allanhunter.net Blog

The phone propelled me awake today at an unearthly hour - my daughter’s car had been towed between the time she went to scrape ice off it and her return with her bags some five minutes later. The Waltham police had issued a parking band at midnight (duh?? Aren’t mots people asleep at that point??) and when she tried to contact the towing agency they were closed. Really. She went there in person. No one. Nothing. No phone answer. So here’s a teacher, carless, unable to get to work, because there’s some sort of scam going on - which she will pay for. My wife drove over and took her to work.

Meanwhile, if you read the Globe today in the letters column you’ll see my 2c worth about the $186 million Newton School project. Architects fees of $14.9 million. For a school? Now, had this been a Palace I could have accepted it, perhaps, but a school?

Perhaps I’m a little jaded. Besides being awakened early (my daughter has to leave her house at 6 am because of the bizarre scheduling of the Boston schools) I didn’t get much sleep because the Watertown snow ploughs were ploughing noisily all night. I suppose they must do their job, yet with such a trifling amount of snow I can’t help feeling that they’re putting in overtime hours just to boost the wages that, ultimately we all pay for.

Is that not a form of corruption, also?

How can we expect honest dealings of our national politicians when our daily experiences are of money (our money) being thrown around by even those politicians we can have access to everyday and any day, right here at our local City Hall? How did we get so used to this? What forces were, and are, at work to grind us down?

Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver was pinned to the ground by the thousands of small cords the tiny citizens of Lilliput attached to him while he was asleep, exhausted after having swum to their island. Though a giant to them, he was captured by a million small entanglements. It really is the little things that pull us down…. if we let them.

I’ve had two splendidly intelligent responses to my preliminary comments about type and archetypes, and all I can say in each case is: yes. Now I have to explain what that means.

We all have preferences. Whether we are right handed or left handed, prefer sweets or savories… we all have preferences. And, when we face a new situation we will tend to want to revert to those preferences. I’m right handed. If you lob me a tennis ball when I’m holding a cup of tea I’ll put the cup in my left hand and then catch the ball. I could catch the ball with my left hand. I prefer not to.

Within the Jung-generated Myers-Briggs developed set of 4 twinned preferences we are always going to have some ways of doing things we prefer. We have the options of Sensing and Intuiting, of Thinking and Feeling, and we also have the attitudes of Extraversion and Introversion, Judging and Perceiving. And we can be anywhere on the continuum of each set of paired functions. We are predisposed to be slightly more of one than another, and we go to where we feel comfortable.

Circumstances and education can alter these preferences (If that tennis ball is thrown, not lobbed, I’ll have to use my left hand, and I do.) Jung suggested that all such preferences, whether physical or mental, can be developed, and that our life task is to balance these qualities appropriately. So the active sporty person will one day need to develop a more contemplative side, and the logical engineer may have to learn to live in the world of the emotions if each of them wish to be fully engaged in life’s richness. My friend Andrew’s father, deceased last week, was a man who never made it out of engineer-thinking, and Andrew feels he hardly knew the old man at all. Any of us can choose to stay put - and if we do so we miss out on being able to contact others who may have a huge amount to offer us.

So yes, we have preferences, and yes, we can choose to grow, and yes, circumstances sometimes prevent us from growing. Now, if we know this we can, perhaps, make some observations. One of those is that certain MBTI types are over-represented in the six archetypes.

Speaking anecdotally as a teacher of writing for over 30 years I can say that those students who have the greatest difficulty considering anything more than their own world are the ST and SF students. In terms of SF (sensing and Feeling) the challenge is to get them to write about something without making themselves the center of it. The ‘I’ voice is very strong for them. If they’ve seen it then it’s true (No matter that it may be a skewed perception). If left unchecked this personal viewpoint leads to mild forms of racism - as in: “I was there. You can’t tell me that isn’t true. All Italians smell and are rude.” (and that is an actual example from a class…..)

