Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Pope Benedict's Resignation and NK nuclear test!

The resignation of the leader of one of the biggest religions in the world, the testing of a nuclear bomb by North Korea, what do they have in common? Both events are made possible by underdeveloped social structures. Two leaders of two huge organisations, both revered incredibly by their populations and criticised by many in the international community. Both leaders lead social structures that neglect accountability and transparency, and both hold mandate over the premise that the past gives rule in the present.

The ramifications of past to present assumed continuity

For many of us, the detriments of P2PAC goes unnoticed because most of the time, the rule is sufficient. A baby is baby for a while until biology and society deems that he is ready to move on to being a toddler. Being a student lasts for about  10 to 15 years and for some even longer, single-hood even longer depending on culture, parenthood and marriage are figures so sporadic that I will leave those values to the reader. The term of a US president lasts for 4 years and another 4 if re-elected, while  priesthood last from vow to death, unless something goes awfully wrong! Sports coaches come and go depending on achievement and owner expectation, teachers in my school have 2 year contracts, and pet chickens can live up to 15 years believe it or not! The point is, we all know this because there exist transparency, and we also know that the limitations were are made for a function-beneficial purpose. That means that US Presidents have four year terms not to benefit the President him or herself, but to benefit the bigger system by which he presides over. The same goes for all the various information that were given, all they have in common is that they exist within systems of checks and balances.

Herein lies the problem posed by assume continuity, the lost of value and intent experienced through the personal reactions when the assumption is erroneous. A man/woman struggling to gain freedom while being cuffed for crimes committed. A graduate from high-school or university struggling to find a job. A married man newly distraught after revelation of divorce. Any working man or woman who has just lost their job, or worse yet, the shock of losing a love one! Yes, most of us are hardwired to be positive thinkers, but being an optimist does not equate to naivety. Each day, each moment, as time moves forward, constant change dictates that we adapt. And we do, because we do not have a choice, survival of the fittest, the definition of fittest being as face-paced as the technology that we have in our hands. But we can have a choice, only if we think outside the box of identity.

First there must exist functional separation between professional and personal identity. Identities exist for purposes higher than one's self, family, friends, businesses, corporations, religious and government. The baseline is solitude, that means that anyone should be ready for isolation from the group when the time calls for it! The assumed continuity of professional and personal identities are not only detrimental to how one forms value and intent, but also ultimately fatal to one's last final gasp for appreciation. The final gasp of appreciation being the formation of value and intent during the time when discontinuation occurs. Professional accomplishments should never be mixed with personal wealth for it devalues both. Nor should personal identity ever be used as a measure for professional qualification. Just us we have grown out of the notion that we need kings, instead most of us now have presidents, so too we must not forget that even the highest paid job in the world is still a job.

Now if we were to follow the professional and personal identity delineation rule under the non-presumed continuity construct, you'd find that many of the world's problems, from the smallest to the biggest all have a common denominator, and that is that either one or both of the rules have been broken. The rich gets richer because they amassed wealth gained through professional means and were able to transfer it to their personal identity. The poor is getting poorer because they too wish to acquire the same "wealth" and is continually converting it to their professional/ personal ratio. Regime leaders have nothing else but their "jobs" and so too do Popes/Priests, what are their "jobs" specifications? The absence of checks and balances for these kind of jobs mean that the absence of a possible measure to effectivity and efficiency, and without measure, subjectivity comes in. The conversion of wealth from gained from one's professional identity to one's personal identity means inflation on appreciation. The price of family time is dependent on professional opportunity cost. Increase in income means increase in lifestyle, the Economy being as unstable as it is, further detriment is caused by the fact that personally, we all expect our lifestyles to continually improve or to the very least be maintained. Aren't we setting most of us up for failure?

Identity Protectionism

Since time and memorial humans have melded professional capacity and personal status. Most of the time, chaos ensues because one side is trying to cut the other down. In moments when professional capacity and personal status do coincide, we see the apparent difference in effectivity and efficiency. Identity protectionism occurs when an individual or a collective identity protects itself from the discontinuity of perceived identity. Whether passive or active, the act comes from the intent of either securing continuity or amassing greater value, both of which still originate from perceived continuity of identity.

