Let's Get South Africa Talking - Breakfast Session 30 September 2016
TOPIC : LEADERSHIP: Is South Africa at the edge?
Reflections from Participants
"Greetings
Kudos to the organisers for facilitating a wonderful morning of dialogue. I truly appreciated this opportunity to engage and interact with the dynamic group of people at our table.
I was truly grateful for the set up of the program which facilitated a space for all of us to truly play a participatory ontological role - by interacting with fellow guests at the table - sharing our diverse perspectives - instead of being mere spectators to the process of dialogue.
I came to understand systems dynamics very much through the entertaining presentation style of Dr Bodhanya - a fluid spontaneous / non-rigid approach. No formalities / no mike - moving around - visible / real and interactive with the audience. Playful / provocative / engaging all at the same time. It was in a sense an observation of system dynamics in action!
Upon reflection retrospectively it occurred to me that perhaps during our dialogue session the conversation at our table may well have been deepened by the inclusion of matters of verticality/ transcendence / morality / ethics / role of spirituality.
The reality though is that in this world of complex moral choices / turbulence / complexity - there is often underlying tension between principle and pragmatism.
In the practical outer world the approach to complex dilemmas is not influenced so much by principles as by pragmatics.
An important reason for the decline of principal suasion in society is the relativistic/ nihilistic / subjective ethos of our times. This is partly a function of society's growing individualism, itself an aspect of reductive materialism and of the hurtling rate of change.
As freedom become rights so seemingly responsibilities become wrongs, and there is a marked tendency in society towards diminished principial accountability. Ie now students not taking responsibility for burning down libraries / President Zuma avoiding accountability for overexpenditure at Nkandla etc.
As the world gets deconstructed, so it increasingly lacks an objective foundation for moral behavior. The loss of principle yields in the end to pragmatic norms such as those of privatized morality or the statistical morality of utilitarianism. In each case morality is not tethered to the Intellect or to any supra rational criterion of objectivity.
In a relativistic world morality can mean different things to different people. However morality is more than skillful reasoned sophistry - it's claim to be authentic has ontological roots.
The identification of one's moral duty involves various levels of dialogue. Which is why I was particularly grateful/ appreciative for the dialogical framework which your institute promotes and upholds.
Dialogue needs to occur at multiple levels - leading to greater plurality. Itself a process and not a product.
Firstly between oneself and The Divine - and the second between oneself and one's neighbour. The key point being that authentic moral engagement requires inner and outer dialogue.
The first moral imperative is to find one's spiritual Centre. This involves both grace and effort - a sense of self mastery - not through a flight from the complexities of life. We cannot have a mindset of subjugating those who oppose our line of thinking -instead we should earnestly seek to reconnect sacramentally with creation.
The second moral imperative is to regain equilibrium in one's life - through an attitude of openness to dialogue with one's neighbour. This entails our willingness to be open to the other - to stand in their place - to " walk in their shoes" - this takes both understanding and empathy. It involves a pluralistic engagement with diversity and alterity.
To accommodate our differences through and affirmation of our inherent human dignity and of our accountability to respect, preserve and care for the sacred web of life. It also involves a dialogue for solutions that extend beyond the parochial and ungenerous motives of self interest to those of an inclusive harmony - that accommodates the interests of others as part of the broader, general good. This idea was brought up by a fellow attendee Mr Siddiqui - citing the historical realities of the Sony legacy - a trajectory of growth built on furthering the greater good for the entire country instead of being profitable to only a few economically predatory elite individuals.
A process of dialogue if embraced avoids both the reductive tyranny of principles and their relativistic capitulations. I am currently experiencing this myself as I engage with differing viewpoints surrounding the fracas at the universities. My once held filtered stoic views are taking on a different hue due to an activation of dialogue and a willingness to engage - otherwise we cannot hope to achieve peace and harmony.
Life - though we each live it individually - is a constant field of engagement / dialogue and an opportunity for a creative encounter with the other who in the end, is like ourself - but an ever unfolding theophany of The Divine.
