can apply to this year ... would be "GRATITUDE" ... simply, incredible gratitude.
Best regards and ... have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!,
Joseph Riggio
Princeton, NJ
Just to tempt you a bit I thought I'd pass out a few tidbits about some of what I have planned for 2008. I'll be sharing some of the flavor of new programs I'm developing and the ways I'm spicing up some of my existing programs over the next few weeks. For example, here's what I'm planning for my Power & Language tele-coaching series in the first half of '08:
The premise of the entire Power & Language tele-coaching program has to do with how language and power interact ... and how those who wield power use it to make things happen and get things done, both on their own and with others. So I've decided I'll be offering a Tour de Force" on some of the most profoundly powerful aspects of language that I know of ... incredibly powerful ways of using language that transform those who apply them.
What I'll be presenting will be based in part on John Searle's work on Speech Acts.
Assertives - speech acts that commit a speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition
Directives - speech acts that are to cause the hearer to take a particular action, e.g.: requests, commands and advice
Commissives - speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action, e.g.: promises and oaths
Expressives - speech acts that expresses on the speaker's attitudes and emotions towards the proposition, e.g.: congratulations, excuses, thanks
Declaritives - speech acts that change reality in accord with the proposition of the declaration, e.g.: baptisms, pronouncing someone guilty or pronouncing someone husband and wife
John Searle, (1975) "A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts"
However I'll be doing my best to put it all into simpler terms and make it a bit more accessible than John Searle sometimes does in his academic writing. And I'll do this by offering this material in a more accessible structure as well as in more accessible language for most people, unless you're a doctoral student (or graduate) in analytical linguistic philosophy.
For example I'll be addressing Searle's taxonomy of speech acts as follows:
Assertives = Observations —vs.— Expressives = Opinions/Judgments Declaritives = Pronouncements That Can Change/Create Reality Directives = Requests and Offers ... Ways of Changing the Future and Enrolling People Commissives = Promises, Agreements and Commitments ... Relationships, Trust and Outcomes
Specifically, I'll be presenting the ways in which our speech acts, both interpersonal and intrapersonal, impact our way of being in the world and the results we get ... or fail to get, both on our own and with others. And, I'll be expanding on the work of Searle with some of the early work of Bandler and Grinder as they were in the process of developing what later became NLP (neurolinguistic programming).
What I'll be pulling out from their early material comes from what they called the "Meta-Model" a means of directly working with Transformational Grammer/Syntax and Semantic Wellformedness.
Simply put ... this is the stuff of transformational magic in the domains of personal and professional development, as well as the source code for developing elite individual and team performances. And it will be exactly what I lay out in detail so you can put it to immediate use in your own life with the start of the 2008 season of Power & Language.
And ... best of all you still have a few more hours to take advantage of the Power & Language 2007 Year End Special Offer, and all you have to do to get in on the first three months of Power & Language in 2008 while it's still 100% FREE is click on this link to send a letter to Nancy with the subject 2007 Year-End Special Offer.
For your convenience I'm copying out the complete original offer for you below:
Normally, I offer two free months when you sign up for my Power & Language" tele-coaching program or my monthly audio newsletter Unconventional Advice, but if you click here to send a letter to Nancy with the subject 2007 Year-End Special Offer I'll sign you up for three months on both absolutely free ... with no obligation or risk, and then if you decide to continue you'll get the complete access to the entire Power & Language archives as well ... over two year's worth of tele-coaching calls available for immediate download!
BUT I ASSURE YOU I WILL NOT MAKE THIS OFFER AGAIN IN 2008 ... just click here to send a note to Nancy with the subject line 2007 Year-End Special Offer and she'll come back to you with all the details before the clock strikes 12 midnight on January 1st 2008 ... ACT NOW!
[Note: This offer is only available to new subscribers, existing and past subscribers of either Unconventional Advice or Power & Language are not eligible for this offer.]
Don't wait for the ball to drop! After midnight tommorow (1 January 2008) you'll miss this incredible window of opportunity ... so ACT NOW ... click here and send your email out to Nancy before the clock strikes twelve ... 2007 Year End Special Offer !
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As The Year Ends …
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Monday, December 24, 2007First of all ... (click here first) Happy Holidays to everyone!!!
So I realized that I haven’t posted here in a while and I wanted to write a new blog entry while the mood is upon me ... so here it is, enjoy all ...
First let’s catch up a bit, then I’ll post a little on where my latest thinking about what’s been left out of the model has been ...
As usual I’ve been busy since the last time I posted here ... I’ve been writing a little on the MythoSelf E-List at Yahoo Groups, in fact I posted an especially long message there a short while ago about modeling, Models of Models, about NLP and modeling ... and the lack thereof.
I’ve also been developing an international retail strategy for a world-class client, which is both hard work and a blast ... especially as we’re beginning to see real results emerging. And, of course, I’ve had my attention on the schedule of upcoming projects and programs for 2008 ...
So far I’ve got plans in place for a MythoSelf® Facilitator’s/Trainer’s Training Intensive in Italy and I’m also planning on renewing the MythoSelf® Facilitator’s/Trainer’s Training in NJ that will run over the course of the year. But, both of these programs will be virtually brand new in terms of both content and construction ... I’m completely revamping these programs for 2008 based on some new learnings and leanings that have developed over this past year ... stay tuned for more details as I unveil them. I’m also working on a brand new program that I’m currently in the process of developing that I’m calling Intentional Performance ... The Warp and Weft of INTENT, A Program for Professionals Integrating the Hero’s Journey and the Graves Model - this program will unmask the stories we tell ourselves and others, the stories others tell themselves, us and others, the way these stories weave into the construction of the social identities we share and the power of the stories we tell to shape and create the realities we manifest - personally I think this program will truly be a kick-ass program for those who are up for it, and as usual with my professional development programs of this kind I’m limiting the group size to about 20. This program Intentional Performance will be held in Langebaek, Denmark at the Blue Butterfly Retreat Center where I held last year’s MythoSelf® Facilitator’s/Trainer’s Training Intensive.
It’s also possible that I’ll run the Exquisite Performance Coaching and Consulting Series Workshops sometime in the second half of 2008 and the first half of 2009. These are two four-day workshops, one each on the coaching and consulting models I’ve developed. I’ll present one of the four-days in 2008 and the other in 2009, or I may move both to 2009 and present one in the first half of the year and the other in the second half of the year. Finally, sometime during the year I’ll plan a MythoSelf® Advanced Facilitator’s/Trainer’s Training (Mytho4/16) that will be a four-day workshop limited to folks who have completed a MythoSelf® Facilitator’s/Trainer’s Training program before.
Whew! ... (deep breath in ... hold it ... let it out slowly) ... even thinking about all that tickles me to no end! It’s actually a lighter schedule than I’ve run before, but we’re revving up the production of our programs to a level way beyond what we’ve ever produced before. A lot of that has to do with Nancy being on board full-time and really running things with her typical “iron hand in a velvet glove” approach to things. I’ve also got plans to revamp the MythoSelf.com site in a big way come 2008 ... but, enough about all that for now, I promise I’ll post a bit more about it all as it unfolds
I thought I’d give you all something to think about and get your teeth into for the year’s end ... something a bit practical and applicable as begin to think about your New Year’s Resolutions, that will apply to each and everything you intend doing in this upcoming year.
What I’ve been observing and opining about lately to my inner group of confidants has been in relation to a very simple idea really ... in the same way that “body” and “mind” get separated ... “words” and “deeds” get separated as well ... when in fact they are very much one thing, Body-Mind ... Words-Deeds. Now I could have substituted “action” for “deeds” but in actuality “deeds” more accurately conveys the intention of my reference.
Deed \Deed\, n. [AS. d[=ae]d; akin to OS. d[=a]d, D. & Dan. daad, G. that, Sw. d[*a]d, Goth. d[=e]ds; fr. the root of do. See Do, v. t.]