How does non-continous bi-partisan identity work

By definition, our professional identity is composed of the intent and the margins we create when engaging systems and structures, while our personal identity is composed of the intent and the margins that we create when engaging society. The wealth we accumulate when profit is achieved through these engagements comes in various liquidity and it is in the flawed idea that wealth can be converted where chaos lies. I repeat, it is in the idea that wealth can be converted where conflict arises. Consider the sequence antecedent then behaviour then consequence. If the engagement was designed to teach behaviour through consequence, then the true value lies in the appreciation of the design and not just the consequence. Consider the ABC sequence of government need, politician and then resolution or from the perspective of the politician, government need, job, then compensation, shouldn't it be true that accruing compensation or resolutions should not be the focus itself but rather the design?







Friday, January 18, 2013

Peace in Love

Today as I thought about what to give my son for his 1st birthday, I thought about all the things that I can give him which naturally also made me think about the things that I can't and I came to a realisation, which really is a culmination of whole lot of realisations that I've been making lately, and that is I've been going about things the wrong way. My Rperspective tells me that whatever gift I give him, it won't be enough. The fact is that I've thought, for a while now too, that gifts are the way to go in  showing love and appreciation. I'm not going to go through the whole line of thought about how linear perspectives aren't the way to go, because that is not what this post is about. This post is what I can offer my child, which is peace in love. Instead of going into the negatives, I'll try my best to focus on the positives! That is initially the gist of my gift, intention, effort and action!

Love my dear child is true, it is not only something real, but in fact it is everything! And because it is something, one day it will also be nothing! This is the first thing that I will do my best to teach you, that we are entitled to nothing, and that we could have been nothing, but because of love, here we are! Do not ever compare yourself with anyone or anything, for you will get distracted! Focus on your relationships with your love ones, talk to them in both action and words! Do not ever focus on what you have or not have, or what you can do or cannot do, your very existence is communication enough! Like we don't worry about things that we might have forgotten, so to we should focus on remembering the things that we do! Be honest, and when I say that, I mean think and then talk. Do not ever say that you know something for certain, say instead that to the best of your ability, this is what you think, and then engage in conversation! Do not always feel like you have to say or do something! A lot of times, learning means doing a lot of passive things like listening, watching and thinking! Live in and treasure the present, always make your Iperspectives relationship centred. Never let time and place constraint you, go where there is love and build! It won't last, nothing does, I won't, neither will your mother, but love lasts, one day you too will be a father, biologically or not, related or not, know that everything and everyone is related! We will do our best to teach you empathy, not everyone is gifted in this, but don't worry we have strategies for that too! Always think solutions! We are all nothing and something at the same time, and nothing matters but love! After all, isn't love a solution for the lack of it? For in your search of love you will find peace! Understand that you are just part of an amazingly long history. The more you know about this, the more you will understand that we did nothing to deserve being apart of it, which is the whole point about love, we love for no reason at all, but love itself! Some would argue that we are lonely, do not be afraid to admit this! The sooner you admit and understand that this is true, the faster it is that you will find peace! Fall in love and find value in white lies between somethingness and nothingness! Be fearful but always be brave, there is strength in love while fear is just something we humans made up! All things are they are, violence and destruction is and has always been around us, but it is in love where you will find cause to survive and protect those you love! Keep struggling and fighting, but don't ever forget to be thankful that you had opportunity to do so at all. Don't forget to smile and laugh, for this I found are a couple of the most amazing things we can do together! Share moments, never the mind whether they are sometimes distressing or uplifting, but value the sharing! Do your best, and always believe that you did and that you will even do better! There is no other way to look about it!

Remember when I said do not compare yourself with anyone or anything, instead you should appreciate everything and everyone, do not try to measure the negative, instead see this as an opportunity to go forward, find the problem, remember, people are never problems, behaviours, choices, designs, systems, structures, but never problem! Also, try not to use the word "problem" but rather paraphrase so that it is a challenge! Always start on a positive note! Treat negative things or even memories as places, you can always go somewhere else and start again if need be!

