Australian General Semantics Society
" Reflections on Previous AGS
Seminars"
Saturday Seminar 26 February 2005
Presenter: Robert James
A little review of the AGS Weekend heritage, its achievements and
shortcomings.
What do we remember, what have we internalised, and what are our
aspirations?
We might be surprised to be reminded of some of the material we have
covered.
1. Preliminaries
Coming together, catching up ...
2. Reflections on Past Year(s)
Review of our “Homework Assignment”
Some highlights to remember from Weekends, Tuesdays et al.
When is time binding most apparent?
3. Improving the Learning Experience
What sort of time together do we want?
Alternative modes of learning.
4. Our Place in the G-S Community
Reflections on our experience with G-S friends overseas and in
Australia.
What have we learnt - How can we contribute to their life and work?
5. Our Many Resources
Do we know what resources we have access to?
How can we best use our books, articles and Internet etc.?
~~~ Luncheon (per kind favour of Gavan)
~~~
6. Becoming Ecumenical ?
Working-Learning-Exploring with other "disciplines" and groups
Possible links with Social Developers Network (and others?)
7. Future of G-S in Australia-NZ
Laurie's paper dated 17 Feb 2005.
"Selling" g-s: To whom, By whom and How?
~ Close ~
Australian General Semantics Society
"Reflections on our times together"
*** * ***
1. Preliminaries
Coming together,
catching up ... Always an important feature of our gatherings, as the social web
that binds us transcends many ideological-doctrinal differences.
We were most
gratified today to be joined by Laurie’s old friend friend of
long-standing, Deon. Deon encountered
g-s many years ago when he met Laurie.
Impressed by some of the concepts and tools, he retained an attachment
to the discipline, and was delighted to meet up with Laurie again
recently. He made a most positive
contribution to today’s proceedings, and we hope that he is able to continue
some activities with us.
2. Reflections on
past year(s)
This month’s seminar was a little unusual in that we had a
preliminary homework assignment:
P'haps you could do a little homework in preparation for Saturday’s Seminar:
a. Reflect on the seminars that
we've had in the last few years (Tues nights, Weekends, Conferences etc), and
recall some events of lasting significance (serious or frivolous, useful or
hypothetical).
b. Consider how our time(s)
together might be made more joyful and/or useful. What experiences have you had
in other forums that we might be able to learn from. What techniques or
learning processes have you found effective?
I'm sure that these questions will be
easily be “completely solved" with just a few moments of thought (Don't
worry TOO much if nothing spectacular comes to mind!).
To refresh your recollection of what
we've done, you might like to consult the somewhat scatty notes archived thus:
http://www.tip.net.au/~ajames/agsActivities.htm
Looking forward to seeing you on Sat.
Cheers,
Robert J.
Abstracts of some
of the last few years’ proceedings were displayed on posters for
discussion. We dwelt at some length on
historical perspectives and highlights, recalling the comings and goings over
the years, eg, approximately:
(Over some decades): Laurie’s long studies and practice of GS
Laurie’s “Assertiveness” course at
WEA,
where he met Gavan, David
McMahon, Brett and James Walker.
1988 – 2001: Tuesday nights meetings
with Gavan and Laurie and Betty.
1991: Gregg and Pauline Hoffmann
visited for the Gerringong Seminar
1998: Meryl & Garry and Megan etc,
Seminar at Bondi Junction
Meetings at the Literary
Institute, near Fred’s place.
1999: Weekend Seminars began in
Eastern Suburbs office.
Laurie favoured the “public face” of a commercial office,
others preferred the intimacy of a home environment.
This is still and issue in considering meeting venues and activities.
2000: Gregg
and Pauline visited again for the Sydney 2000 Olympics
2002: Milton visited for the Fairy
Meadow Seminar.
***
* ***
Discussion ranged
around all sorts of areas of interest to the group, and the facilitator, after
making a number of futile attempts to come back to the “agenda”, decided to
abandon the agenda for the remainder of this meeting, and for future meetings.
When Deon arrived,
Laurie (re-)introduced him to the group, recalling the circumstances of their
meeting, when they shared the “Levels of Communication” diagram. These “levels” can perhaps be illustrated
thus:
1. “G’day,
how’re ya goin’ ?”
2. “What
did you get up to over the weekend?”
3. “I read
some articles that suggested … “
4. “How do
you this that such-and-such a principle could be valuable in your own life?”
Discussion ranged
(raged?) around such concepts as maps, territories, assumptions, “facts”,
models, filters and “prostractions” etc.
The notion of
“competitiveness” in the group was considered.
Laurie boldly
called a halt to the “intellectualisings”, and urged us to consider some (two
in particular) failings in our own communications, and to challenge ourselves
on how we apply in the real world, what’s been laboured over in discussions.
*** * ***
After lunch, we
considered how we apply learning principles, and recalled some of David’s
demonstrations. The exercise of
estimating a drinking-glass’s height-to-diameter ratio was particularly
memorable. This, in itself, illustrated
how a watching-and-doing exercise was far more memorable than a
listening-and-talking experience.
The “Stop-Stop”
technique (Korzybski’s “cortico-thalamic pause”) was considered, whereby the
listener stops, evaluates and asks questions before jumping into a
discussion/argument.
Laurie mentioned
that following the Las Vegas Conference in 2003, Milton reflected that we tend
to emerge excited from seminars and other motivational experiences, but
learning must be taken with “incrementally small steps, as utilized in the
Calculus”, and repeated often.
Laurie emphasized
that his most effective learning experience was probably through the literature
(eg shorthand notes while washing-up!)
Deon shared his
experience in marketing a pain-managing device. The use of testimonials from happy, pain-free users was far more
effective than lecturing by white-coated boffins or marketing spruikers.
Gavan recalled the
value of tactile demonstrations – “Pull-it-apart-and-reconstruct-it” style,
illustrated, for example, by the P1-T1 model.
He reminded us that many people do not like being subjected to a
“role-modelling” exercise. He has seen
effective learning occur by looking at differences rather than just
similarities.
Betty has had most
effective learning in a formal education environment (eg University), and in
personal relationships (eg observing role models).
*** A gracious Lunch was generously served in the
gentle sunshine ***
of Gavan’s glorious green garden glade.
We moved on to consider
future directions of AGS and how to share it with potentially interested
newcomers. Laurie mentioned his recent
experiences with several who had expressed an interest.
Laurie revealed
that he was very enthusiastic about the prospect of us using the
currently-popular “Life Skills Coaching” method for using GS methods, NLP
etc, in conducting private
“counselling” work, with a view to introducing people into the group
environment of AGS (Not necessarily at the Sefton meetings). The “Life Coaching Handbook: has been a most
useful resource in this respect.
People to consider
might particularly come from groups like “young businessmen”, Psychologists etc
running a business, eg with a partner, people with anger management or other
personal problems, Hospital staff, Uni staff and students, School and TAFE
students and staff. This sounds like a
huge market! AGS should aim for
establishing groups far beyond the current AGS scene.
*** * ***