TED Community » Ken Lewis

More About Me

I'm passionate about

being mission-less. Being unoccupied. Being totally available to this moment.

An idea worth spreading

No-thing.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +10.80 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Talk: Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero!

  Feb 17 2011: It does take into account the role of trees. And, the models all show the quantity of trees decreasing to frightening low levels. That is a major source of the problem. No one would deny it. But, you can't expect farmers to turn their fields back into forest because of the environment. And, you can't expect corrupt governments like those in Indonesia, Brazil, and Malaysia, to re-think their national policies on the rainforests.
  
  As Bill said, skeptics will be skeptics until they find it is cheaper, they they will get on the bandwagon. That is all we can expect, unfortunately.

• A comment on Conversation: Are printed textbooks obsolete? Are there good reasons to keep using them along with or instead of digital learning environments?

  Feb 17 2011: One point of interest that doesn't address the question specifically:
  
  The schools are fighting to keep paper texts alive, as they are a huge source of revenue creation. Even in these times of budget cutbacks, schools are finding the money to invest in new bookstores. Bookstores are cash-cows.
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  A comment on Conversation: Will social media reverse or amplify the trend towards individualism?

  Feb 17 2011: Social media, like any other technology, can be an opportunity or a distraction, depending upon how we use it. In Humanistic Psychology we talk about the habitual center of gravity in society. Those with lower consciousness are pulled up to this center. Those with higher are pulled down. So, the special education kids are given all the support in the world to be as normal as possible. And, the geniuses are given every whack possible to be knocked down into "normalcy." (think of the effect of the economic system in controlling people's behavior)
  
  A factor in play with social media is the heightened, and chosen, pull towards normalcy. I hear the reactions and knock-down attempts from my "old" conventional friends (old classmates and family for example). They hear my words, take them personally and as challenges, and write some nasty comments back. Then I have my "new" friends, my adult friends- those with higher consciousness, greater intelligence, and more open hearts. These new friends send positive reaffirmations. They "like" quotes of wisdom. They appreciate heart-felt communication. These social media relationships encourage me to blossom.
  
  In the world of my "old" friends individualism, there is a horrible pettiness. In the world of my "new" friends mutualism, there is a beautiful loving support. Yet, as we learn from studying the structures of consciousness, those who show the heart-felt mutualism are actually more individual than the those who follow the mainstream herd. Only an individual can truly love. Because only individuals can know and love themselves, and be totally confident with their true nature- which transcends the personality and identification.
  
  Does your Social Media expand your sense of self, make you more loving and gentle, and bring more simplicity and groundedness into your life? Or, does it bring animosity and competitiveness, making you feel judged, as if you need to conform in order to be liked?

• A comment on Conversation: Will social media reverse or amplify the trend towards individualism?

  Feb 17 2011: I just answered a very similar question, so I'll begin with the same start:
  
  Gebser, Feuerstein, and more recently Wilber have deciphered what they refer to as structures of consciousness. The rough outline divides human consciousness into 10 fulcrums. Of these, the first three are pre-personal, the second three person, and the following three transpersonal. The 10th fulcrum is outside of the structure of the other 9.
  
  Wilber refers to a 6th fulcrum phenomena known as "aperspectival madness." This involves the realization that all perspectives are relative; madness results from a failure to differentiate between perspectives (to acknowledge that some perspectives are relatively better than others).
  
  Within this framework it can be understood that the pre-personal tribal-mythic structure of consciousness, all part of the pre-personal, has much in common with the transpersonal. Outward signs of mutualism appear on both ends of the spectrum. However, it is rooted in a different consciousness. Where mutualism doesn't show well is in the personal realms, especially the 5th and 6th fulcrums. There is a natural process of disidentification with the tribe/clan as part of knowing thyself. Then, when one knows themself- not their identified ego self, but a self rooted in experience- then what you may be referring to as "mutualism" reappears with a greater depth of love and acceptance than its pre-personal form.
  
