Australian Society of General Semantics Inc.
A Brief Letter from the President: January 2007
"It's
time" again - Time for enjoying our holidays, time for reviewing the year
past, time for ambitious New Year resolutions, time for considering prospects for
the year(s) ahead!
Thank you, AGS
members, for your expression of confidence in electing me as the second AGS
President. The role of "Successor
to the Founding President" is one that I adopt with a sense of profound
inadequacy - Think what became of those who tried to take over as successors to
Alfred Korzybski Anyway, I'll do my
humble best.
Thank you,
Laurie, for your leadership in working with GS over so many years, often
somewhat alone, and then in sharing with others. I am profoundly grateful for your role as a mentor and teacher of
the value of living with passionate purpose.
It is my pleasure and privilege to take "the AGS helm" for a
while, remaining alert to your ongoing counsel and leadership. I trust that our efforts in bringing the Society
into a incorporated legal framework and formalising the record of our
objectives, membership and activities, will bear fruits as a time-binding
investment.
Thank you to the loyal
office-holders, for your work to-date in incorporating the Society, keeping
statutory records, collecting (and spending) money, maintaining the library,
hosting and presenting activities.
Thank you also for those volunteering to do it again for the coming
year!
Membership
We've had another very
steady year, with the loyal core of members obviously finding some personal
benefit in our various activities.
Members have participated enthusiastically, developed warm friendships,
and built on their knowledge and application of GS.
Professor Isabel Caro at
the University of Valencia, Spain, has been appointed as the first Honorary
Member of AGS. It is proposed that
Honorary Members be appointed in recognition of a strong personal relationship
with AGS, in cases where they are not in a position to take part in the
proceedings A few additional Honorary Memberships have been proposed.
We have had a few
prospective new members at AGS activities; however none have stayed-on in the
last year. We have real difficulties in
recruitment, as traditional promotional means such as newspaper or other
advertisements have been very ineffective.
Apart from people finding "Science and Sanity" in libraries,
by far the most effective introduction to GS has been by personal
recommendation. Let's all rehearse our
response to that most feared question "What is GS?" (Is it like
asking a Christian "What is God?")
This year we hope to do
better, with Laurie's "Coffee Club" and an improved AGS web
site. Use of posters and other means to
promote further AGS activities beyond Sefton in Sydney will be considered as
resources permit. Some "special
projects", yet to be actualised, may prove to be an effective outreach.
Our Group Activities
Last year, as for
several recent years, a small but steadfast subgroup of our members has
gathered in Sefton on Tuesday nights for study and reflection.
The monthly one-day
seminar series covered wide-ranging topics including ...
Self reflexiveness
Applications of
general-semantics
Seeking "Unmediated
Truth" - "Fiction" in the Pursuit of "Fact" ?
"Advanced" GS
Relationships between
Fact & Theory
Mythology - Mapping
"Fact" or "Fiction"?
General-semantics and
human relationships
Korzybski, Jung and the
Buddha - A Conversation over Lunch
The Effect of Language on the Nervous System
Procrastination and some ways to reduce it.
Christmas get together – Movie, discussion over dinner.
Presenters utilised a
variety of techniques to maximise interest and retention. One of the familiar challenges is to
meaningfully include newcomers, as well as "moving ahead" with new material
for old members (Oops - members of long-standing).
Sadly, GS literature is
characteristed by what newcomers might label as "jargon", with
special words and uses of familiar words in a new context. Many of the recent writers in GS have made
an effort to communicate effectively in "everyday language", but we
struggle to "maintain rigour and purity" while attempting to make
sense to the "uninitiated".
Not all of our meetings
are dedicated to processes of intellectual rigour. The beginnings and endings of get-togethers are a time for
sharing experiences and plans at a personal level, since many of us have a
long-standing association, but do not see each other between GS meetings.
This is not an
elementalistic division between "business and personal" matters,
since much of the "GS study time" utilises case-studies drawn from
our own lives and consideration of how to use GS on a day-to-day basis. Indeed, what would be the purpose of the
discipline if it could not be applied thus?
I think that our frequent
friendly dissention, for example, on the issue of whether a meeting contain too
much frivolity, too much socialising, or too much jargon, are an inevitable
outcome from our various personalities, origins, and objectives. It would be an unbalanced group indeed if we
were all the same (Oops - very similar) in these respects!
If we confine our
expectation of potential AGS members to those who love reading "Science
and Sanity", then the field would be limited indeed. Pauline's insights and application of GS
principles into the personalities and processes of her family life are just as
relevant as those that I might bring from my workplace, or David from his
research environment.
A vital element in the
value of the Tuesday evening and monthly daytime gatherings has been the
hospitality offered by Gavan. This has
extended not only to use of his home and its many facilities, but to provision
of the most enjoyable meals for various numbers of participants. He has even packed hot meals for transport
to other venues when required! The
multi-tasking Gavan seems to be able to maintain an input of wisdom from his
other lives and incisive commentary on the presentations, all while brewing and
serving excellent coffees, boiling rice and stewing amazing creations
(including vegetarian options) - and even insists on doing the washing-up! Thank you, Gavan.
Pauline and her family
have generously invited us to their creek-view home in Towradgie a number of
times, for a refreshing change from city life.
Inter-meeting contacts
by way of telephone, email and special visits have been an integral part of the
networking.
The AGS Library, kindly
hosted by Gavan, has continued to grow during the year, with the addition of
periodicals and volumes. I have found
it a most useful resource to access, without having to maintain lots of books
of my own. One way to ameliorate the
clutter of notes and articles etc. is to organise them electronically on our
website. This has advantages of sharing
them around, making them searchable, and ensuring secure storage and backup.
Personal Studies
Laurie's studies in
Linguistic Sociology received an impetus from materials discovered during his
trip to the UK. This is a field closely
allied to GS, with abundant scope for cross-fertilisation. David has supplied insights from his ongoing
research in corporate decision-making.
Robert has shared material from his work in social justice and
inflammatory letters to the media.
Betty, Pauline and Dion have shared matters from their professional and
private lives.
These contributions all
inform and enrich our interactions.
They can all be considered in the context of (for example) evaluation,
semantic reactions and levels of abstraction.
The challenge is not in having a nice time discussing them over cake and
coffee, but in applying powerful principles when the cake and coffee are long
finished!
Contact internationally:
AGS is a small but
valued member of the global GS community.
Laurie and David, when visiting the Society and the Institute in the
USA, many years ago and again recently, were warmly received as close friends
and colleagues.
Our library continues to
receive copies of "ETC", which is full of news and articles from the
GS community. David, in particular, has
been quite successful in having his articles published there.
Last year, David
attended the Conference and Seminar in the USA, renewing acquaintances and
participating in proceedings.
Laurie & Betty
fulfilled an ambition to visit Professor Isabel Caro in Valencia, Spain. After many years of Laurie studying Isabel's
writings, they enjoyed making her personal acquaintance, with many hours of
discussion and sharing. We should
certainly consider Isabel "a friend of AGS".
Last year, Gavan happened
upon a TV snippet of Milton Dawes drumming in the park in Montreal, and was
able to record some of it. Milton has
telephoned us at times over the last few years, and I was able to return the
favour and have a long conversation with him recently, at minimal cost. The advent of low-cost phone-cards and email
have certainly facilitated communication at a personal level.
Greg Hoffmann's visit to
us in 2000 inspired his book "Searching for Unmediated Truth", set in
Tasmania. Who would have thought that
we would have such a role?
Website development
Our website
www.ags.org.au has accumulated a considerable amount of material from our
activities etc. Although historically
somewhat primitive in presentation, it has attracted several enquiries and has much
greater potential.
The website is an
important medium in terms of linking us with the global GS community,
presenting our material to a vast audience and attracting membership. I believe that it is a powerful medium for
time-binding investment.