1. That which is done or effected by a responsible agent; an act; an action; a thing done;—a word of extensive application, including, whatever is done, good or bad, great or small. [1913 Webster]
As you can see deeds are all about doing ... what I like to think of as “performance.”
Performance \Per*form"ance\, n. The act of performing; the carrying into execution or action; execution; achievement; accomplishment; representation by action; as, the performance of an undertaking of a duty. [1913 Webster]
Promises are not binding where the performance is impossible. --Paley. [1913 Webster]
2. That which is performed or accomplished; a thing done or carried through; an achievement; a deed; an act; a feat; esp., an action of an elaborate or public character. “Her walking and other actual performances.” --Shak. “His musical performances.” --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
Where action first and foremost implies movement, but not necessarily achievement or even intentional directionality,
Action \Ac"tion\, n. [OF. action, L. actio, fr. agere to do. See Act.] 1. A process or condition of acting or moving, as opposed to rest; the doing of something; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; the effect of power exerted on one body by another; agency; activity; operation; as, the action of heat; a man of action. [1913 Webster]
Yet, I find it most interesting that today we tend to emphasize “action” in society over “deeds” ... e.g.: Action Heros. We seem to be addicted to action ... movement for the sake of movement ... despite the fact that it doesn’t necessarily get anyone anywhere or at least not where they want to be going. However, I also understand that the word “deed” implies a moral/ethical tone ... and the potential for magnificence, majesty and a lasting legacy:
[1913 Webster]
For many, maybe most, people the potential to think of themselves in terms of “magnificence, majesty and a lasting legacy” would be too much. They run away from that much significance, that much intentionality in their lives ... preferring to remain small and insignificant instead. This route has become familiar ... comfortable ... safe ... the one imposed upon them by their families, friends, society and culture. Even when folks feel like they are taking risks they are most often in the realm of the familiar ... comfortable ... safe kind of risks, essentially doing what has been laid out for them to do ... what they’ve been told to do. “Go to school ... behave .. pay attention ... speak when you’re spoken to ... don’t stand out too much.” ... “Get a good education ... get a good job ... get promoted ... get wealthy ... get married ... get successful ... get respected.” ... “Learn to fit in and find your place ... find yourself ... find your path ... live your life with meaning and purpose ... contribute ... help others ... be a good member of society.” All messages about conforming, not rocking the boat too much ... and most of all about gaining the rewards promised you if you succeed according to the rules laid out for you by others ... definitely not magnificence, majesty and a lasting legacy.
What I find most interesting about all this has to do with how it demands a repression of the soul ... the essential part of the individual screaming and clawing to emerge ... to extricate itself from the binding ties imposed by others ... family, friends, society, culture. And, of course, even when people feel their souls ready to explode from the prison imposed upon them they often don’t know how ... what to do or how to do it. So they begin to think in terms of what they’ve been taught ... TO TAKE ACTION! ... TO DO SOMETHING ... ANYTHING!!! ... although what they are trying to escape from begins in what they’ve been taught ... the bonds of family, friends, society, culture ... remember, “RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!”.
Months ago ... years really ... I wrote about The Matrix ... saying then that The Matrix signifies language ... that we are trapped by language. I didn’t make up this idea, I simply borrowed it. I got this idea from Martin Heidegger, expanded it when I came across John Searle, and traced the essence of it back to Heraclitus. Language has as one of its effects the ability to name things, i.e.: to bring things into being as something (specific) ... we’ll call this an ontological effect. When language names things they become fixed and permanent in that language form, one example of this would be the language of jargon. To the insider group familiar with and who uses the jargon, the meaning of the language becomes familiar and known ... purposeful and intentional, as it points to something known, perceived or intended. Yet to those outside of the group who are familiar with and users of the jargon the language remains meaningless ... purposeless and unintentional, pointing to nothing.