I thank you for hosting this event and sowing seeds of hope / light / change.
Kind Regards
Maseeha"
"Greetings
Kudos to the organisers for facilitating a wonderful morning of dialogue. I truly appreciated this opportunity to engage and interact with the dynamic group of people at our table.
I was truly grateful for the set up of the program which facilitated a space for all of us to truly play a participatory ontological role - by interacting with fellow guests at the table - sharing our diverse perspectives - instead of being mere spectators to the process of dialogue.
I came to understand systems dynamics very much through the entertaining presentation style of Dr Bodhanya - a fluid spontaneous / non-rigid approach. No formalities / no mike - moving around - visible / real and interactive with the audience. Playful / provocative / engaging all at the same time. It was in a sense an observation of system dynamics in action!
Upon reflection retrospectively it occurred to me that perhaps during our dialogue session the conversation at our table may well have been deepened by the inclusion of matters of verticality/ transcendence / morality / ethics / role of spirituality.
The reality though is that in this world of complex moral choices / turbulence / complexity - there is often underlying tension between principle and pragmatism.
In the practical outer world the approach to complex dilemmas is not influenced so much by principles as by pragmatics.
An important reason for the decline of principal suasion in society is the relativistic/ nihilistic / subjective ethos of our times. This is partly a function of society's growing individualism, itself an aspect of reductive materialism and of the hurtling rate of change.
As freedom become rights so seemingly responsibilities become wrongs, and there is a marked tendency in society towards diminished principial accountability. Ie now students not taking responsibility for burning down libraries / President Zuma avoiding accountability for overexpenditure at Nkandla etc.
As the world gets deconstructed, so it increasingly lacks an objective foundation for moral behavior. The loss of principle yields in the end to pragmatic norms such as those of privatized morality or the statistical morality of utilitarianism. In each case morality is not tethered to the Intellect or to any supra rational criterion of objectivity.
In a relativistic world morality can mean different things to different people. However morality is more than skillful reasoned sophistry - it's claim to be authentic has ontological roots.
The identification of one's moral duty involves various levels of dialogue. Which is why I was particularly grateful/ appreciative for the dialogical framework which your institute promotes and upholds.
Dialogue needs to occur at multiple levels - leading to greater plurality. Itself a process and not a product.
Firstly between oneself and The Divine - and the second between oneself and one's neighbour. The key point being that authentic moral engagement requires inner and outer dialogue.
The first moral imperative is to find one's spiritual Centre. This involves both grace and effort - a sense of self mastery - not through a flight from the complexities of life. We cannot have a mindset of subjugating those who oppose our line of thinking -instead we should earnestly seek to reconnect sacramentally with creation.
The second moral imperative is to regain equilibrium in one's life - through an attitude of openness to dialogue with one's neighbour. This entails our willingness to be open to the other - to stand in their place - to " walk in their shoes" - this takes both understanding and empathy. It involves a pluralistic engagement with diversity and alterity.
To accommodate our differences through and affirmation of our inherent human dignity and of our accountability to respect, preserve and care for the sacred web of life. It also involves a dialogue for solutions that extend beyond the parochial and ungenerous motives of self interest to those of an inclusive harmony - that accommodates the interests of others as part of the broader, general good. This idea was brought up by a fellow attendee Mr Siddiqui - citing the historical realities of the Sony legacy - a trajectory of growth built on furthering the greater good for the entire country instead of being profitable to only a few economically predatory elite individuals.
A process of dialogue if embraced avoids both the reductive tyranny of principles and their relativistic capitulations. I am currently experiencing this myself as I engage with differing viewpoints surrounding the fracas at the universities. My once held filtered stoic views are taking on a different hue due to an activation of dialogue and a willingness to engage - otherwise we cannot hope to achieve peace and harmony.
Life - though we each live it individually - is a constant field of engagement / dialogue and an opportunity for a creative encounter with the other who in the end, is like ourself - but an ever unfolding theophany of The Divine.
I thank you for hosting this event and sowing seeds of hope / light / change.
Kind Regards
Maseeha"