I am grateful to David
for his re-vamping of the "home page" to enhance presentation and
functionality. There is still much to
be done in terms of presentation, content and visibility to search engines by keyword
etc. However we have made progress, and
are continuing to develop.
Contacts with other
Disciplines
GS cannot flourish in a
cultural vacuum, so it is important that we forge links with other like-minded
groups and individuals. Like
"all" good communication, I propose that this should be a two-way process:
we need to improve our own awareness of alternative disciplines, to compare and
contrast them to what GS has to offer.
Laurie's long-standing
association with the Social Developers' Network (SDN) was reinforced last year
when some of us joined SDN members in Canberra for a structured meeting and an
informal meal. This provided some
enhanced mutual awareness and possible further interpersonal contact.
Individual members bring
experiences and links to the group as a matter of course. My own contact with the Jung Soc. in
Canberra, and an ongoing Jungian discussion group, has been a most valuable
source of information and insight into group process. This, of course, acts in both directions, and I believe that all
members carry learning and insight into their wider lives.
But we are surely not
developing these contacts to the fullest extent possible. Perhaps initiatives like exchanging
journals, and placing materials into libraries should be explored. Providing guest speakers for other groups
can be an effective form of introduction.
Our web site can certainly be developed to make us more accessible to
those in search of the wisdom and fellowship that we offer!
Financial and Legal
Thank you to our loyal
Office Bearers for the past year and volunteers for the current year. The jobs of Pres, V.Pres, treasurer etc are
not onerous, but are important.
Our Incorporation is
important to provide the Society with an enduring legal identity transcending
the flux of members and office-holders.
I think that this is a really important time-binding concept. Thank you to Gavan and David in working to
accomplish this.
We continue to
effectively manage our small cash-flow, based on collection for seminars, and
expenditure on IGS Membership, Subscriptions and reference materials. Although the absence of financial
commitments protects us against financial peril, we are unable to fund, for
example, any substantial public events, promotions or travel exchanges.
Further Initiatives
Laurie's proposed
initiative in bringing new people together in a "coffee club" setting
has the potential to introduce new members to AGS, as GS techniques are used to
consider issues of concern to the participants. Laurie's great experience in small-group work, and Betty's
perceptive and personable contribution, should prove effective in forging a
group that is most valuable for the participants,
The space-time-defying
trialogue which occurred when the Buddha, Carl Jung and Alfred Korzybski came
to lunch, and questions arising therefrom, have consumed considerable seminar
discussion time. Dion has adventurously
suggested that this be filmed with "serious actors" as a special
project. I look forward to this with keen anticipation - Thank you Dion for
proposing this initiative. It goes to
show what experience, talent and resources lurk within our membership.
Prospects and Challenges
for the Year Ahead
We continue our weekly
and monthly meetings and wider correspondence with a small but very loyal
membership. This obviously fulfils a
need in the members and plays a role in the world-wide GS community. I have been heartened by the very warm
response to our correspondence and visits with our international colleagues.
However, we have not
been successful in expanding our membership, forging effective links with
like-minded organisations locally, or contributing in a corporate manner to
public or academic debate. We have not
established any presence beyond the regions convenient to our own travels. That
means that we are not time-binding in any real fashion, beyond our immediate
and personal spheres. (Let me know if
you disagree with this assertion!).
My ongoing participation
in AGS is very satisfying in terms of social contact, personal and professional
development. I have great respect and
affection for the members, and value your friendship. But these are personal benefits, and I don't feel a great sense
of AGS contributing strongly to our community.
Perhaps 2007 will be the
year when we strengthen ties with local and international communities, expand
our membership, and devise effective channels for communicating our discipline
to a wider public.
Robert James,
President
January 2007
PS: These
ramblings are the author’s personal opinions and assertions. They do not constitute an “AGS Annual
Report”. Corrections and discussion are
warmly welcomed.