Institutions
**Rowland Croucher**
In a Masters' degree (social psychology) I learned that all institutions
are inherently degenerative (RKMerton); the evil in institutions is
greater than the sum of the evil of the individuals within them
(RNiebuhr). So how do pre-institutional ...'people movements' stay
focussed/healthy? Not by institutional control, but by listening to
prophets (mavericks who are outside institutions, mostly).
One response: Yet the thing which distinguishes the classical prophet is
that they spoke from within the cult. And we only find the classical
prophets at a time when the monarchy (institutions) was in place. This
is an area of great interest to me and I often wonder how it may be
translated to our context.
My response: Where does John the Baptist fit into your paradigm? He got
persecuted by both the secular and religious authorities...
Yes, some of the OT prophets were more in (First Isaiah) than out (Amos)
eh?
More responses: Perhaps rather than degenerative they are like mini
nation states (H.Richard Niebuhr: The Structure of Nations) comprising
of the complex forces that reflect the rises and falls within life itself.
It's fascinating to notice the way "organisations," are inherently self
focussed, self promoting, controlling, and mostly not open to organic
responses ... Read Moreand growth. Maybe in the end they are an
aberration of life itself. However, I have found the writings of Richard
Barrett to be useful here: Liberating the Corporate Soul - Building a
Visionary Organization, Building a Values-Driven Organization. Barrett's
life with the World Bank is a fascinating one.
John McFarlane the previous CEO of the ANZ in Australia once wrote:"Our
responsibility as leaders therefore is to enhance, harness and direct
the capacity and energy of our people towards virtuos and valuable
ends.. Long term success has to have a solid foundation built on
principles and values that act as centre of gravity. "LEADERSHIP."
***
When I did my Masters In ABorigibal Studies the Thesis bit re POST
MODERNISM..."Post modernism purports to Smash down the walls of
inequality through the inclusion of OTHERS". My agrument against this
was its crap because the 'inclusion' is merely TOKEN in our society.
Institutions become law unto themselves..i think a HEALTHY way to try
find ... Read Moreballance is keep getting into the REAL WORLD talking
to real people about Real life events that REALLY Affect our lives..
instead of sitting on our bums trying to intelectualise things because
things in THEORY are quite doifferent than in Practice & REALITY. .. &
dont throw out COMMON SENSE because humans r by nature egocentrical self
centred beings & know to delude ourselves (my operational definition =
delusion is a FALSE FIXED THOUGHT). Everything IS relative... but
PERSPECTIVE can be optional. If we EXAMINE Ourselves & our Motives..
thats a good start We r all instututionalised by SOCIETY in some way or
another
***
Sounds like a more complicated version of the sporting teams' mantra:
"you're only as strong as your weakest player"
Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/