The sensing world-view may well be the one that is most hard to escape, and it is hugely over-represented in those who are Orphans. Is it possible to escape? Of course it is. but in order to make a break first one has to ask oneself if there is something better worth escaping to. And those in the S world have trouble either seeing that or believing it. Those in the Intuiting world of N idealism and possibility are always thinking there has to be a better way to do everything, so this is far less of a radical challenge for them. All they then need is the courage to act on this notion.

It may be true that we are born with certain preferences. What we can say for sure is that we have them and that they can change and grow as we grow. We can also say that narrow-mindedness is almost always a function of those who get stuck in certain unvarying formulaic ways of being - Orphans by another name.

As I say in ‘Stories’ it’s really easy to accept what others tell us to think, not question, and focus on amassing consumer products. This is the way of the sensing person. This is the way of the Orphan. Political conformists are Orphans, and conforming is much more widely accepted in conservative circles. Indeed it’s encouraged. Bush has encouraged us to feel afraid so we will give up our rights of privacy (to give just one example) and he’d dearly love us to be unquestioning Orphans.

It’s hard to forgive him, and other similar politicians, for shoving this great country of ours into Orphan-think.

Yesterday was the launch event for ‘Stories’ - a reading, some questions, and then enthusiastic attention to wine, cheese, brownies (Michelle: you are a treasure to have made them!), and fruit.

Since the entire event coincided with an Arctic Front moving in, several people had said they wouldn’t risk the weather; and indeed, there were some scary moments of snow and high wind. That said I was truly touched that so many people did brave the elements. We had a standing room only crowd, many of whom had come from respectable distances. It did the heart good to see them, I can tell you.

And judging by the decibels produced in the after-reading chats, and the numbers of people who settled in for some good social stuff, everyone had a splendid time. I know I did.

Many books signed and sold, and I saw with pleasure that the ‘Donations’ box for the Watertown Arts Center was being regularly stuffed with green money. For without the generosity of the WAC and its Board the event couldn’t have happened, and without the time donations of Bev Snow, Cathy Bennett, Martin the computer Magician, and Michelle the baker of extraordinary brownies (did I mention her brownies??) as well as the supportive presence of various WAC board members, the event would have been far less than it was. Barbara, Steve, Debra, Mark, Mary Lou, Jonathan, Sharon, Bertie, Alan … the list could go on and on. My thanks go to you all.

And here it’s worth remembering that not that many years ago the Center was simply a chunk of under-utilized army land with some rather ramshackle buildings on it. A few good people have worked real magic here, that’s for sure.

For some time now I’ve been pondering on the way the Myers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) can be used to facilitate growth and learning, and I’ve begun to integrate this knowledge with the Archetypes. As some of you may know, the MBTI suggests that we have certain preferences, Intuition or Sensing, Thinking or Feeling, that we routinely move towards. So the sensing personality prefers the practical world of what can be seen and sensed, and the Intuiting personality may be drawn to ideas that are not ‘practical’.

If one looks at this in terms of archetypes there are some startling connections to be made. The statistical feedback from the Myers Briggs suggests that the largest portion of the population prefers Sensing as a primary way of encountering the world. Sensing and Thinking (S and T in Myers Briggs terminology) are the most common type combinations reported. These are the folks who live in the world of what is, rather than the world of possibility. These are the people who see Bush’s tax cut package as money in the pocket now, and therefore good, and perhaps do not ask how it is going to be paid for (Answer: money out of your pockets and your children’s pockets, for decades).

If one is such a person then there is going to be inner pressure to accept the status quo - because stable environments are where this personality prefers to be. These are the people who may value routine, and a regulated world. They do not usually take risks. These folks are the good citizens of our world, and we need them.

Yet these very qualities may tend to make them especially drawn to the cautious life options that can keep the Orphan as an Orphan, following the rules. It should not surprise us, then, if most of the world seems to be drawn to situations where they are ‘adopted’ in some way shape or form - for we tend to be led by our preferences.