Always, and I do mean always, see everyone in their positive traits. Respect everyone but also be responsible, bad choices are everyone's business, but like I said, talk about the opportunity and not the problem!

Your mom and I, and many more people who love you will do our best to make sure that you grow up in a reality where love is the focus! We will do our best not to let you fall into the inhuman and unloving system of linear and hierarchical economics of quantity and quality. They are all very interesting, but it has nothing to do with love! I promise to teach you and nurture your learning, always keeping in mind that it is an adventure in discovering who you are, but like I said, that has nothing to do with love! It is beautiful! But nothing to do with love! We love you! And that should never change! Another thing that I'm sure you will find interesting is, all this will not be easy! At least we think so, because we have this notion that a lot of things fall into spectrum! And that we are not perfect! As though there is such a thing as perfection! No, I'll let you have none of that, just as shoe sizes have nothing to do with degree of difficulty nor does expression with perfection! There are many games we humans have invented, I'll let you try all of them in time! But never lose sight of what truly matters, love my dear Adrian! Understand that it is in between love and lost, beginning and end, confusion and enlightenment, creation and destruction, challenge and solution, that is where the true value of life is! But like I said, I do not know this for sure, but to the best of my ability, the purest of my intentions, I tell you my love! There is peace in love!

Monday, December 31, 2012

A New World this New Year

As I watch the fireworks light up the TV screen, I can't help but wonder what it truly means? The turn of a number most of us hold as a new leaf, a symbol of hope, the chance for more opportunities of change. It's powerful, only if the message isn't lost in the noise of the fireworks, or the taste of the fancy food or the colours of our beautiful clothes. Who matters? We matter!! And I know it is a small one, but campaign to put our honourable intentions back into the spotlight! We have GDP, jobless rates, Academic passing rates, crime rates, and every other form of statistical measure that lately seem to be more bleak than anything! Celebrate this new year with me, and share with me oh those so very meaningful numbers!

From Antarctica to Australia, those clamouring for justice for all sorts victims around the world, jobless, starving, those who are lost in fame and wealth, starvation and persecution, gang or state violence, let's celebrate the New Year by making a noise louder than any firework would make, a message so bright that it would bring daylight to the whole world at once, let me hear your voice, four simple numbers to show that you are fighting and that you do care, and that we are growing!

Join me in this mission to the formation of a new perspective to what we truly value. The world will still be the world when we are done reflecting, but perhaps with new eyes and a new voice, we can start making a new world this coming new year!!

Let's show the world our margins!!

Happy New Year!!

With my new family in mind, this year I've decided to change up my New Year's celebration routine. Rather than celebrating the turn of the year with the best food, best music and all the other things that I used to think equate to happiness, I'm celebrating it with hope. Gone are those magical childhood nights when all was merry and bright! The truth is that these are very challenging times, and I for one would like to celebrate those challenges! Those big and small steps that we made and are about to make! Those things that really matter to us, as the clock turns, let us close our eyes and remember the great things we did, the great challenges that await yet, and smile because there is hope, we have plans and that we will make it happen! Happy New Year Everyone!!

Share your Pmargin today!!

Monday, December 17, 2012

A measure of Human Potential


In an age where individual human value is based on income power and that of a country by the amount of monetary transactions produced, attention to the human experience is too often lost. Psychological awareness has been on the increase of late, but even though most people would stand with the idea that prevention is better than cure, too few policies cater to the mental health of individuals.

Fast forward the train of thought from Economics, to social policies, to education and one should arrive to the conclusion that a lot of the designs we live in set the majority of us for failure, even those who have achieved success are faced with a reality that nothing is ever really enough, and that our Economics is that of instability. We are constantly bombarded with labels that dictate how we feel and value ourselves, our time, our interactions and everything else that we experience. School is a place where we learn how smart we are, society is a place where we learn our value to other individuals, and work is where we learn how much value we have to the Economy, and unfortunately, more and more, the Economics of money has invaded all three regions, so much so that true value may always be equated with monetary income. The tag of being unemployed is crippling, the idea of purchasing power is intoxicating, the hunt for stability and security more and more becoming a wild goose chase. History tells us of tales of men taking back choice when they were given none. Revolutions often occur when the multitude yearns for empowerment from oppression. I ask that we start a peaceful revolution within our minds. Let us take our attention from all the negativity and depressing thoughts, and turn them towards progress.