  Running out of space, and shifting topics, so I'll continue in a separate comment.
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  A comment on Conversation: In your experience, what did you find to work best for promoting TED to people who were unlikely to be TED fans?

  Feb 17 2011: "When the disciple is ready, the Guru appears."

• A comment on Conversation: with news organizations becoming more biased, with dirtier tricks, how do you reconcile the conflict of opinions/facts

  Feb 17 2011: Gebser, Feuerstein, and more recently Wilber have deciphered what they refer to as structures of consciousness. The rough outline divides human consciousness into 10 fulcrums. Of these, the first three are pre-personal, the second three person, and the following three transpersonal. The 10th fulcrum is outside of the structure of the other 9.
  
  Wilber refers to a 6th fulcrum phenomena known as "aperspectival madness." This involves the realization that all perspectives are relative; madness results from a failure to differentiate between perspectives (to acknowledge that some perspectives are relatively better than others).
  
  Aperspectival madness plagues modern American life. Most of us have left behind the peace of a religion's narrow view of right and wrong, good and bad, and us vs them. We see so many different perspectives, and feel each has its own validity. Within this attitude we don't have the clarity to make moral judgments. Within all of the different perspectives we become "politically correct," and honor everyone's opinion.
  
  The way out of this is to transcend- to shift from the 6th fulcrum- the highest state of the personal- to the 7th fulcrum- the beginning of the transpersonal. Within the transpersonal, one realizes that there is a higher vision, a more true truth. Morality returns, yet not a prescribed one, rather a realized one. And, from that position, one need not be exposed to the media noise to know what is happening in the world. The greater story, the human drama, the play, the lila, becomes clear. Then there is no desire to tune into NPR's All Things Considered (aperspectival madness in its very name) or the similar.
  
  The attention then shifts within. The inner world becomes inherently of more interest. Living relationships become of greater importance than told dramas. The felt-sensed, or lived experience, becomes central. All identification radically changes. All concerns begin to melt away. A new way of life emerges.
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  A comment on Talk: William Ury: The walk from "no" to "yes"

  Dec 3 2010: I spent a lot of time with young Israelis while backpacking in India, and I was very surprised to hear that most of them had absolutely no ability to see beyond the "us vs. them", "right vs. wrong." They all identified themselves as being pristine, without flaw, and thus the victims.
  
  My message to them was simple: put yourselves into the shoes of the Palestinians, and try to image how you'd feel & respond to someone kicking you off your land based upon some 2000 year old ancestral claim.
  
  I frame the conflict for American Jews in different terms: What would you do if a Native American tribe knocked on your door and demanded you vacate your home as they have ancestral claims to the property? If they forced you out, how soon would you accept the situation and move on? How likely would you be to fight back? If the tribe was the stronger party, would you use other tactics beyond direct battle? (Welcome to the terrorist mind- we are all the "terrorist" in the right circumstance).

• A comment on Talk: Jason Fried: Why work doesn't happen at work

  Dec 3 2010: Jason failed to mention the biggest pit-fall of office environments: office politics. There is so much pettiness in the business world. Many are so busy working to create and preserve their reputations that they are willing will do anything for others to not look better than them. In my experience this impedes good work as much as anything. Unfortunately this even extends beyond the office, even when working remotely, as an outside contractor can be perceived as a threat as much as a co-worker.
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  A reply on Talk: Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of time

  Aug 16 2010: This RSA version is a much less hurried talk, and for me was much more informative. Thanks for sharing this link.
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  A reply on Talk: Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of time

  Aug 16 2010: For most city folk it is an unarguable truth that Republicans suck. I am sorry if it is difficult for you to hear intellectuals (or entertainers or the media) speak it as a matter-of-fact. Republican thought only makes sense when you live in rural areas where it is an unarguable truth that Democrats suck. (Says the Chicagoan living in small-town Georgia)