In the same way that The Matrix can be represented by language, those who create and use language to signify and manifest certain things, situations, circumstances, results and outcomes can be thought of in terms of being the societal/cultural Borg of the day ... think, “Axis of Evil” as one familiar example. There are others that are also familiar depending on where you have been inculturated, “Think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” or “For God, King/Queen and Country!” Yet the most insidious ones are much less obvious, “Education is the great equalizer.” What all these have in common are they are based in language ... language being the creator of form ... the ontological seed.
As soon as we become clear about the linkage between our language (words) and our deeds (acts ... n.b.: different from “action") we can become clear about how we create our lives. Taking charge of our language acts grants us the power to act with intentionality ... giving direction to our action ... turning what we do into our deeds and our deeds into our legacy. When we choose to attend to our languaging in this way we choose for magnificence and majesty.
So in closing for today I’m saying that I am opting for a life of choosing in this way in the upcoming year ... and urging you to consider how you will choose your life in the coming year for yourselves.
Buona Natale and Buona Fortuna ... ABUNDANZA!!! ... to a year of wholeness, fullness, joy and prosperity to all ...
Joseph Riggio
Princeton, NJ
PS - For more detailed material on the relationship between our language and our acts consider a subscription to Power & Language, my monthly tele-coaching program, a subscription to Unconventional Advice, or both! Normally, I offer two free months when you sign up for my Power & Language” tele-coaching program or my monthly audio newsletter Unconventional Advice, but if you send a letter to Nancy with the subject 2007 Year-End Special Offer I’ll sign you up for three months on both absolutely free ... with no obligation or risk, and then if you decide to continue you’ll get the complete access to the entire Power & Language archives as well ... over two year’s worth of tele-coaching calls available for immediate download!
BUT I ASSURE YOU I WILL NOT MAKE THIS OFFER AGAIN IN 2008 ... send a note to Nancy with the subject line 2007 Year-End Special Offer and she’ll come back to you with all the details before the clock strikes 12 midnight on January 1st 2008 ... ACT NOW!
[Note: This offer is only available to new subscribers, existing and past subscribers of either Unconventional Advice or Power & Language are not eligible for this offer.]
PPS - Not to be remiss ... an essential point, but one that will have to wait for another post to explicate, has to do with the intrinsic, intertwining of attending to where language emerges and arises from ... the absolute relationship of the semantic and somatic form, i.e.: one and the other are singular at the level of form. This refers to the interplay between the pre-representational, representational and post-representational forms that are held semantically and somatically. That which precedes and exceeds language cannot be held in language, yet from the essential form that stands outside of language all language emerges ... followed by all of our acts and deeds. Only when we are perceiving ontologically can we create that which we desire to become manifest in a magnificent and majestic manner, both on our own and with others. Essentially, this has been the core of the work I’ve been doing with individuals, groups and organizations for two decades ... learning all the time to refine and redefine as I go ... producing with each iteration a new level of performance unknown to me before. As I’ve said for another time ... maybe at the start of the New Year ...
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Continuing the Journey … Returning Home
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Saturday, December 08, 2007BEING AUTHENTIC ... INTENTIONALITY ... PERFORMANCE ... and finding the Mythological Path ...
Good morning all,
First I've decided that I've got a typo in my signature from yesterday's posting. I wrote, "Mythogenisist" and I've decided that it should have been, "Mythogenesist" ... now that I've cleared that up ...
I'd like to share and idea I've been working with for years now—the idea of Authenticity. For the sake of clarification I'm going to use the convention Authenticity and authenticity, to denote what I'm referring to as being authentic in the first case and what I sometimes see around me in the second case.
This idea of Authenticity goes along with the idea of Parrhesia (speaking fearlessly) to my mind. To be Authentic allows you to speak fearlessly because you are coming from your center. Authenticity refers to a way of being in the world ... true to ones self. It also forms the basis of intentionality, operating with direction and an awareness of effect and consequence. Power resides in this position. When I am working with a client or a client group to impact their performance I virtually always begin with establishing their intention. Then I work with them to build intentionality.
To operate with power demands that the direction has become obvious. Knowing who you are and where you are aiming allows for the unfettered performance. As I understand it Authenticity resides here in the space held for something specific to happen that represents a direct manifestation of the individual. Authenticity therefore doesn't reside in the doing, but in the being that precedes the doing.
Yet, authenticity as the popular concept of it sometimes gets presented seems to be a way of acting, e.g.: do these three things and you'll be authentic. You could think of this as the Official Recipe for "authenticity" ... or at least the illusion associated with being authentic. However, this position has no depth or form, it remains hollow. The great danger of course follows that this position leads to the same lack of depth and form leaving the individual who practices it hollow as well.
Mythology offers as one of its purposes a view into "in-authenticity" as well as into the realization of a full and whole authenticity. And the great myths also offer the path, the way to arrive at one's own authenticity, to become fully and wholly Authentic. The mythological path inevitably leads to the Authentic position. To finds one's myth is to become Authentic.
We could say that the mythological path contains the collected wisdom of the species about how to become one's self. Even more, the mythological path teaches the misfortunes of those who reject becoming themselves, striving instead to substitute some external reward. Within the collected wisdom of the mythological record there are also the lessons about how to integrate the self with the society. I'd add that the only, or maybe the best, way to arrive at the Authentic position resides on the mythological path.
When I'm working with folks using the structure of the "Hero's Journey" what I'm doing revolves around helping them in discovering their mythological path and becoming Authentic. Another way of saying this would be, helping them to learn what it means to be true to ones self, and in the parlance of the work I do this refers to a way of being ... staying the course of their life despite the temptations of the world order.
Well, that has to be plenty for one day ... and I'm off to my own mythological journey ...
Joseph Riggio, Social Designer and Mythogenesist
Princeton, NJ
PS - Time To ACT! ...
Do you remember that I announced that I'm planning a very special five-day retreat this summer in Denmark? And that I'm tentatively calling it, Intentional Performance: The Hero's Journey & The Graves Model, Warp and Weft of the Tapestry of INTENT? Where we'll be exploring the origins and impact of the personal and social mythologies we are subject to, creating and living inside of on our own and with others ... building to an experience of living parrhesia!??!
I'm still waiting to confirm that I'll be running this program at the Langebaek Retreat Center in Langebaek, Denmark ... the "Blue Butterfly Retreat Center" ... as it's also known. This is the same venue I used for the MythoSelf Facilitator's Intensive Training Program last summer. It is a magical venue just next to the island of Mon, and as soon as I have confirmation I'll give out a bit more information about it, like the dates I'll be running the program for instance.
I also recommended that if you're at all interested please drop me a note with the subject line: 2008 Intentional Performance Retreat and I'll put you on my insider's pre-release mailing list so you'll get the notices of what I'm doing as I make these plans going forward. This particular program may very well sell-out before I even announce it publicly. I said this because I thought the program could fill before I announce it publicly and I've already got enough folks who've responded to fill the program completely already! However, I'm sure that not all of these folks will be able to attend for one reason or another as these things tend to go, but I do recommend that to ensure you even get the chance to attend if you're interested that you let me know your interested now ... all it takes is a note to me with the headline: 2008 Intentional Performance Retreat and I'll do the rest ...
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The Horn’s of a Dilemma …
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Friday, December 07, 2007Resolving the Paradox ... and Wisdom’s Emerging ...
Howdy all,
Today will be quick, unless I find that I have a lot more time than I expect to later on during the day to come back and write more ...
The reason I'm writing such a short entry today is that I'm on my way to a program I joined in September in NYC at the Open Center, Applied Mythology hosted by the group,
Last night we began the second module at the Open Center with an evening program with mythic scholar Michael Meade. It was two and a half hours of drumming, singing, story, poetry and political diatribe. He is a master performer and keep the audience engaged and enthralled. In that relatively short time he demonstrated a profound mastery of the art of metaphor and myth as well.