What is Rperspective?

The greatest power humans have is attention. Let us use that power to free ourselves from design tyranny and focus on the only things that we truly have power over, our perspective. As experience occurs and a raw perspective is form. An emotion coupled with thoughts, those of us who pay great attention to this may notice the "animal" like qualities of the the raw perspective. Informal and formal education have taught us that impulsive actions based on the raw perspective are likely to be poor choices compared to a actions that are based on reasoning or design thinking based on knowledge and progressive experience.

An Rperspective will have the following qualities. It is;

* event inspired (real life situation)
* strong emotional response (distressing)
* invokes thoughts of confusion (chaos)

The Rperspective count determines the number of instances a person has been aware of having made an Rperspective. This value functions as a measure to the awareness of a person towards a Pmargin process.

I.E. Today I counted four event inspired events wherein  I felt strong emotional distress (1. Home management related event 2. Noise pollution related event 3. Stranger/ personal space related event 4. Lost of important possession event)  all of which  invoked thoughts of confusion. My Rperspective score would then be 4.

Why count Rperspectives?

Counting RPs is a good strategy of regulating decision making as well as one's emotional outlook at life in general. It shifts focus from the event towards a person's reaction, from being powerless to empowerment. A low count reflects poor awareness. A higher count means an increase opportunity for making Iperspectives and generating higher Pmargin scores.


*Natural Calamity

What is Iperspective?

This second perspective is what I would call the initial perspective. An initial perspective has many qualities that make it distinct to a raw perspective, they are intent and understanding of design.

Intent
* The location of "need" or "problem" within the event that caused the Rperspective
* The conscious choice to move from distress to the "thinking state"

Understanding of Design
* The analysis of "need" or "problem"
* The location of an interpersonal design (i.e. attitudes or profiles)
* The location of parallel external designs or systems

The Iperspective count reflects the number of instances a person has been able to form Intent and Understanding of Design towards the Rperspective.

I.E.

Home Management Related Event
Problem- Personal Time and Human Resource Management
Analysis of Problem - Event occurs due poor sleeping habits
Design Involve- Sleep and Waking Patters, Morning Routines, Attitudes- Caring, Enthusiasm

Noise Pollution Related Event
Problem- Reaction to infant crying
Analysis- Personal mental state reactive to infant crying, lack of knowledge of problem,
Design Involve- Reaction Routine strategies such as checklists, focus or attention management
Attitudes- Empathy, Caring and Enthusiasm

Stranger/ Personal Space Invasion

Problem- Reaction to excessive physical contact/ invasion of personal space
Analysis of Problem- Use of confrontation verbal and nonverbal language
Designs Involve- Conflict Resolution/ Anger Management
Attitude- Caring, Empathy, Communicator

Lost of Personal Possession

Problem- Break down in personal item organisation
Analysis- Impulsive decision making effecting break in organisational habit
Design Involve- Personal Organisational Routine
Attitudes- Appreciation, Principled

My IP count would be 4.

Why count IPs?

IP counting is a progressive and proactive way of transforming Rperspectives into positives. It promotes  a problem solving attitude and encourages continuous development of personal processing of RPs.

Pmargin Plans

PMPs are personal plans that one make to tackle the problem or needs brought about in the IPs. From the understanding of both the external and interpersonal designs as well as the nature of the problem, an action plan is formulated.

PMP scores reflect the number of plans derived from the IPs. One IP can only have one PMP. The idea behind this is for simple 1 to 1 correspondence between reflection and plan. It also encourages the user or the actor to integrate multiple strategies into one action plan.

I.e.

Action Plan 1: Focus personal resources towards the completion of Home Maintenance Task. Reflect on needed attitudes before ensuing in task to ensure focus.
Action Plan 2:  Verbal expression of attitudes communicated towards child as a form of self-prompt. Focus on verbal and nonverbal communication of being caring. Improve knowledge on possible reasons for child crying behaviour.
Action Plan 3: Improve awareness of stages of conflicts and strategies for conflict resolution.
Action Plan 4: Improve awareness of events that promote "impulsivity!"

