Organizing reflection 14

This is a post in my series on organizing ”between and beyond.” Other posts are here. The purpose of this post is to reflect on subjects occupying my mind. I make no claim to fully believe what I write. Neither do I pretend that others have not already thought or written about the same subject. More often than not, I take up, combine, and add to already existing thoughts and ideas.

What is on my mind?
Yesterday, Skye Hirst and I talked about the dis-valuation of intrinsic value and the over-valuation of systemic value. The valuation of the systemic over all other value dimensions is very common—and it is a core issue!

The systemic is easy to organize, because it’s about right and wrong. But if I dis-value myself as a person, I have to come up with a system of thought what makes me a good person. And it doesn’t matter what I come up with. It’s still abstracted, made up. If the systemic is over-valued, and is my only value, it leaves out other values, like the value of life, the value of being imperfect, or whatever is unacceptable in a systemic world.

We’ve got to witness each other’s lives! —Skye Hirst

Until I can help you witness my pain, you’re not going to understand. We’ve got to talk about our feelings, pain, struggle. We need to find a common place among us. That’s where we get to the intrinsic. Feeling, experiencing, and witnessing, telling stories, are intrinsic ways of communicating.

Generative organizing requires witnessing, experiencing, and feeling. We need to move ‘up‘ into our hearts (‘up‘ because intrinsic value has ‘higher‘ value than systemic value).²

Notes:
¹ The distinction between intrinsic value and systemic value is from Robert S. Hartmans value theory. For more details, see my reviews of Robert S. Hartman’s books Freedom to Live and The Structure of Value.
² Systemic, extrinsic, and intrinsic value are the three value dimensions. Intrinsic value is more valuable than extrinsic value, and extrinsic more valuable than systemic value. See Robert S. Hartman, The Structure of Value: Foundations of Scientific Axiology (Wopf & Stock, 2011, first published 1967), p. 114.

Related posts:
Organizing in between and beyond posts