by James | Jun 30, 2012 | Life
I have to to say if you had asked me 3 years ago what I would be doing now the answer would not have been sitting in a office in France preparing to start an English lesson. It’s a strange life and I’m not sure now what that means I’ll be doing in another 3 years.
In many ways that’s scary, in many more ways it’s exhilarating, intriguing and motivating. I would never have believed I could be good at English grammar until I had to teach it for thousands of hours, my grammar has always been abysmal. I would never have believed I could live in a foreign country for over 2 years, or speak a foreign language until I had too.
Being a teacher is probably not the career I will follow until the grave but it will always be a part of me, and through teaching I have learnt me a great deal about how we learn, about peoples temperaments, about language, culture and how we approach problems. Not to mention I can now speak happily in front of groups of people manage time a little better and generally I’m more confident when it comes articulating my ideas.
Not to mention all the time I’ve had to write up my various thoughts and clarify what I believe in life and what I want to be in the future.
It’s strange how unexpected events lead to better situations even if they seem at first to be a mistake or a problem, it’s all about framing I guess. Now I’m working seriously on my French, getting my fitness back to a good level and returning to programming.
I can’t wait to see where and what I’ll be doing in 3 years time :).
by James | Jun 28, 2012 | Exploration I
What are the rules and regulations of the community?
While a full transcript of the rules should be decided by a committee of the initial members, essentially it should cover the ethical oath of your initial entry, the principal routines during the day of the members. The balance of hours between individuals; work, chores and duties, learning, training and teach, relaxing, reflecting leisure and the assignment of tasks.
The document should also cover inappropriate behaviour but should more generally state what is good and assume a certain level of individual responsibility and cognisance of what is inappropriate or morally wrong . All interactions should stem from respect, patience and responsibility.
Finally, the document should clearly state all the positions within the community, the methods of electing such people, those who are permitted to vote and the powers invested in each station and the procedures for making amendments to the original document.
[note: I know essentially this describes a constitution but I obviously wasn’t thinking about it at the time, it borders on a semi-political / ethical document that describes and enforces the ideals of the community.]
by James | Jun 27, 2012 | Exploration I
What do members do?
Primarily, members research, study, teach and practise their skills as much as possible. On top of this they will have additional duties for the benefit of the community as a whole and physical and mental training as part of their daily routines.
Duties will comprise of community chores like farming, laundry, lab work, cooking. Elected duties such as administrating departments, regulatory matters, community decisions and contractual duties – using ones skills for external groups, peer reviews of studied papers, working on community software and open source educational tools.
There should be a balance between reason, aesthetic and physical conditioning to create well balanced individuals.
[note:These ideas are developed much more in later posts, including specialised positions and methods of electing officials etc.]
by James | Jun 20, 2012 | Exploration I
Why are members trained in subjects like martial arts and meditation?
There was a long consideration in writing the entries about martial arts and meditation. Meditation has a solid amount of scientific evidence to show that it has numerous physical, emotional and cognitive benefits. While we can draw connections between practitioners of martial arts and other similar benefits it may simply be due to increased exercise, focus, discipline or even meditation done during the course of their studies. The correlation is less clear.
Either way in the spirit of preparedness for any situation it would be prudent to teach a soft system of martial arts [note: by soft I mean a martial art that utilises technique over brute force and yielding rather than opposing forces] like Aikido which can be more defensive in nature and also teaches practitioners how to fall without hurting themselves or restrain someone who is being violent.
Martial arts teaches discipline, allows for purposeful exercise, aids balance and builds self-confidence. If we take a holistic approach to the individual members of the community this is a vital facet of that approach.
by James | Nov 5, 2011 | Exploration I
In an ideal system, all people should work on what they are passionate about and share the chores they hate; however, this doesn’t occur in any sufficiently complex society or community. People must perform duties or work in necessary but unpleasant situations for the community’s good. The problem in larger groups is that these chores can become the sole responsibility of a single group, creating tension. In respect of this, the community must have some framework in place to share general tasks.
Regular routines such as exercise, meditation, study, training, waking, and sleeping times and a clear rotation of chores such as cleaning, cooking, and laundry, should be shared equally amongst all members and all levels of hierarchy within the community. To build equality and also a sense of communal connectivity daily.