My PMP score would be 4.


Null perspective

Nperspectives are those IPs that one has to forget or invalidate based on their personal analysis of the problem or need, in that they are;


* Naturally occurring disasters
* Biologically or Psychologically irreparable damage
* Time or space impossible to correct

Although there are no physical action plans possible for NPs, a new IP should be made that caters towards mental reparation. A NP would have a positive value only if a new IP is successfully made.

i.e. My NP score would be zero because I did not have any IPs that did not require any PMPs.

Success Perspective

An SP occurs when one realises that a Pmargin Plan had been directly responsible for a positive change in targeted event itself. There are really no words to perfectly describe that satisfaction when one realises that he or she has been successful at making a positive change towards something that he or she deems important. The feelings as well as the thoughts that come with empowerment, hope, exuberant humanity, those are only a few of the words that simple me could come up with, I am sure you will do a lot better.

The measure for an SP is called Pmargin and always have a positive value. The process of making RPs, IPS, PMPS are cyclic until success is achieved.

i.e. Though I do not have Pmargin scores for the PMPs that I made today, I do have three points for those that I made yesterday. I will not relay what they are for they of the intimate kind, and I have yet found the right words to make them less personal, but I guess this is the point of RPs, IPs, PMPs and Pmargins, individually we are all at different stages of our lives, tackling different worries and faced with different disasters, but just as other global statistics have power to lift  us up, (lately more down than up) so to I aim to lift a couple of hearts up by showing that our personal struggles do matter and that empowerment is just around the corner.

Last Notes

The challenge of writing RPs, IPs, PMPs and rerporting Pmargin experiences is the language that is used to do so. The intentions are that the language is design or behaviour based, non-personal but information rich. In itself, this exercise I thought could be one of the most enriching part of the whole Pmargin experience as it is a constant challenge of experience and language reflection. What happened? How do I say it in a way so that I can target behaviours or factors that I can effect? By asking ourselves, "How do I report into seemingly neutral language my most emotional experiences?" unconsciously we have already empowered ourselves by being able to step out of our shoes and think of a greater good than that of our own profit.

The rules of of Engagement

We are only in charge of our own perspectives! Share only your own RPs, IPs, PMPs and Pmargin experiences and always as a third person. Our goal is to inspire hope for everyone not just for ourselves!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Pmargins made Our World go round

Everything in life that man can experience can be broken down into contrasts. The innate ability to make connections between past and present, to make future predictions all stem from something that a lot of us take for granted, consciousness. Consciousness allows us to reflect on intention and premeditate action, it allows one to state fact or opinion, experience essence or the absence of it.

Though countless artefacts have been uncovered giving us minute glimpses into the minds of our past ancestors, one can never know for sure really, what had happened had happened and as is always with experience, can never truly be be fathomed completely. On the bright side though, what we lack in documentation we can make up through imagination, as it truly matters, at the end of the day, everything is a personal experience.

I can imagine the earliest of us, just as I can imagine what a cat is thinking, or a dog, or beings of species that we consider "like us", memory, surely they had consciousness, five senses driven by the most basic need of anything, survival. We are social species, even before we knew of the concept. Through nature and nurture, the cycle of culture was passed on through social and some would argue biological means. But just as we do even today, the ability to be conscious of consciousness was not always with us. Any of us upon reflection notice that our memory of our past stops a long way from birth. Babies cry, smile, crawl, stand, walk and talk, and then a couple of years later begin to report consciousness. As our language skills develop, we learn to form perspective. I've come to the understanding that the experience itself have always been and will always be separate from the perspective that we form from the experience. Just as there is that operation that is in between the stimulus and the response, there is also that something between the experience and the perspective. The "I am" experience changes the moment that we are able to contrast it with the "I were," which I can just assume come from our need to predict the "will be" so that the "I" can continue to survive.

Now, this I believe is the perfect time to introduce my concept of Perspective Margins. Pmargins is the difference between perspectives made by a person at different moment in times. A Pmargin is only valid if the person making the margin had both premeditation and functional understanding of the design by which the margins will be measured in relation to.