Somewhere in all of that Michael told a short story about the initiation ritual of Ancient Greece. In this particular ritual, which is the root of modern Olympic gymnastics as well, the boys and girls trained to do a spectacular feat, which would prove to be their initiation as well. They would train themselves to vault over a charging bull as it rushed at them to gore them to death ...
The bull would be sent rushing at the child who'd been preparing themselves and who'd been trained to stand immobile. Waiting for what must have seemed an eternity for the bull to come close enough ... at the last possible moment the child would take a running start and engage the monstrous beast head-on. As the enormous beast charged them the child would run directly at it, leaping over the horns and landing hands-down on its back, flipping themselves over to land safely on their feet behind the bull and out of harms way. For it's part the bull would continue charging forward crashing through the very spot the child had been standing only a moment before deprived of it's own moment of glory and satisfaction.
Michael told this story to make a point about holding the tension of the middle way as a sign of maturity. He told the group that the immature position is to take a side and a stand, a position of youth. Then as a person matures and becomes an elder they begin to accumulate the wisdom of life. The more wisdom a person has accumulated the more they can stand the tension of holding two opposing positions, seeing them as both being valid and not choosing either. When this tension is held ... and held ... and held ... and held ... long enough, something not present in either position emerges. This is the resolution of the seeming paradox present in the opposition. This is avoiding the horns of a dilemma.
I personally loved this bit of the evening, I'd even say it was my favorite part. To some extent this is true because it reminds me so much of Roye's training about seemingly incongruous pairs, which for him also represented the resolution of paradox, and the signal that a great wisdom was emerging.
Until then ...
Joseph Riggio, Social Designer ... Mythogenisist ...
Princeton, NY
Speaking Fearlessly!
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Wednesday, December 05, 2007Living Fearlessly ... ATTITUDE, ARTICULATION, ACTION ... (and a announcing a new program in the Summer of 2008, “Intentional Performance: The Hero’s Journey & The Graves Model, Warp and Weft of the Tapestry of INTENT")
Evening all,
After yesterday's minor technology diversion I'm coming back at ya' with a more "technical" conversation ... in fact a technical conversation about conversation ... or at least communication.
Technocrats of Speech Communication are almost all familiar with the two most common forms of classical speech training, rhetoric and dialectic, and with the third grammar added to the first two this forms the basis of classical liberal arts education. Simply, the ancients believed that the basis of an educated mind was the ability to communicate effectively. This mostly meant persuading others ... ala rhetoric.
The favored form of the Sophists, traveling philosopher scholars who taugh the art of discourse, rhetoric was and is the favored form of lawyerly communication, then and now. The essence of rhetoric revolves around moving others to action via persuasion, i.e.: by manipulating communication to present ideas in the form most likely to produce the outcome desired by the presenter. While this is a simplistic description of what rhetoric is, it is nonetheless accurate. FWIW Socrates had little time for rhetoric, considering it inferior to dialectic.
The Socratic Method is based in dialectic. Socrates used the back and forth questioning form of dialectic to lead his disciples to ascertaining "truth" ... about themselves, others, the world around them, or simply as a process to hone their thinking skills in general. In many ways dialectic was the most basic and essential form of logic, rational thinking and communication ... most essentially expressed as point/counterpoint or thesis/antithesis. The modern continental philosopher Hegel picked up on, wrote and taught extensively on the idea of dialectic as the fundamental structure evolution, both personal and social.
Both of these forms, rhetoric and dialectic, are based in moving another person(s) based on choosing what you present and how you present it to get your outcome ... a manipulation of your communication to produce your intended results (with/through others). Yet the forgotten form of speech training that the Greeks also coveted was parrhesia, speaking fearlessly
The post-modern French philosopher Michel Foucault picked up on this idea of parrhesia or "fearless speech" and lectured on it at Berkeley (University of California, Berkeley) in the fall of 1983. From the transcripts from this series of lectures, delivered in English, the book, "Fearless Speech" was written (with editor, Joseph Pearson). This was Foucault's last book before his death in 1984.
