IOU - Aesthetics

Here is a different take on 'aesthetics'.

The more I am delving into Gregory Bateson's life and work I increasing find how his ideas were shaped in many ways by the Eastern concepts and processes. One of the symbols he used and wrote about was that of Shiva.

Shiva embodies the angle to the nature of aesthetics - It is summed up by the slogan -- Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram -- meaning -- Truth --> Shivam --> Aesthetics. The word Shivam is a bit special. It means the proper alignment of the male energy (expression) and female energy (containment) and turning on the mind (internally) that the Hindus and the Buddhists believe produces beauty (Sundaram).

Now for some fun -- the word Shiva has two parts --> 'Shi' and 'Va'. When you pronounce 'Shi' loudly you would invariably notice that the left side of your body vibrates (the female side -- connected to the right side of the brain). And then when you pronounce 'Va' loudly you would notice the vibration of the right side of the body -- connected to the left side of the brain). Well you probably get the hang of it.

Bateson's understanding of Shiva is great. As inside so outside symbolized by the famous Cosmic Dance in the form of Nataraj.

So the beauty a designer creates or the beauty of a decison any leader takes comes from the inner beauty of a designer's or a leader's mind that is the ability of achieving the 'no mind' state just before thinking. Leave it at that for the time being.

To be or Not to be Motivated

Two days back we were conducting a program on ‘Motivation and Team building’ for group of first line officers of an electronic component manufacturing company.

After inauguration of the course, with top managers still there to monitor, I asked the participants a simple question, ‘How many of you are motivated at work?’ In a second all hands shot up in the air as if it were a reflex action. I just couldn’t believe this. It was simply too good to be true. The next question naturally followed, “Why then do you think management selected you to attend a course on motivation and team building?”  Answers varied but the one that struck me most was ‘You have come to teach us how to be motivated. So we are in to listen to the tricks of being more motivated.’

Oh my God! ‘Teach’ motivation; ‘Tricks of being more motivated;’ did I hear correctly?

The top managers left the training hall happy with the belief -- the training has taken off well and was ‘interactive’. This was all they wanted to monitor.  

Long after the ice was broken and transformed into flowing water I put the question again, “How many of you are really motivated at work?” This time there was no show of hands.

Surprised, I queried, ‘What happened?’

Then one by one they opened up:

“To tell the truth, I just don’t feel like leaving my bed to come to office.”

“I have been working here for the past 16 years. None ever appreciated me or my work.”

“I think I am stuck with a stupid job. My bosses don’t believe that I am capable of doing something much better.”

“The pay I get is insufficient to take care of my child’s education in good schools’

And it went on and on….

‘So why did you say that you all were very motivated?’

‘We just pretended because the bosses were around. We told them what they would like to hear. Otherwise they would take it out on us during performance appraisal review.’

Are bosses/managers/leaders listening?

Can anyone remain motivated in an environment of fear or in an environment that sucks?

Posted via email from dibyendu's posterous