Non-formal Pmargins

Perhaps the greatest and most important ability that mankind possesses, the ability that separates us from every other known specie, the ability to make Pmargins. Before we started using precious stones to symbolise value, without knowing it, mankind made Pmargins. Whether or not it is pre-Ramapithecus period or post, a fact I will claim it to be, had to be that through all the conscious experiences, through some primitive mental language, our distant ancestors were able to take two perspectives, and calculate a positive value to their Pmargin. No calculation doesn't only mean numbers, but rather that disntict contrast between a positive and a negative value. Whether it was the Oldowan or another tool that didn't have or leave any physical remnants, at some point in time, there had to have been a first time when a conscious being postulated with the aid of his or her understanding of a design and took action that led to the consequent perspective, and then compared and contrasted, then came up with a conditional positive value for that particular Pmargin. And for the first time, mankind experienced the consequence of a successful Pmargin, empowerment. That thought, that idea, that feeling of knowing that one had power to change one's perspective with intent.

Formalised Pmargins

I stumbled into Pmargins as an idea because of the prevalent perspective that value per capita around the world is on the decrease, that upon reflection gave me a feeling of sadness, which was an integral part of the perspective that I chose to be my IP, my initial perspective. Another jargon? Yes, but while other jargons make one feel disenfranchised, my aim is that IP leads to empowerment. An initial Perspective is choice made with intention, as I keep on repeating, empowerment is the idea that one can make a difference, and the best way to start of this process is of course having the power to choose a beginning. A perspective is reported speech, the subjectivity of both the experience and the perspective form by it reflects the truth of our individuality.

Goal Finding and Goal Setting

It is true if you reflect about it, that goals are found by comparing past and present experience with one's drive.  Amazed, a feeling I feel when I think about the idea that goal finding and goal setting are active processes. 

The subjective value of truth

What is truth? A question that doesn't have a definitive answer. The value of that last idea is that the true value of the search for truth lies in the intention of the person posing the question. The personal value of a truthful Pmargin is the consequence or the effect of the process. The positive value of a Pmargin can never be falsified so long as the intentions are true. Even if it was, both memory and time has a great habit of washing away the past and shifting the focus to the present and whatever is near it both in time and space. 

Social Pmargins

The odd thing about Pmargins is that sharing them with other people is either useful or useless, and nothing else. You can't really gloat when all you are saying is "I am trying my best!"There can be no harm in sharing information about Pmargins, because in whatever way it is presented, the message stays the same, EMPOWERMENT! Every illegal or immoral act that I know of, even those that are debatable and fall in the grey area can never be misconstrued as having a positive Pmargin. Why and how? Because from the onset of choosing to undergo the personal process of Pmargins, one has subscribed to the unspoken "truth" that the intention is to do better through better decision making and understanding of system designs. This process has the effect of bringing out the "real" scope and goals, and the added necessary long term consideration for sequencing short term objectives to fulfil a long term one. All of which works towards organisation and empowerment.  

Pmargins and the Scientific Method

Where as in using the Scientific Method one has to postulate a question, form a hypothesis, make a prediction and then test and analyse, Pmargins requires one to reflect on personal perspectives, the process of perspective creation, the relationship of system designs, and how and what decisions can lead to positive Pmargins. It challenges us to debate value and priority. It gives value to everyday choices that people with good intentions make. It creates discourse for and awareness of implicit and explicit meaningful experiences and relationships. It gives credence to intention over possession, open-mindedness with a premium to individuality. It is a call for not only thinking out of the box, but rather how that box changes with different perspectives and how people may see it and ultimately looking for value in the process.

What Pmargin does

Pmargin shifts the focus to the measurement of goal achievement and meaningful experiences. In itself, it is not a perfect value system, but rather one that I made to co-exist with other forms of value systems. The idea of perfection exists out of the Pmargin paradigm, for anything compared to perfection would undoubtedly always have a negative value.  From what you may ask, and the answer would be from EVERYTHING! Pmargins may or may not exist, and just like everything else in life, the value of it depends on whether or not it is useful to you.