A Sense of Proportion

In his foreword to The Book of Hopi (Author: Frank Waters), Frederick H. Howell, Director, Charles Ulrick and Josephine Bay Foundation, says:

[We have lost] the whole natural language of the spirit, with the result that we no longer have a certain basic sense of proportion... lacking that sense, we are endangered by a false set of values that may make our Road of Life very rough indeed.

What is meant by this sense of proportion? And how does it help us to develop a better set of values as indicated by the above quote? I am presenting before you, these paragraphs below from the The Book of Hopi which describe a ceremony that is done once a child is born in the Hopi household. This gives to us a clue to understand what Frederick H. Howell, means by a sense of proportion.

With the pristine wisdom granted them[by their Creator], they understood that the earth was a living entity like themselves. She was their mother; they were made from her flesh; they suckled at her breast. For her milk was the grass upon which all animals grazed and the corn which had been created specially to supply food for mankind. But the corn plant was also a living entity with a body similar to man's in many respects, and the people built its flesh into their own. Hence corn was also their mother. Thus they knew their mother in two aspects which were often synonymous - as Mother Earth and the Corn Mother.

In their wisdom they also knew their father in two aspects. He was the Sun, the solar god of their universe. Not until he first appeared to them at the time of the red light, Talawva, had they been fully firmed and formed. Yet his was but the face through which looked Taiowa, their Creator.

These Universal entities were their real parents, their human parents being but the instruments through whcih their power was made manifest. In modern times their descendants remembered this.

For seven or eight years he led the normal earthly life of a child. Then came his first initiation into a religious society, and he began to learn that, although he had human parents, his real parents wre the universal entitis wo had created him through them - his Mother Earth, from whose flesh all are born, and his Father Sun, the solar god who gives life to all the Universe. He began to learn that he too had two aspects. He was a member of an eartly family and tribal clan, and he was a citizen of the great universe, to which he owed a growing allegiance as his understanding developed.

The above paragraphs from the Book of the Hopi, are clear indications of the sense of proportion, which Frederick Howell mentions in his foreword. The Hopi people, from a very young age, learn to measure themselves and what they do in relation to their Creator. They, hence, acquire a sense of proportion of what they are and what they do by measuring them against the Creator and His work.

When, in their mythology and philosophy, Creator is established as the originator of everything and the controller of most things in the world, all work done by the human being becomes much smaller and insignificant. This helps one to develop the value of 'humility' which is a good virtue. Whatever work that a man might undertake; however big the task might be in relation to other human beings; it will still be small when compared to the Creator's work.

Hopi's believe that it is their responsibility to carry out the Plan of Creation of their Creator. This belief forces the Hopi people to evaluate all work against their conception of the Plan of Creation. Any work that is not a part of the Plan of Creation, is simply an irrelevant work. This type of evaluation sets apart 'good work' from 'bad work' and helps people to prioritize their work. Hopi people, like others, are good observers and gather data from their observation in order to understand the Plan of Creation of their Creator.

We can see how the sense of proportion can be a guiding force in looking at work and deciding what role work plays in one's own life. Thus the "Mapping Process" which I mentioned in my previous post must make matches in such a way that the values are in right proportions so that works can be guided towards their desired outcomes.

Ponder about the above. You will find more than what I have been able to say!

Interdependence exists in many ways!

The piece about our roles and the conflicting value systems was written to make sure that all of us understand the nature of interdependence. I felt it was easy to relate to oneself rather than to something external. The essence of the past writings is summarized below:

• We are one individual whole. One human being. Complete and Full
• Though we play different roles which are spatially and chronologically separated all these roles originate from the same Human Being. The seat of all roles is within us.
• The varied value systems that we use to operate in various roles create conflict, confusion and frustration in us and cause stress to us.

An alternative to the above view is the "Interdependent View" or more succintly "Structural View" of our value system. The following three premises make this view clear.

• All the values that we use are within us. That is values exist within us prior to actions that are guided by these values.
• All roles are within us. That is roles are internalized and the outcomes desired by each role are atleast broadly clear to us at all times.
• In any given context we connect values to roles depending on the outcomes desired by us from the role. That is, we make decisions as to which values should guide our actions in a given role, if a desired outcome is to be achieved.

From the three premises given above, it becomes easy for us now to visualize the fact that there is a "Value Matrix" within us which has to be mapped with the "Role Matrix" using a "Mapping Process" which must result in a "Desired Outcome Matrix". This conception of the value-role mapping system gives us a clearer and a more quantifiable framework which is amenable to measurement and manipulation both for research purposes and for daily life purposes.

Well! If you care, there are Mathematical tools that we can use to formulate the above hypothesis formally and test it. But I am not going into that Mathematical detail here. I feel it would not be very appreciative.

The idea behind this post is to show the varied ways in which Interdependence exists. It exists everywhere. It shows itself everywhere. Everthing in the world that comes into existence is a "structure". Everything in the world can be expressed as a combination of two or more things, which are combined "in a specified way" using a "specific process". The things, the processes and the "ways of combination" are all a part of the "structure" of the thing being observed.

Consider "Films" for instance. There is the "Author" who has an "Idea" to communicate to an "Audience" who might have an "Interest" in the "Idea". He/she "Makes a film" to convey his/her "Idea" to the "Audience". The "Audience" may "Evaluate" and/or "Think" and/or "Critique" the "Idea" after viewing the film. Kindly take a look at all the items which are in quotes. You can classify each Item as an "Element/Thing" or a "Process" or an "Outcome". Thus, the entertainment delivered through films can be treated as a "Structure". As said above such a view gives us scope to understand "film making" in a different way and gives us to develop frameworks that are amenable to quantifiable measurements, either for research or for personal use.

You are now free to think of anything that is NOT a structure.

Roles and Values - The conflict!!

When we treat each role as separate, we tend to create separate value systems that would help us be operative in those roles. This is aided by the fact that each role that we execute operates in a different environment, or atleast that is what we are forced to think.

So, we will have a separate value system working at the place of work and have a different value system that guides our actions when at home or doing shopping. A lot of conflict occurs within the human being when different value systems are at work. The result! Confusion, Frustration, Anger and the feeling of being torn between roles. Most of us would like to run away from our work, from the people we assume we love, from homes, from responsibilities and from our own selves.

The root of the present day "stress" lies herein. We tend to ignore the fact that this self created complex value conflict in our roles is the most complex thing that the mind can ever handle. If we carefully take a look at this issue, we can easily understand that the complexity comes in because of our view that our roles are separate and separate value systems are needed to respond to circumstances that each of our role faces.

Because of the spatial and chronological separation of our roles, we tend to assume that the values operate independently of each other. But as said earlier, the roles are rooted in us as a human being. I as a human being am the originator of all the roles that I assume in my life and at the end of the day all the values that I might use to respond to different circumstances originate in me. The instance we realize this truth, the issues that we face will start untangling.