Yesterday I saw the new and very good documentary Wandlungen [engl. Wisdom of Changes]. It is the life story of Richard Wilhelm, the German missionary who translated many classical Chinese texts into German and made them available to the western world. His translation and commentaries of the I Ching is considered a classic and authorative text. It is still widely read.
The documentary gives an impressive insight in both Richard Wilhelm’s life and the frightening turmoil of changes in China from 1890 to 1920. But besides that, I found the documentary a good introduction into the I Ching and other classical texts like the Tao Te Ching and The Secret of the Golden Flower.
I am not a scholar on the I Ching, but the movie renewed my thinking about the text. First, the I Ching is both an oracle and a philosophical text. Secondly, when the oracle states something about your future, it is an invitation to do something about it. So on the one hand you use the text as a basis for reflection, on the other as a pivoting point for your future actions. Future is not set in stone, but rather sets the stage upon which you can move about.
It’s been long ago that I read I Ching on a regular basis. But ever when I set my mind to it, I found it a treat. I certainly don’t think it should be possible to write a blog about change without a reference to I Ching, the book of changes.
I decided to change this blog’s name. I felt it needed some new direction.
It’s previous name, Clues in the Labyrinth, turned out to be too broadly oriented towards development cooperation and peace building. Peacebuilding is certainly part of my professional package, but on the one hand to grand a theme and on the other hand not close enough to the core of my work to be able to write a post every once in a while without going to far from my regular work. I somehow got lost in the labyrinth I set up myself.
After looking for the red thread in my professional activities, I then decided first on facilitating dialogue as common theme. For a short while the blog was called Dialogue Perspectives. Although these perspectives inspired me to set up a series of seminars on facilitating dialogue, the theme proved to be too narrow to provide me with enough space to deal with my professional themes.
It was an interesting experience, going from too broad to too narrow. I looked for something less grand and closer to home, but still wide enough to feel free writing articles about topics I find interesting.
I came up with change and facilitation as the two core elements in my work. So here I go: I decided on writing about facilitating change in different forms, be it dialogues, change management, conflict resolution, development cooperation or peace building.
This picture is Jeremy Bentham’s design for the Panopticum. The panopticon is a prison design in which a single guard can watch over many inmates while the guard remains unseen. In fact, several modern prisons have been designed along these lines.
It crossed my mind today as I was thinking why I feel so terribly uncomfortable with Wikileaks. Somehow it looks like the tables are turned and the guards are suddenly watched, but is it that easy? Isn’t it a double-edged sword we don’t really know how to wield?
If we want it or not, Wikileaks is here to stay, that much seems sure. A challenging idea that promises to keep the powerful transparent and honest. And as with many ideas in the social media scene, there will be spin-offs and look-a-likes. Governmental information will be leaked, banking information (as we have seen yesterday), and certainly more to come. What to think about background information on development cooperation projects? What about leaking interesting info on the corporate social image of large companies?
William Ury – author of famous books like Getting to Yes and Getting past No – speaks about his experience and explains his negotiation and mediation strategies. I like this video very much as it underlines so much of what peace work is about: about being creative, about building bridges, about the role of the third person, about the responsibility of the parties. But what struck me most is his attitude: let’s not give up in being creative and trying to find solutions – together.
As noted in my previous post, during the coming weeks I will be travelling in the Balkans focusing on civil society development from an organization development perspective. I will be looking at peace and human rights organizations, that have grown from an initiative into a mature and sustainable organization.
The issue has been on my mind for a long time. In recent years there have been several studies over the impact of civil society development initiatives and support programmes. Here are some examples:
