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< | Beyond Happiness | >
> | External Reflection | | | | |
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< | -- By GregOrr - 27 Feb 2009 | >
> | -- By GregOrr - 17 Apr 2009 | | | | |
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< | In looking for satisfaction, I’m drawn to a principle identified in discussion of Robinson… do things that flow from and give scope to one’s self. But Robert Musil, whose The Man Without Qualities I love, suggests: | >
> | In Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities, a group assembled from Austrian society is given the opportunity to choose an idea to spur the world to a better future, but they cannot reach consensus because subgroup perceptions and interests are desperately incompatible. This provides foreground to a personal search for answers by the title character, Ulrich, who sees two sides in everything. Situations have contrasting components, and even individual components evoke contrasting interpretations, “like watching someone eat silently, without sharing his appetite: You suddenly perceive only swallowing movements, which look in no way enviable.” | | | | |
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< | “On this frontier between what goes on inside us and what goes on outside, some kind of communication is missing, and they adapt to each other only with tremendous losses. One might almost say that the life we lead in reality is the dark side of our good desires, and our evil desires are the dark side of the life we lead in reality.” | >
> | He concludes, “Meaning lies roughly halfway between reasoning and capriciousness,” with common forms of capriciousness including “how we privilege particular interpretations through cultural or personal preunderstanding” and “how we unquestionably seek the firm and solid in life as urgently as a land animal that has fallen into the water.” More self-aware and less self-interested reasoning further interrogates conditions of semi-certainty, seeking contrary or unaccounted for internal and external evidence in hopes of greater synthesis. Yet reasoning appears, even in its best light, to be asymptotic, and some level of capriciousness always contributes to decisions that are made (or not made) in finite time. | | | | |
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< | Divergent objectives, rigidity of roles, and the clumsiness of language prevent the desired harmonization. | >
> | I intend to further explain the structure underlying these ideas and consider the implications. I will argue that misunderstandings are pervasive and often insidious, and people can become more ‘creative’ through openness and reflection in communication, though this leads to a problem of parsimony. | | | | |
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< | Lawyers have a particular ambition to bring the world in line with their aims – to make change in society using words – but they face amplified constraints due to entrenched interests, constricting procedures, and an overwhelming amount of and reliance on language. Many have had their lives and desires perverted. With the world now wobbly and searching for ideas, however, we seem to have a clearer opportunity to remake institutions to reflect who we are and what we want. | >
> | (For the third paper, I intend to discuss role and predicament of lawyers in this.) | | | | |
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< | Harmonizing | >
> | Intersubjective Reality and the Communication Problem | | | | |
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< | I can imagine several benefits to harmonizing what goes on inside and outside me. | >
> | In a definition of reality, I would include the objective world (I assume this substratum exists, given its stubborn consistency) and the subjective worlds of all consciousnesses. Each subjective world contains unique perceptual data and is hence additive to the whole, and yet the subjective whole presumably falls short of a theoretical limit. Because each person only has access to a subset of the whole, one will naturally operate with assumptions, interests, understandings, and meanings that differ from others’. | | | | |
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< | (1) Health: It would make me healthier, more energetic, and a better influence on others. Bile results when I dislike or disagree with what I’m doing, and I feel frustrated and insecure if not understood or valued. | >
> | The machinery of the mind complicates the issue, producing internal inconsistencies and delicate expressions. Within the mind, one’s attempt to make generalized sense fails to achieve complete consistency because perceptual data is contrasting and flawed, tools of rationality are bounded, and views are formed in finite time. Imperfect pre-linguistic notions are given form in language with a further loss of fidelity, attributable to the boundedness of language itself and especially an individual’s incomplete facility with it. Also, when a person says something, there is usually an element of speculative hypothesis in it looking for confirmation or some other means to resolution. A linguistic representation might always be characterized as a metaphor: a signal that provides a reference that points to the underlying mental condition. Layered on top of this are supra-linguistic cues such as context, structure, tone, and irony, which further refine the message to make it a more precise pointer. Non-linguistic statements, such as facial expressions, body language, and visual arts, may be further added or stand on their own as expressions that can be characterized in the same general way. | | | | |
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< | (2) Equity: I would have a proper place in the world. | >
> | It is hard to express oneself, and a person’s expression, then, is hard to understand. It conveys something about his subjective world and becomes additional perceptual data for others. The more instinctual and capricious mode of evaluation interprets the metaphor to be as consistent as possible with one’s own pre-existing subjective world. One tends to lock into what is perceived as common between oneself and the communicator and not hear, ignore, or reject the rest. Though it’s usually an unconscious process, logically this may involve imputing to the other underlying assumptions and experience similar to one’s own or identifying which communication script one is familiar with that the other seems closest to following. Responses then start with this interpretation while adding some related expression of one’s own. What can be funny or tragic is that the first communicator will often interpret the response under the assumption that the other has understood the first expression in the manner he (understands himself to have) intended, and follow-up can be further confused. This is what we call talking past one another, which I think is always happening to some extent, even when people don’t realize it. | | | | |
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< | (3) Evolution: If I don’t assert myself, then I’m not playing my role in an evolving world. Discordant elements help break out of local maxima to find bigger prizes. | >
> | Creative Communication | | | | |
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< | (4) Grace: When what’s inside and outside resonate, one might experience a state of grace, or even blips of transcendent bliss. | >
> | All personal expressions contain some truth, some signal. Martin Heidegger said, “We ourselves are pointers pointing toward [what calls to be thought about].” Openness to changing one’s views coupled with active reflection on the expressions of others allows one access to a greater slice of intersubjective reality, which leads to new and more complete ideas. Moreover, greater empathy to others’ expressions helps one to be a clarifying and productive communication partner. | | | | |
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< | Complete harmonization might only be found in solitude, but a lawyer who finds a significant degree of it can achieve scope and impact in the world. | >
> | Reflection on the processes of constructing expressions allows more accurate and productive interpretation. What’s his situation? What are his interests? What’s his intention? What’s the tone? Is he earnest or ironic? What’s there that I haven’t incorporated? What seems to be missing? What do I know that might be relevant? What don’t I know that might be relevant? What kind of mistake might he be making? What if I’m making the mistake and not him? What might a third person have a frustrated urge to tell me about it? What might be the next step? | | | | |
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< | Examples | >
> | In this way, interpretations can veer from one thing to another, or from a thing to its opposite. Ideally, open and reflective communication finds its way to increasingly stronger syntheses. | | | | |
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< | We haven’t been introduced to many lawyers, but I can give some contrast of harmonizing success versus perversions of lives and desires. | >
> | The Parsimony Problem | | | | |
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< | C. Oliver Robinson
Robinson has found a niche that suits him. He’s energetic, advocates ably for the weak, influences the community, and has mystic visions of metamorphoses between lawyers and prisoners.