The person who is the exact opposite of this, the Intuiting type (N in Myers Briggs terminology) is perhaps more likely to be discontented and so move from Orphan status more readily. The N function is the one that asks if there isn’t a better way of doing things, if there isn’t something more than the home with the white picket fence. The S personality aspires to this American Dream, and the N personality wants something more, something different, something idealistic.

This idealism is the realm of the Pilgrim.

Now, what’s interesting is that the Warrior-Lover has to integrate the N and the S and decide what to love and fight for. Only then can the path towards spiritual growth be traveled.

Well, it’s more complex than this, but I’m not sure how many of my readers know about the MBTI, so I’ll pause here.

A timely reminder: tomorrow, Sunday 10th, will be the launch for “Stories” at the Watertown Arts center, Arsenal Street, Watertown, starting at 4pm. Wine and cheese and a chance to have a few laughs, plus a chat by your own friendly author…. it sounds like fun to me!

Books will be on sale (at substantial reductions on store prices), signed if you wish.

There are no major sporting events to get in the way, there is ample parking which is free. So you see, you really have no plausible excuse to miss it….

See you there.

As this site gets ready to transfer its affections to its new-look mac-based site we draw ever closer to the moment when it will leave its home in Wordpress and take up a new menage with Apple’s products. While this is a wedding of sorts, it is also about as complicated as arranging a sit-down pie and beans dinner for 200 guests, plus music, justice of the peace, and confetti. It will require a switch over period of two days. So if we go off the air for a while, don’t worry. The address remains the same - www.allanhunter.net - and the only negotiations concerned are to do with who gets paid to host the site. You. dear, readers, will not need to fret.

Neither will I, if the woman who talked me into this whole thing was telling the truth…. In fact if the analogy holds, we will be on an electronic honeymoon of sorts. How romantic!

The switch over should be next week.

I’m not about to endorse any one candidate over any other: that’s your choice. I’m just going to make a few comments about Archetypes as they relate to the choices we have ahead of ourselves very soon.

I’d like to focus on Hillary Clinton because one of the things she has done, over and over, is to bring Bill into the mix. She’s been criticized and praised for this. I choose to focus on her ability to work with someone who did let her down, substantially, and her desire to keep working with the good parts of who Bill Clinton is. She has not allowed any possible vindictiveness to emerge, neither has she sought to ‘distance’ herself from him as other politicians might - and indeed that’s something so many are famous for doing. In this she has shown herself as an elevated soul. She has been a Pilgrim after what she believes; she fights for what she believes as a peaceful Warrior-Lover. Now she shows herself as a Monarch who can work with others, even though they are not perfect. Not only is that a skill that I wish more politicians had, it’s vital if we are going to have any chance at peace in the future. We truly are going to have to sit with our enemies and with those who do not like us very much, in order to find a way to peace. We are going to have to build consensus through diplomacy. Hillary demonstrates she can do that in the most challenging of domains - the domestic. If she can do that, and then live it before us, in the public eye, I’m pretty certain she can work with almost anyone in the political world.

In case we doubt this attribute I’ll mention Nelson Mandela. Mandela could have turned South Africa into a bloodbath if he’d given in to anger and revenge. He chose, instead, to work a miracle - he consulted with those who had all the money, all the guns, all the power (the white South Africans) and he persuaded them to step aside. Tlak about working with the enemy for peace/

By contrast we have McCain. McCain is chiefly famous for having rebelled early against Bush whereupon he became the victim of one of the most scandalous dirty-politics campaigns ever mounted (by the Bush team). He was whipped back into line - and that photograph of him embracing Bush as a child might (never mind the age differences) was a sign of his total surrender to the forces arrayed against him. He gave up and became an Orphan. And this is the man who would be president. Bush, of course, has never stooped to actually using diplomacy when force would do, and has shown himself in the eyes of the world as a bully, alas, alas. His terminal disease of certainty as ‘the Decider’, his disregard of our laws in signing ‘waivers’ to congressional bills, and his swaggering bravado in that cringe-worthy ‘mission accomplished’ scene mark Bush as the worst kind of posturing Orphan, the schoolyard bully.