This form of communication ... parrhesia ... fearless speech ... literally refers to speaking your mind in an unfettered manner ... Fearlessly!:
To truly speak fearlessly means accepting the consequences of speaking one's mind in a completely truthful, direct (unambiguous), unrestricted and critical manner. The relationship of the speaker to the listener(s) does not limit the practice of parrhesia ... including even the risk of death if that is the consequence of speaking one's truth. In some way it could even be said that the recognition and acceptance of the risk associated with speaking fearlessly is the essential quality of parrhesia. However, this practice, speaking one's truth in a direct, unrestricted and critical manner, is not common practice.
Many, maybe even most, of my contemporaries, practice the art of teaching rhetoric and dialectic ... persuasion and dialogue. Few if any are practicing the art of teaching parrhesia ... and fewer still are practicing it themselves. In fact in honor of this posting's topic I'll step out further on the plank and state explicitly that most of my contemporaries utilize the art of flattery as their common practice ... think "seduction" (Aristotle hated this one, flattery ... and with good reason ... but more about this later on, eh?).
My apprenticeship with Roye was held in the crucible of fearless speech and I learned to keep this practice ... the practice of parrhesia .. at the core of my personal behavior. In that context, my apprenticing with Roye, nothing less would be or was accepted. Looking back I can say that in some very practical ways this hasn't always served me, yet in terms of living my life with integrity and without compromise it always has ...
So today it would be fair of me to say that I've built my life around the practice of parrhesia ... speaking fearlessly ... it is the basis of how I work and what I teach. Those who hire me as a consultant or come to study with me find themselves facing a brutally honest, unvarnished reflection ... in act and word. Most flinch, many leave ... and some stay. Those that do are those who are ready ... ready to confront themselves unadorned. The reward ... the ability to stand naked in the world and take on their lives without hesitation or distortion. This is a rare, valuable, sensuous and stunning quality. I call it adopting the "aesthetic stance", choosing aesthetically. Think about how genuinely, authentically attractive someone who lives their lives this way ... with complete integrity and without compromise ... truly is ...
In any case I plan on extending the conversation of what this stance is all about and what it takes to adopt this position ... speaking fearlessly ... the aesthetic stance, over the next few months in some of my upcoming blog posts ... so if your ready come on aboard ... but foretold is forewarned as they say ... this particular journey is not for the feint of heart or the timid, it is a journey requiring courage ... the courage to risk your life.
Heroically yours,
Joseph Riggio, Social Ontologist ... Applied Mythologist,
Princeton, NJ
SPECIAL NOTICE: 2008 Intentional Performance:
I'm planning a very special five-day retreat this summer in Denmark. I'm tentatively calling it, Intentional Performance: The Hero's Journey & The Graves Model, Warp and Weft of the Tapestry of INTENT. We'll be exploring the origins and impact of the personal and social mythologies we are subject to, create and live inside of on our own and with others ... an experience of living parrhesia!
If all goes well I'll be running this program at the Langebaek Retreat Center in Langebaek, Denmark ... the "Blue Butterfly Retreat Center" ... as it's also known. This is the same venue I used for the MythoSelf Facilitator's Intensive Training Program last summer. It is a magical venue just next to the island of Mon.
The group will be limited to no more than thirty, and very likely as few as twenty - I'll decide on the final count once I've finished making the plans for this personal and professional development retreat (last year we were over-booked for the MythoSelf Facilitator's Intensive Training with 43 people joining me there!).
I recommend if you're at all interested please drop me a note with the subject line: 2008 Intentional Performance Retreat
and I'll put you on my insider's pre-release mailing list so you'll get the notices of what I'm doing as I make these plans going forward. This particular program may very well sell-out before I even announce it publicly.[PLEASE NOTE: If this program does sell-out to my insider's list I will not be announcing it publicly, so if you're at all interested and don't want to be disappointed drop me a note now: jsriggio-AT-josephriggio.com ].
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