Arthur Edens is the legendary litigator who suddenly comes to the point where he cannot tolerate the gulf between what’s inside him and what’s outside. Celebrating a billable hours milestone, he finds himself with two Lithuanian prostitutes, unable to stop thinking about what he’s become: “Is this me? Am I this freak organism who’s been sent here to sleep and eat and defend this one horrific chain of carcinogenic molecules … is that my Grail? Two Lithuanian mouths on my __?”
Michael Clayton has a niche, though an unfavorable connotation is put on the word because his role as a fixer doesn’t satisfy his sense of self. He likes being great at something, but eventually wants a way out. He gambles, and at 45 is broke. “I’ve been riding shotgun for 12 years and I’ve got no equity.” He later claims not to be the enemy, but he doesn’t know what to say when asked, “Then who are you?”
Karen Crowder has a tenuous grasp on her counterfeit position. She compulsively rehearses party lines, sweats profusely, and, with a twitch, orders two murders. She’s desperate to fit herself to the role because she’s worked so hard to succeed and this is all she has.
This world works for Barry Grissom, though. “He’s an asshole, but he knows it.” He seems perfectly at peace with that and has a certain grace.
John Mack, CEO Morgan Stanley
John Mack similarly expressed little compunction when asked by Charlie Rose, “What’s the best thing you’ve learned about yourself in the crisis?” He answered, “Charlie, that’s a great question. I’ve learned that I love the action. I’ve learned that the people who work for me are very important to me. And I’ve learned that at the end of the day, no matter what’s at stake, you have to do what your heart tells you to do.” He seems like a guy who’s where he belongs really.
Example Summary
What I take from these examples is that the more your job flows from and gives scope to your self, the better off you’ll be. External judgments of morality don’t factor.
Back and Forth
Arthur and Michael together blow the whistle on the bad guys, belatedly but effectively asserting their selves into their lives. It would be nice, though, if our careers started off on the right foot by thinking about positive statements of goals.
Primary among barriers, though, is that it’s difficult to agree on what is to be done. In The Man Without Qualities, a group assembled from Austrian society is charged with choosing an idea that represented their culture and could serve as a worldwide aspiration. They discuss ideas endlessly without nearing consensus. The title character, Ulrich, keeps two folders, one marked “Forward To” and the other “Back To”. As a group, they are unable even to decide whether they prefer tradition or progress.
Ulrich, somewhat facetiously, suggests that Austria appoint a permanent Secretary of Precision and Soul to guide them. I think, to some degree, that’s what we’re hoping for in Barack Obama. But, somewhat uninspiringly, he and his team have so far focused on “Back To.”
When asked by Charlie Rose, “In the future, how will the system be different?” John Mack hesitated before offering, “Bear Stearns is no longer in business. Lehman Brothers is no longer in business. Merrill Lynch is part of Bank of America. The two remaining investment banks are bank holding companies. So that’s a huge change. Number one. Number two, I think we’re going to be bigger.”
What “Forward To” could look like seems to be the burning question.
- I think the Musil/Mack frame works better than the "go with the flow inside you" argument made by the middle paragraphs, including the "how everything is like Michael Clayton" segment. So this is really more about "Back To" and "Forward To" at a time of cultural uncertainty, for which your reassurance that all will be well if you find yourself inside is both a talisman and a "forward to" not under others' complete control. Rewritten with that emphasis and I think you might be onto something.
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> | A reflective orientation increases one’s range in the spectrum of reasoning and capriciousness, and one’s placement on that spectrum becomes an overarching element of reasoning to be controlled in accordance with one’s sense of risk and return. When faced with practical needs, openness and reflection cannot come to fruition through the fullness of time and operative principles are kept to manageable dimensions. Mixtures of reasoning and capriciousness manifest two-sidedness in results, however, with a minus reflecting reality left obscure and unincorporated. |
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