In terms of the archetypes we really do have to be alert. Bush has acted like an Orphan for eight years, and he’s attracted the considerable number of Orphans who are in the electorate. He has at no point respected critical thinking, nor alternate viewpoints. This is not leadership, it’s quintessential Orphan behavior.

At present the Republicans - once a respectable party - have to some extent become the party of rant, reactivity, and Orphan-hood.

I believe that a two party system such as ours can only function well if BOTH parties are operating at the highest possible level; so we need an intelligent, moral, and enlightened Republican party just as we need an enlightened Democratic party, no matter who is ‘in power’.

Politics is not about ‘defeat’ and ‘crushing’ rivals (newspaper terms one sees too often, which are mirrored in Republican dialogs). Politics is about working together to get the best out of imperfect human beings. Hillary seems to have done that, and Bill is an example.

None of this is meant to criticize Obama, who is certainly a worthy figure. This is a blog, however, and I will write about him on another occasion.

Yesterday I was interviewed by a radio program, Ch 114, of Sirius Satellite Radio, by the son of Bob Dylan, no less. All very exciting. New to radio, I entered as the quintessential Innocent, and quickly realized I’d need to reassess. I’d assumed the Interviewer would ask questions (as in a job interview for example, of which I have experience. Some would say way too much experience. But let that pass.) and that my task would be to respond. It seems the better way is just to take charge and tell them stuff so they don’t have to ask. I know that now, because we ran out of time before I was truly finished, and I regret my first few polite minutes. Since we only had 11 minutes total it’s not impossible to cram a whole book into that time period, but it can be a bit breathless. Unfortunately they didn’t tell me it was only 11 minutes as a segment. When someone tells you an interview will last from 2 til 2:30 I tend to think job interview (see above) so I pace myself accordingly. My mistake. My assumption.

So my apologies to any of you out there who were tuning in to ‘The Good Life’ with Jesse Dylan, if the points didn’t come across fully.

By the way, if you don’t know the program do tune in anyway. It’s a brilliant broadcast, all about a better world and a better life, and Jesse has hosted such folks as Deepak Chopra so it’s no lightweight operation. It’s the real thing - a radio station that cares about human and spiritual values as well as the environment and our physical well being. Now there’s something to be truly grateful for. There are good people out there, doing magnificent work, and I’m delighted to be a part of what they do - however imperfectly I may do it.

Altogether a learning experience. I’ll be ready for the next one….

…Is never as seemless as they say.  I was on the phone to the tech people. A lady with a wonderful South American accent was dealing with me.  Alas, the musical nature of her words was exactly that to me.  I could not understand her at all, any more than I can understand birdsong.

After a while a form of communication was established, only for me to discover that we really did not speak the same language at all. Viz:  ‘Did you download the program from Micro-manager or did you import it from the Utilities segment server?’  How should I know?  I did what the sign on the screen told me to do. Now, before you guffaw and regard me as an idiot, let me tell you that I speak almost fluent car-mechanic, and I can discuss the advantages of the Borg and Beck slave cylinder from 1985 onwards with the best of them.  I can also speak high-grade restaurant, organic foodstuff (Western and Eastern US), energy meridian acupuncture (old style), and in my spare time I enjoy recherche dialects such as Switzerdeutsch or schweayzerissche, as its proponents prefer.  But this discussion on the phone was in a language I didn’t know.

Which put me in mind of all the other languages I don’t know, such as Scottish Highland fly-fishing argots that have to do with leaders, trailers, bright flies, wet flies, and so on.

But, you see, to some extent all those other languages are optional.  If I want fish for dinner I don’t have to learn the ways of fishing lore, practise my casting skills, and stalk the bank with cunning.  I got to the store.

With computer-speak it is as if we are expected to already know the idiolect before we can use the darn things.

All part of the fun, of course…